John Gregory Branca (born December 11, 1950, in Bronxville, New York), is an entertainment lawyer and manager who specializes in representing rock and roll acts. He is also co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate.
Background
His mother, Barbara May Theresa Werle (October 6, 1928 - January 1, 2013) was an entertainer and Harvest Moon Ball winner who danced on The Ed Sullivan Show. Werle's acting credits include the Elvis Presley films Tickle Me, Harum Scarum (1965) and Charro! (1969); Battle of the Bulge (1965), The Rare Breed (1966), Gunfight in Abilene (1967) and Krakatoa, East of Java (1968), as well as recurring roles in the television series San Francisco International Airport (1970–1971) and The Virginian, during the 1960s and 1970s. She moved to Los Angeles when Branca was four to pursue her show business career. Branca lived with his father, also named John, who later served as the New York State Athletic Commissioner. (His uncle, Ralph Branca, pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers for many years, including the 1947 World Series. He is portrayed in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 as one of Robinson's earliest supporters.)
At age 11, Branca moved to LA, and at 13, started a rock band, The Other Half, for which he played guitar. Three years later, he played with a band that occasionally opened for The Doors at LA's Hullabaloo Club.
He majored in music at Los Angeles City College before transferring to Occidental College. Upon graduating, he enrolled at UCLA School of Law, serving as editor-in-chief of one of the law reviews, and received his degree in 1975.
While working as an estate planner at the firm of Kindel & Anderson, Branca came across a Time profile of Elton John which mentioned entertainment lawyers. Branca realized that this field of law was his true calling.
Career highlights
Michael Jackson
Branca was hired by Jackson after he fired his father Joseph Jackson as his manager of his career. He was also an instrumental in the production and release of Michael Jackson's Thriller short film..
Branca helped Jackson to purchase ATV Music Publishing in 1985 for $47,500,000 (which held the copyrights to The Beatles' and Little Richard's songs). Within a few years the catalog was worth more than $400,000,000. Branca was also instrumental in facilitating the merger of ATV with Sony, creating one of the world's largest independent music publishers.
In the Michael Jackson probate case, Branca produced Jackson's final will and testament, which designated Branca as executor. The Jackson family filed a preemptive probate action in the Los Angeles Superior Court, based on the allegation that Jackson died "intestate," without a valid will. Branca filed the will in Los Angeles on July 1, 2009, and was appointed co-executor. After initially contesting the appointment of Branca and John McClain as executors of Michael's will, his mother Katherine withdrew her objections on November 10, 2009. According to the Associated Press, her attorney, Adam Streisand, said "Mrs. Jackson felt it was time legal fighting ended and that her actions were in the best interest of Michael's children." In an interview published in December 2010 she was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying that Branca and McClain are doing "a very good job" managing the estate.
Projects for the estate that Branca initiated include the concert film Michael Jackson's This Is It, which Branca served as Executive Producer; Cirque Du Soleil's "Immortal" which toured from 2011 to 2014 and closed as the eighth-highest-grossing tour of all time; a second, permanent "Cirque" show, Michael Jackson: One at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, which opened in June 2013 and of which he is also a producer; a bestselling Ubisoft video game; a Spike Lee documentary, Bad 25, which Branca also served as producer; the 2014 #1 hit album Xscape; and the "Slave to the Rhythm" "holographic" Jackson performance featured at the Billboard Music Awards, the first of its kind. Additionally, Branca and the estate brought in Tony Award winning Director/Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage to create MJ the Musical, opening in February 2022, and an upcoming feature film about Jackson’s career produced by Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) producer Graham King that Branca hopes will become “the largest grossing, most acclaimed biopic in the history of Hollywood.”