Powerhouse attorney Joel Katz, who at one point seemingly represented most of the top executives in the music industry, died today (April 18), peacefully at home, with his wife Rikki by his side.
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.
He also represented artists and industry organizations, including the Recording Academy and Country Music Association, among others, often negotiating landmark television deals that set the standard for future pacts.
The Atlanta-based Katz, 80, grew up in the Bronx, but headed south to attend the University of Tennessee Law School 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.”
After decades at Greenberg Traurig, Katz 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.
Katz was also a major philanthropist, donating much of his time to the City of Hope and T.J. Martell. As he advised younger attorneys to 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.”
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