John McClain, the veteran music executive and co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate, has died at the age of 71.
McClain died on Tuesday (May 26) in Los Angeles from complications from a fall, according to a statement issued by the estate.
He was surrounded by friends and his nephew Warner Wright.
Alongside attorney John Branca, McClain was named co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate in the singer’s will following Jackson’s death in 2009.
Together they oversaw two posthumous albums – Michael and Xscape – two Cirque du Soleil productions, the four-time Tony-winning Broadway musical MJ The Musical, two documentaries directed by Spike Lee, the concert film Michael Jackson’s This Is It, and the biopic Michael.
The Michael biopic, produced by Graham King alongside Branca and McClain and starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson in the title role, has grossed close to $800 million at the global box office since its release on April 24 – making it the highest-grossing music biopic of all time in North America.
In 2024, a California appeals court cleared the Estate to proceed with a sale of half of Jackson’s publishing and recorded music catalog to Sony Music.
MBW previously reported that the deal valued Jackson’s music rights at up to $1.5 billion, with Sony paying at least $600 million for its half.
In a statement, Branca said: “I am profoundly grieved at the loss of my partner and brother John McClain.
“One of the great innovators in the world of music and music marketing, John was a visionary, seeing past the mundane and into the future.”
“One of the great innovators in the world of music and music marketing, John was a visionary, seeing past the mundane and into the future.”
John Branca
Added Branca: “When we were named in Michael’s will, I knew that he would bring great insight into Michael’s music and that his friendship and dedication to Michael would underscore all the great projects that we could bring to the world.
“He brought a passion and sense of conviction to all that he did and was the most generous of friends.
“It is difficult to imagine a world without him.”
The Los Angeles Times once wrote that McClain “is in the world’s upper echelon of music industry power brokers.”
McClain, who was born in Los Angeles and raised by his father’s sister Helen, began taking piano lessons at the age of 3. He grew up studying Rachmaninoff and Bach but fell in love with the music of Jimi Hendrix which inspired him to take up the guitar during his teens. He also became close friends with Michael Jackson and the entire Jackson family.
McClain, also a martial arts expert, broke into the record business as the musical director for R&B act the Silvers and soon became a session guitarist on studio recordings for such acts as Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, and Shalamar.
In 1984, McClain took a job as the director of black music at A&M where he tapped the young production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to work on a project with Janet Jackson who, at the time, according to a statement from the estate, “had essentially been written off by the label”.
McClain’s intervention led to Jackson, Jam and Lewis turning out Jackson’s first blockbuster, Control and thereafter her Rhythm Nation. He also signed Human League, Atlantic Starr, Jesse Johnson and other blockbuster artists and is credited as the mastermind behind the creative pairing of Herb Alpert and Janet Jackson on the hit track Diamonds.
In 1989, Ted Field lured McClain to the nascent Interscope Records. At the time, McClain happened into a studio where Dr. Dre (Andre Romell Young) was recording The Chronic, which inspired him to initiate the deal to finance and distribute Death Row Records. Dr. Dre mentions John in “The Defiant Ones”.
McClain also persuaded Interscope to branch out into gospel and R&B by signing label deals with Kirk Franklin and Teddy Riley. Both pacts produced multimillion-selling urban hits that crossed over into the pop mainstream.
“John McClain was vital to the inspiration, direction and spirit of Interscope,” Jimmy Iovine told the Los Angeles Times. “He is one of the great music men in this business.”
He returned to A&M in 1997 as President of Black Music and reignited the careers of Atlantic Starr and Barry White and signed Ice Cube and his partner Terry Carter which resulted in the hit soundtrack to The Players Club. He also made deals with rapper Kurupt’s Under Pressure label and Shaquille O’Neal’s Twism label.
In 2001, while at DreamWorks Records he signed Ron Isley; the album The Isley Brothers featuring Ronald Isley aka Mr. Biggs went straight to #1. He then created one of the most innovative and beautiful music pairings with Burt Bacharach and Ron Isley who went on to record the acclaimed album of Bacharach classics, Here I Am.
At the American Music Awards in 2002, Michael Jackson said: “I like to thank people that are very important in my life, my mother and father, John McClain…” Michael Jackson named McClain as co-executor of the estate in his will, along with attorney John Branca.
McClain’s father started L.A.’s jazz scene by opening the famous It Club, where such artists as Miles Davis and John Coltrane often appeared. His mother, Dorothy Donegan, a child prodigy pianist who studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, appeared with Lena Horne in several movies during the 1940s, performed at Carnegie Hall and appeared on the Muppets show.
John once said during his tenure at A&M, “We want to create an environment at A&M; that thrills musicians–a place where kids want to hang,” McClain said. “You know, African Americans have always led the art form in terms of musicianship and playing in this country. From blues to jazz to rock to pop–it all comes out of black music.”
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