John McClain

Music executive associated with Jermaine Jackson, among others.

John McClain's career started at age 16, when he became the musical director for The Sylvers, having learned Berry Gordy's formula for artist development from McClain's classmate in high school, Jermaine Jackson. Much of his career was as an A&R man, first for A&M Records, where he helped launch Janet Jackson's career. In 1990, he ed Interscope, where his successes include g Gerardo and Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch, and forging a distribution deal with Suge Knight & Dr. Dre's Death Row Records (2). In 2000, he ed Dreamworks Records, where he is now Senior VP. In 2009, McClain and lawyer John Branca became the executors of Michael Jackson's estate, having been named in Jackson's 2002 will, the legitimacy of which is questioned by some of the Jackson family.