Quincy Jones doesn’t do funerals.

And despite him having enormous respect for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, he says he won’t be attending his funeral on Sunday.

Jones says that funerals are just too emotional for him anymore. He told ET: “I won’t go to any more funerals as long as I live. I can’t handle it.”

The iconic music producer prefers to remember Michael when he was a budding superstar. He worked with Michael on the legendary album, Thriller. He blogged for the LA Times:

“He was so shy he’d sit down and sing behind the couch with his back to me while I sat there with my hands over my eyes with the lights off.”

“I told Michael that we needed a black rock ‘n’ roll tune, a black ‘My Sharona’, and a begging tune for the album,” Jones says. “He came back with ‘Beat It’ and Rod came back with ‘The Lady in My Life.’ Rod also brought in ‘Thriller’ and Michael sang his heart out on it. At one point during the session the right speaker burst into flames, which none of us had ever seen before. How’s that for a sign?

“There will be a lot written about what came next in Michael’s life, but for me all of that is just noise.

“I promise you in 50, 75, 100 years, what will be remembered is the music. It’s no accident that almost three decades later, no matter where I go in the world, in every club and karaoke bar, like clockwork, you hear ‘Billie Jean,’ ‘Beat It,’ ‘Wanna Be Starting Something,’ ‘Rock With You’ and ‘Thriller.’”

I’ll admit, I remember when Thriller came out, and seriously, it was everything. Michael was everywhere. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like it in my life, still. It was definitely fun being 12 years old when it came out. Of course I had posters of MJ all over my bedroom, listened to the album incessantly and practiced moonwalking. But everyone did that. However I think I took it a little further by also having MJ earrings (egad, right?) MJ pins on my Levi jean jacket (how feminine) and a black glove that my mom was had sewn sequins on, since in my small town, MJ gloves weren’t exactly in stores. Luckily, I grew out of it.

Anyhow, back to the Quincy and him not attending the funeral. I don’t blame him. Number one, I think it is going to be a circus. Number two, funerals suck. I try to avoid them as well. If you have ever lost anyone in your life a funeral can be hell, triggering memories of your missing loved ones. Sort of brings all those emotions back.  I’m sure Quincy has suffered many losses and I know that he also cared very deeply for Michael. Unlike some others, he doesn’t need to go to the funeral to prove anything.

Above video: Michael and Quincy rare interview, 1983.

[Us]