Joel Katz, for decades one of the most powerful attorneys in the music business, has died, Variety has confirmed. No cause of death was cited but Billboard reports that he died “peacefully at home, with his wife Rikki by his side.”
Katz was founding chairman of the entertainment and media practice at the top law firm Greenberg Traurig and was also heavily involved with both the Recording Academy and the Country Music Association, and negotiated major deals for both, including middle-nine-figure deals for the Grammy Awards. He represented artists ranging from James Brown and Willie Nelson to Michael Jackson and Sen. Orrin Hatch over the years, and oversaw the
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