{"id":2411,"date":"2026-05-27T20:51:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/05\/27\/john-mcclain-co-executor-of-michael-jackson-estate-dies-at-71\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:51:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T20:51:00","slug":"john-mcclain-co-executor-of-michael-jackson-estate-dies-at-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/05\/27\/john-mcclain-co-executor-of-michael-jackson-estate-dies-at-71\/","title":{"rendered":"John McClain, Co-Executor of Michael Jackson Estate, Dies at 71"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\tJohn McClain, the music executive who served as co-executor of Michael Jackson<\/a>\u2018s estate for over a decade, has died. He was 71. <\/p>\n

\tMcClain died Tuesday following complications from a fall, representatives for the executive said, adding that he was \u201csurrounded by loving friends and his nephew Warner Wright.\u201d <\/p>\n

\tA Los Angeles native, McClain worked closely with the Jackson family since the 1980s, after getting his start in the business as a music director and session musician, with credits on records for the likes of Gladys Knight, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. McClain grew up around music; his father opened the It Club, which hosted jazz legends like Miles Davis and John Coltrane, while his mother was a pianist. \t<\/p>\n

\tAfter he was appointed director of Black music at A&M Records, he played a key role in developing Janet Jackson into a superstar, bringing her together with production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, leading to the creation of the albums Control <\/em>and Rhythm Nation. <\/em>He joined Interscope in the label\u2019s early days, playing a major role in signing Dr. Dre through the rapper\u2019s Death Row Records.<\/p>\n

\tA longtime friend of Michael\u2019s, he was named co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate alongside the pop icon\u2019s attorney John Branca, following the king of pop\u2019s death in 2009. Together, the duo has been instrumental in stewarding Jackson\u2019s musical legacy, navigating both financial difficulties and the controversy surrounding the sexual abuse allegations <\/a>against Jackson and keeping the late artist\u2019s business booming, most recently evidenced by Michael,<\/a> <\/em>which is on pace to become the top-grossing music biopic of all time.<\/a> \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI am profoundly grieved at the loss of my partner and brother\u00a0John\u00a0McClain,\u201d Branca said in a statement. \u201cOne of the great innovators in the world of music and music marketing,\u00a0John\u00a0was a visionary, seeing past the mundane and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhen we were named in Michael\u2019s will,\u201d Branca continued. \u201cI knew that he would bring great insight into Michael\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John McClain, the music executive who served as co-executor of Michael Jackson\u2018s estate for over a decade, has died. He was 71. McClain died Tuesday following complications from a fall, representatives for the executive said, adding that he was \u201csurrounded by loving friends and his nephew Warner Wright.\u201d A Los Angeles native, McClain worked closely with the Jackson family since the 1980s, after getting his start in the business as a music director and session musician, with credits on records for the likes of Gladys Knight, Diana Ross and Lionel Richie. McClain grew up around music; his father opened the It Club, which hosted jazz legends like Miles Davis and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,26,91,92,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hollywood","category-michael-jackson","category-music","category-music-news","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}