John McClain, co-executor of the Michael Jackson estate, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 71 years old. Diana Baron, a spokeswoman for the estate, confirmed McClain’s death. The cause was complications from a fall.
After an illustrious career in the background of the music industry, McClain came into the Jackson family circle in the early 1980s and paved the way for Janet to become a superstar. Michael Jackson named McClain as executor in his will along with lawyer John Branca. McClain was instrumental in orchestrating Jackson’s posthumous comeback, including the release of two albums of archival material, two Cirque du Soleil shows, the Broadway hit “MJ: The Musical,” various films and documentaries, and the recent box office hit “Michael.” Forbes reported that Jackson’s estate has grossed more than $3 billion since the singer’s death in 2009.
“I am deeply devastated by the loss of my partner and brother John McClain,” Branca said in a statement. “As one of the great innovators in the world of music and music marketing, John was a visionary who looked beyond the mundane and into the future.
“When we were named in Michael’s will, I knew that he would bring a deep understanding of Michael’s music and that his friendship and devotion to Michael would carry all the great projects we were able to present to the world,” he continued. “He brought passion and conviction to everything he did and was the most generous of friends. It is difficult to imagine a world without him.”
“He recently produced the MEGA HIT ‘Michael’ and I’m so glad he lived to see his success!” commented Tracey Edmonds, entertainment producer at Edmonds Entertainment, on Instagram. “He was one of the smartest and funniest people I have ever met – but ABOVE ALL…he was such a KIND and ATTENTIONOUS SOUL in my life.”
McClain was born in Los Angeles to parents who were part of the city’s jazz scene and was raised by his aunt. His musical interests developed when he began taking piano lessons at the age of three. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, he switched to guitar in his youth and came into the influence of the Jackson family, where he became friends with Michael. His guitar skills earned him a spot in the R&B group The Silvers, of which he became musical director; He then played guitar on sessions for Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie and Shalamar.
Promotion at A&M
Gaining a foothold in the music industry, he took on the position of Director of Black Music at A&M in 1984. There he signed the Human League, Atlantic Starr and Jesse Johnson, among others. His greatest success was Janet Jackson.
He recognized the talents of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, members of Prince-affiliated funk group The Time, and nurtured their burgeoning producing careers – which had already included recordings with Klymaxx, Patti Austin and the SOS Band – by pairing them with Janet Jackson. She rose from the 1984 album Dream Street, which debuted at number 147 on the Billboard Top 200, to number one with Control; The album contained the title track of the same name and “Nasty”, which Jackson co-wrote with the producers. In 1989 they repeated the feat with “Rhythm Nation 1814”.
In 1987, McClain told Spin magazine that he felt he had received too much credit for Janet Jackson’s rebirth and explained his vision for her career. “I told her, ‘Leave Whitney [Houston] and Patti [LaBelle] “Sing your heart out,'” McClain said. “Just focus on being a female Michael Jackson – then you’ll give people something that’s even more exciting.”
“John McClain put A&M back on the map in no time,” Sylvia Rhone, chairwoman of Time Warner’s Elektra entertainment division and A&M’s competitor, told the Los Angeles Times in 1998. “The man is a genius.”
Paving the way for Dr. Dr
After joining Interscope in 1989, McClain helped create Dr. Dre persuaded Dre to start his own label, Death Row Records, by playing the rapper’s demo tape to Jimmy Iovine, and helped Interscope move into gospel and R&B with releases from Kirk Franklin and Teddy Riley. He returned to A&M in 1997 and worked in various capacities with Atlantic Starr, Barry White, Ice Cube, Kurupt and Shaquille O’Neal. An engagement at DreamWorks from 2001 brought him together with Ron Isley and Burt Bacharach.
The 1998 Times article reported that he negotiated a deal to bring Jackson’s label to A&M, although Jackson remained tied to Sony. They were also working on a Jackson 5 album at the time – a year after their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The newspaper reported that he was in the studio with the brothers in hopes of releasing the album before the end of the year; However, the album never materialized.
When Michael Jackson died in 2009, he named McClain as co-executor with Branca under a 2002 will. Jackson’s mother Katherine initially resisted her appointment, wanting to manage the estate herself and accusing them of conflicts of interest. Eventually a judge ruled that they would become the enforcers.
Jackson’s posthumous legacy
McClain, who stayed in the background and let Branca become the estate’s spokesman, organized the release of two posthumous albums – “Michael” (2010) and “Xscape” (2014) – and worked with Branca to cultivate the singer’s legacy beyond albums through theater productions and films. His most recent success was producing the biopic “Michael,” which has grossed $321 million in the U.S. alone since its April release, according to Box Office Mojo.
“I’m not the type of guy who needs a poll to figure out whether a song is good or not,” McClain told the LA Times in 1998. “I’m a musician. And what I want to do at A&M is to bring the art form back. I want this company to sign great songwriters and musicians who can improvise. I want A&M to create music that makes the hairs on your forearms stand on end.”
