Quincy Jones, who had worked with artists like Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, received a heartfelt tribute from her daughter Rashida Jones.
The Parks and Recreation actress delivered her deceased father’s speech at the Governor’s Award Ceremony on November 17th.
The late star was awarded an honorary Lifetime Achievement Oscar.
During the award acceptance speech, the Sunny artist revealed that her dad had prepared a speech and “intended” to be at the ceremony before the tragedy struck.
She was joined by her siblings Martina, Quincy III and Kenya as she began, “Our father passed away two weeks ago today.”
“He was really excited to attend tonight, and a lot of his family are here,” she added.
Reflecting on her father’s friendly instinct and social skills she said, “He has so many friends in this room, well, actually probably in every room because wherever he went, he made connections with everyone.”
Rashida revealed that her father was “working on his speech” as she began sharing it with the audience.
The speech opened with her father feeling “honoured” to accept his award and reflecting on his dreams of becoming a composer for films.
The speech also looked back on achieving his career milestone of working with artists such as Sydney Pollack, Richard Brooks and Steven Spielberg.
“‘When I was a young film composer, you didn’t even see faces of colour working in the studio commissaries. I’m so, so proud of the fact that my name and contributions can be included in that evolution,'” Rashida recited.
The speech concluded with the late Jones dedicating the award to all the friends he had made in the industry over the past seven decades.
Rashida, who is still grieving, added that, while “it was a difficult decision for our family to be here tonight,” the family wanted “to celebrate his beautiful life and career.”
Quincy Jones died at 91 due to pancreatic cancer on November 3rd.
