Powerhouse attorney Joel Katz, who at one point seemingly represented most of the top executives in the music industry, died today (April 18), peacefully in his Atlanta home, with his wife Rikki by his side. Katz, who was named Billboard‘s 2017 Lawyer of the Year, was 80.
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As the founding chairman of the global entertainment and media practice at Greenberg Traurig,Katz was a major kingmaker, not just serving as an attorney, but often placing executives in high-level positions while he looked at the music industry like a giant chessboard. During Grammy Week, Katz held court in a front booth at the restaurant at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles, rolling over client meeting after client meeting. He was also well-connected in political circles, easily able to get politicians, including former senator Orrin Hatch, on the phone. He also worked with foreign governments, including the African country of Gabon, to establish a music school.
“Joel was an original, one of a kind,” says attorney John Branca, who worked with Katz on the Michael Jackson estate. “Like a character from a novel, he was warm and empathetic with genuine concern for others. He was an effective advocate who could sell snow to an Eskimo. We miss him.”
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In addition to executives, he represented artists over the decades, including Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Faith Hill, Ludacris and Justin Timberlake, as well as industry organizations, including the Recording Academy and Country Music Association, often negotiating landmark television deals that set the standard for future pacts.
“Over the course of my 17-year tenure at the Academy, there were many, many areas and situations in which Joel played a part but perhaps one of the most significant was the [2016] renegotiation of the [CBS] network agreement for the broadcast of the Grammy Awards telecast,” says former Recording Academy chairman/CEO Neil Portnow. “The amount of time, thought, and strategic planning involved as one might imagine were massive and with Joel’s help, we were able to conclude the most lucrative and longest contract in the history of the academy at the time, and one that actually set the bar for other awards and similar properties to emulate. At the time, that deal gave the Academy the security and certainty for the decade to follow and in hindsight, was a transformative milestone…He truly loved the academy, all that it stood for, and as a builder and architect of growth and development by nature, provided many ideas, insights, and guidance in order to assist the organization in achieving goals and aspirations to that end.”
Current Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason similarly cites Katz’s tremendous contributions. “Joel was one of one and was instrumental in the Recording Academy securing the media rights deals that allow us to contribute to and impact the music community in profound ways,” Mason said in a statement to Billboard. “He was also a trusted and loved adviser to previous academy leaders and an influential person in music for decades. We send our condolences to his family and loved ones – he will be missed.” Katz was outside general counsel for the Recording Academy until the end of 2023.
In 2024, the Recording Academy presented Katz with its Trustees Award, which is given to non-performing individuals who have made significant contributions to the recording industry.
“We are saddened to learn of the passing of Joel Katz. Joel represented CMA for many years and was tireless in his efforts to expand the reach of our television specials,” added CMA CEO Sarah Trahern. “I first met Joel while working on Farm Aid with Willie Nelson in the mid 90s, and I quickly came to admire Joel’s drive and deep passion for this industry. I never visit the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills without thinking of Joel holding court at his table—hour after hour of meetings, always in motion. He was straight out of Central Casting, in the best way. My heart goes out to Rikki and the entire Katz family during this difficult time.”
The ebullient Katz often played an outsized role in his clients’ professional and personal lives, including officiating the wedding of longtime client Jason Owen, CEO of The Sandbox, to his husband, Sam Easley, in 2017.
“The architect is gone, but the blueprint he left behind—of boldness and belief in his clients —will shape this industry forever,” says Owen, whom Katz began representing in 2002. “Joel was my friend, my champion, and a once-in-a-lifetime force. He believed in me before I believed in myself. I will miss his laugh, his wit and his ability to bill me back for 15-minute conversations. I loved him like family and will miss him every single day.”
The Atlanta-based Katz grew up in the Bronx, but headed south to attend the University of Tennessee Law School in Knoxville on a scholarship while working nights at a Holiday Inn. (The law library at UT now bears his name.)
The first deal Katz negotiation was in 1971 for his client James Brown. In a 2019 interview with Billboard, Katz said the biggest thing he learned from Brown was “patience. He was very patient. He was one of the smartest people I ever met. He wasn’t educated; he had a doctorate of street-ology.”
For a short time, Katz operated his own record label through CBS (which became Sony). Among the signings to Kat Family Records were Bertie Higgins, whose “Key Largo” was a major hit in 1982 and has become a yacht rock staple, as well as Major Lance, who released 1983’s The Major’s Back through the imprint.
Deb Dugan, who was ousted as head of the Recording Academy in 2020 after a short tenure, accused Katz of sexually harassing her in a discriminationcomplaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Katz soundly denied the allegations.
Shortly thereafter, he left Greenberg Traurig. “We were saddened to learn of the passing of our long-time colleague, Joel Katz, and his legacy will be remembered. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time,” Bobby Rosenbloum, chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s Global Entertainment & Media Practice, told Billboard.
Katz then joined Barnes & Thornburg in 2021, taking with him such clients as then-Universal Music Group Nashville head Mike Dungan and then-Sony Music Nashville chief Randy Goodman. He is listed as “retired” on the firm’s website.
“It was an honor and a privilege for us to work along side Joel in the final years of his career,” says Barnes & Thornburg partner Jason Karlov, who is chair of the firm’s entertainment, media and sports practice group. “For as long as I can remember he was the consummate counselor, partner, mentor and friend.”
Katz was also a major philanthropist, donating much of his time to the City of Hope and T.J. Martell Foundation, where he served as a board member and then chairman of the board. At the University of Georgia campus at Kennesaw State University,Katzendowed and began a commercial music program with more than 500 students. As he advised younger attorneys in Billboard, “Don’t do everything you do for money. Give back to the organizations that are good. Help people do things. It will make you a better lawyer, it will make you a better person, and you will rise in the community of this business.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters. A service will be held April 22 at 3 p.m. at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs, Ga., followed by Shivah at 5 p.m. April 22-24 at Temple Sinai in Atlanta.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in Katz’s memory be made to the Mayo Clinic: Joel and Rikki Katz PSP Research Fund.
