--- description: Music producer Quincy Jones remembers Beatles producer George Martin, who died March 8 at age 90. title: Quincy Jones: George Martin and the Beatles Was a Match Made in Heaven image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt709cc38edc9873aa/69888a795f570f150ab1ffa4/beatles.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [remembrance](/tag/remembrance/) ## remembrance Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Quincy Jones: George Martin and the Beatles Was a Match Made in Heaven by [Quincy Jones](/author/quincy-jones/) ## Quincy Jones Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2016 5:45 PM CUT  The Beatles sign documents for music publisher Dick James in Studio 2 at Abbey Road in London recording the single 'She Loves You', 1st July 1963, L-R Dick James, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, producer George Martin (in background), John Lennon (writing) and Ringo Starr. The Beatles sign documents for music publisher Dick James in Studio 2 at Abbey Road in London recording the single 'She Loves You', 1st July 1963, L-R Dick James, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, producer George Martin (in background), John Lennon (writing) and Ringo Starr.Terry O'Neill—Getty Images by [Quincy Jones](/author/quincy-jones/) ## Quincy Jones Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 10, 2016 5:45 PM CUT George Martin and I go all the way back. We met before the Beatles and Rolling Stones came to America in 1964 because I had taken Lesley Gore over to England when she was number 1\. I’d stay at his house near Oxford, and we’d go to a trout restaurant. Food, music, women, how you like to party—that’s what makes the greatest friendship, doesn’t it? I met Paul McCartney back then and Mick Jagger, too, and we’d all talked about how well they knew American culture. In fact, I even made a bet with Paul that the Beatles wouldn’t happen in America. That was stupid. George and the Beatles—that was a match made in heaven. He was an amazing musician who knew his craft and had the vision and the background in orchestration to take the Beatles to the top. He was responsible for the string quartet in “Eleanor Rigby” and the symphony orchestra in “A Day in the Life.” Any man that understands orchestration can go anywhere. I played the same role with Michael Jackson; I brought the orchestration and he brought the dancing. That’s what it takes to make a great combination. But the bottom line is, you have to have humility, and George was very humble. Everything I did with George was a joy, from the time he asked me to do arrangements for Ringo Starr’s album _Sentimental Journey_ to the times he’d call me from “Abbey Road” and we’d try to figure out how to stack vocals. Working with George was a sonic kind of a journey. _Quincy Jones is a producer, composer and philanthropist._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4253418/quincy-jones-george-martin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4253418/quincy-jones-george-martin/"},"headline":"Quincy Jones: George Martin and the Beatles Was a Match Made in Heaven","datePublished":"2016-03-10T17:45:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:45:54.617Z","description":"The legendary producer remembers the 'Fifth Beatle' George Martin, who died March 8 at age 90","url":"https://time.com/4253418/quincy-jones-george-martin/","keywords":["remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt709cc38edc9873aa/69888a795f570f150ab1ffa4/beatles.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Quincy Jones","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/quincy-jones/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt709cc38edc9873aa/69888a795f570f150ab1ffa4/beatles.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Beatles In The Studio","caption":"Beatles In The Studio","creditText":"Terry O'Neill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4253418/quincy-jones-george-martin/","name":"Quincy Jones: George Martin and the Beatles Was a Match Made in Heaven"}}]}] ```