Quincy Jones left behind one of the most extraordinary legacies in the history of recorded music. A 28-time Grammy winner, the architect of some of the best-selling albums ever made and a creative force who shaped popular culture across six decades, Jones died of pancreatic cancer on November 3, 2024, at the age of 91. March 14, 2026, would have been his 93rd birthday.
But to the seven people who mattered most, he was simply Dad. Jones was the father of seven children, Jolie, Rachel, Martina, Quincy III, Kidada, Rashida and Kenya, welcomed from different relationships across his life. Several have built prominent careers in entertainment, fashion and beyond. Others have chosen quieter paths. All of them shaped how he understood what it meant to be a father.
In a 2018 Father’s Day post, Jones wrote openly about having come to that understanding later than he would have liked, and about how grateful he was that he had figured it out at all. Being a father, he said, was one of the greatest blessings of his life.
Jolie Jones Levine
Born on October 4, 1953, Jolie is Quincy’s oldest child, welcomed with his first wife, high school sweetheart Jeri Caldwell, during their marriage from 1957 to 1966. She began modeling young, appearing in publications including Mademoiselle and Seventeen, and went on to act in films including the 1977 thriller Panic in Echo Park and contribute music to the 1987 film Hunk.
Today she works as an artist, writer and activist, though her public presence is limited by Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity, a condition she has written about candidly on her website. The condition causes significant discomfort around wireless devices and radiofrequency waves, and Jolie has described it as forcing her to become, in her own words, a refugee from the modern world. She now uses her platform to raise awareness and create community around the condition.
She is married to music producer Stewart Levine and they have two adult children together.
Rachel Jones
Rachel was born on July 23, 1963, following a brief relationship between Quincy and dancer Carol Reynolds. She took a deliberately different path from her father, earning a degree from the Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1999 and going on to run a holistic mobile veterinary practice serving clients in both Los Angeles and New York.
The two shared a warm and demonstrative relationship on social media in the years before his death. Rachel’s tributes to her father were openly emotional, and Jones responded in kind, once writing on Instagram that he was proud of her love and light and that the world needed more of both.
Martina Jones
Martina was born on November 1, 1966, to Quincy and his second wife, Swedish singer and model-actress Ulla Andersson, whom he married in 1967 and divorced in 1974. After the split, Martina relocated to Sweden with her mother and followed her into modeling before eventually building a career as a photographer.
She maintains a close and loving relationship with her father’s memory and shared some of the most touching tributes to him on social media during his lifetime. Just two days before his death, Quincy posted a birthday message for Martina that read in part, so proud to be yo papa.
Quincy Delight Jones III
Born on December 23, 1968, also to Quincy and Andersson, Quincy III is the only son among the seven children and followed his father into music with remarkable speed. He was producing by age 13 and had his first gold record at 16, going on to work with artists including Prince, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, LL Cool J and Lionel Richie.
He is perhaps best known today for producing the 2003 documentary Beef, which chronicled notorious rap feuds, and the 2009 documentary The Carter, an examination of Lil Wayne’s life and legacy. He co-founded Feel Rich, Inc., a marketing company focused on health and wellness brands, and is an activist against violence in the rap community. He splits his time between Sweden and Los Angeles and has two children from his marriage to former wife Koa Jones.
Kidada Ann Jones
Born on March 22, 1974, to Quincy and his third wife, actress Peggy Lipton, Kidada grew up in Bel Air and attended the Los Angeles Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising. She went on to work closely with designer Tommy Hilfiger and famously styled Michael Jackson for a 1995 Vibe magazine cover shoot while working for her father’s publication.
Her career has spanned fashion design, modeling for major titles including Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar, and collaborations with brands including Snoop Dogg‘s clothing line. She has since launched her own eponymous line for The Walt Disney Company. Her personal life has included high-profile relationships with LL Cool J, rapper Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996 while they were together, and briefly Leonardo DiCaprio. She was married to Jeffrey Nash from 2003 to 2006.
Rashida Jones
Born on February 25, 1976, also to Quincy and Lipton, Rashida is the most publicly recognized of his children. She attended Harvard University, where she studied religion and philosophy and participated in theatrical groups, before building a career as one of television’s most recognizable character actors. Her credits include The Office, Parks and Recreation, Angie Tribeca and Sunny, along side appearances in I Love You Man, Celeste and Jesse Forever and In the Blink of an Eye.
Her most personal professional contribution may be the 2018 Netflix documentary Quincy, which she created about her father and which won a Grammy Award for Best Music Film in 2019. She has described it as the hardest and most meaningful project she has ever undertaken. She has a son, Isaiah Jones Koenig, with musician Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend.
Kenya Kinski Jones
The youngest of Quincy’s children, Kenya was born on February 9, 1993, to Quincy and German actress and model Nastassja Kinski. She graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 2015 with a journalism degree before pursuing a full time modelling career. Her first runway appearance was for Chanel, and she has since worked across major international campaigns and publications.
Kenya has been an advocate for animal rights since childhood and became a vegetarian at age eight. She has been in a relationship with actor Will Peltz since 2011, and the couple announced their engagement in July 2025.
Quincy’s affection for his youngest child was evident in the birthday posts he regularly dedicated to her on Instagram, always finding new ways to say that she remained, no matter how old she got, his baby.
