Quincy Jones, the International superstar has opened up about one of his Grammy award winning albums actually being inspired by a sculpture, hand-crafted by a South African farm worker.
Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. was born in March 14, 1933 and has become a house hold name for his work in the entertainment industry.
His career spans over six decades and the artist holds a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, and 28 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991.
The talented entertainer has recently opened up about the inspiration behind his 1981 album called ‘The Dude’ for which he won the Grammy award for best R&B vocal performance that year.
The album also produced three U.S. Top 40 hits and featured the debut of vocalist James Ingram on the singles “Just Once” and “One Hundred Ways,” which reached No. 17 and 14, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100.
It also contained “Razzamatazz”, which reached No. 11 in the UK Singles Chart, one of his few hits there.
The artist took to social media to explain where the actual inspiration had come from:
“One day, Henry Mancini and I went to an art gallery and saw this statue on the display, and man… I’m tellin’ ya… it kept saying, “my brother take me home!”
“So I bought it right then and there. It had an attitude like I’d never seen before… I mean, just look at that puffed out lip, arched back, and cane!!”
“And that’s what inspired my album, “The Dude” in 1980… It might sound crazy, but this dude spiritually spoke to me and I’m glad it did or else that album would’ve never been made!”
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“It actually came from a farm in South Africa… The farm wasn’t making any profits, so the owner had a sculpting teacher named Fanizani Akuda (a member of the sculptural movement called “Shona Sculpture”) come and teach his workers how to sculpt, so that they could make a living…”
“The Dude is one of the sculptures that Fanizani made at the farm and I’ve had him ever since!!”
And followers of his page absolutely loved the background story to the album.
Branislava Stojanovic said: “”The Dude” is one of my favorite albums of all time! I remember my dad playing the record to me when I was little and I was so intrigued by the weird looking guy on the album cover! So glad I heard the story about this statue”
Jeroen de Jong added: “Glad you saw this statue, the album is so good that artists of this generation have to listen to it, like homework, an endless road to perfection and inspiration. Thank you for this wonderfull story.”
Etienne Roch posted: “I didn’t know it was a real sculpture, I kept staring at it on the album, great story behind it, thank you for sharing, oh and what an album that was, still on rotation in my Playlist.”
Virginia Fleming Tschida commented: “Thank God for that amazing piece of art. The Dude is also an amazing piece of art that speaks volumes. Thank you for sharing this story and for the gift you continue to share with so many”
You can check out the album on Apple Music by clicking here.
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