Quincy Jones Says Ray Charles Got Him Addicted To Heroin At 15

( Photo Credit: PR Photos)

Quincy Jones is making headlines again after admitting in an interview that at the age of 15, he was addicted to heroin.

Complex reports, the legendary musician, composer and producer Ray Charles is the one who introduced and got him hooked on the drug.

“He got me hooked for five months at 15,” he said. “After we finished at the Washington Social Club and a couple of other ones, we’d all go down to Jackson Street to the Elks Club. That’s where all the bebop jam sessions were. Nobody got paid. We didn’t give a damn.”

“When they finished playing they’d go over in the corner and they had it on their thumb,” he continued. “I just snuck in the line and got me a little hit.”

RELATED: Quincy Jones Documentary To Premiere On Netflix Next Month

According to Complex, Jones stopped using heroin after an injury.He fell down five flights of stairs, and while recovering he lost the urge to use.  The time spent recovering also kept him away from some of jazz’s most notorious drug abusers. Jones added that when the bands he played with traveled to New York, they reportedly bought their heroin from a Harlem hustler named Detroit Red.

“The mistakes are what help you grow and learn,” he said. If he hadn’t fallen he would have been in New York, and probably been a junkie forever.

HEAD BACK TO THE BLACKAMERICAWEB.COM HOMEPAGE

Quincy Jones Says Ray Charles Got Him Addicted To Heroin At 15  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com