John McClain, Who Rebuilt Michael Jackson’s Estate From $500M in Debt, Dies at 71

John McClain, the music executive who transformed Michael Jackson’s debt-riddled estate into a multi-billion-dollar empire, died Tuesday in Malibu. He was 71.

According to TMZ, which first reported the news, McClain had fallen at his Malibu home and was medevacked to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he was treated for a broken arm in the days before his death. He died Tuesday afternoon from complications related to the fall. A representative for the estate, Diana Baron, confirmed his passing. He was surrounded by friends and his nephew Warner Wright.

“I am profoundly grieved at the loss of my partner and ‘brother’ John McClain,” said attorney John Branca, his co-executor, in a statement. “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. 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 Estate He Helped Build

When Michael Jackson died in June 2009, he was reportedly close to half a billion dollars in debt — the result of years of extravagant spending and deteriorating business arrangements. McClain and Branca had been named co-executors in Jackson’s 2002 will, and when they stepped in, they inherited that debt alongside one of the most commercially powerful music catalogs in the world.

What followed was one of the more striking financial turnarounds in entertainment history. The two men cleared the debt and went on to generate billions through music releases, licensing, theatrical productions, and film. The posthumous projects included two albums of archival material, two Cirque du Soleil shows built around Jackson’s catalog, and the Broadway hit MJ: The Musical. Most recently, the estate produced the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson — the film has grossed close to $800 million at the global box office since its April 24 release, 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 the sale of half of Jackson’s publishing and recorded music catalog to Sony Music.

At the time of his death, McClain and Branca were in the midst of a legal dispute with Jackson’s daughter Paris — along with her brothers Prince and Bigi — over a court-ordered accounting of all attorney and estate fees from 2019 through 2024, with a compliance deadline set for September 15, 2026.

The Career Before the Estate

McClain was a Los Angeles native whose entry into music was practically inherited. His father owned the It Club, a jazz venue that hosted Miles Davis and John Coltrane; his mother was a pianist. He began his career as a music director and session musician, working with Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, and Lionel Richie, and later served as music director for R&B acts including the Sylvers and Shalamar.

His most consequential pre-estate role came at A&M Records, where he oversaw the label’s work with Janet Jackson and shepherded her breakthrough album Control (1986) — a record that repositioned her as an independent artist and became one of the defining pop albums of the decade. He also worked with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, and was responsible for urging the label to sign Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.

He had been close to the Jackson family since well before either of those roles, a quiet insider presence at the center of some of the biggest business decisions in pop music history. Per Variety, sources said he had been ill for several years, though the estate cited the fall as the official cause of death. No funeral arrangements had been announced as of Tuesday.