The 2025 Oscars featured a tribute to the late Quincy Jones, which was presented by Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, with a performance by Queen Latifah.
The late legendary producer and composer died on November 3 at the age of 91 from pancreatic cancer.
Throughout his storied career, Jones worked with countless artists including Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Michael Jackson among others, with whom he famously produced the iconic albums ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bad’. ‘Thriller’ is still the biggest selling album of all time.
His relationship with Jackson began with The Wiz, the 1978 reimagining of The Wizard Of Oz. At the 2025 Oscars, Latifah paid tribute to Jones by performing the film’s centrepiece song ‘Ease On Down The Road’.
Prior to that, Goldberg and Winfrey – who co-starred in the 1985 film The Color Purple, a film produced by Jones – spoke about Jones’ impact on music and popular culture. “When we talk about Black excellence, we’re talking about Quincy,” Goldberg said.
“Quincy was love, lived out loud in human form. And he poured that love into others and into his work. My life changed forever and for the better after meeting him. He actually discovered me for The Color Purple, which was my first film,” Winfrey said, with Goldberg adding: “Me, too.”
Queen Latifah delivers a beautiful tribute to Quincy Jones with her rendition of ‘Ease On Down The Road’ from #TheWiz at the #Oscars. pic.twitter.com/hSWJLLIGxM
— Fandango (@Fandango) March 3, 2025
“Jones’ soundtrack work was particularly impressive given that Black musicians were rarely allowed to work on film and TV projects, and rarer still on those that did not focus on African-American themes,” wrote NME‘s Jordan Bassett in an obituary for Jones.
“In 2020, he said the renewed energy around the Black Lives Matter movement, which followed the murder of George Floyd, had been “coming a long time, man”, adding: “People have been turning their heads the other way, but it’s all the same to me – misogyny, racism. You have to be taught how to hate somebody.”
Emilia Pérez leads this year’s Oscar nominations, followed by The Brutalist, Wicked, Conclave, A Complete Unknown and Anora.
You can follow all the rolling coverage of the ceremony right here, with a winners list being updated as the evening progresses.
This year’s Oscars have done away with performances for Best Original Song, while the show honoured Los Angeles after the recent wildfires with a nod by host Conan O’Brien before later inviting many firefighters on stage.
