John Gregory Branca (born December 11, 1950) is an entertainment lawyer and manager[1] who specializes in representing rock and roll acts.

His mother, Barbara May Theresa Werle (1928–2013) was an entertainer and Harvest Moon Ball winner who danced on The Ed Sullivan Show and appeared in many Elvis Presley films.

[4] 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.

[13][14] LeGrand further testified that in the report, dated April 2003, “I was given no credible evidence to support those charges; I would be doing Mr. Branca and Mr. Mattola a great wrong if I said otherwise.

[17] 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.

"[18] 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.

[19] Projects for the estate that Branca initiated include the concert film Michael Jackson's This Is It, which Branca served as executive producer,[20] and which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest-grossing documentary film at the global box office;[21] Cirque du Soleil's "Immortal" which toured from 2011 to 2014 and closed as the eighth-highest-grossing tour of all time;[22] 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;[23] 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, which opened in February 2022,[24] and an upcoming feature film about Jackson's career produced by Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) producer Graham King[25] which Branca hopes will become "the largest grossing, most acclaimed biopic in the history of Hollywood".

[26] In 2019, following the release of Leaving Neverland which focuses on two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who allege they were sexually abused as children by the singer, Branca and the rest of the estate condemned it as a "tabloid character assassination".

[27] The issues had caused them to file a $100 million lawsuit against HBO, petitioning the court to compel their arbitrate cooperation regarding the film's broadcast.

Instead, the estate claimed HBO had violated a 1992 agreement never to disparage Jackson's public image, stipulated in the terms for broadcasting his concert film Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour.

The suit sought to compel HBO to litigate the issue in a public arbitration process and claimed that the estate could be awarded $100 million or more in damages.

[35] In 1991, Branca put together a four-album deal for Aerosmith with Columbia Records/Sony Music, for an estimated $30 million, despite the band having two more remaining albums in their contract with Geffen Records at the time.

Documentary Films Today,” Branca stated: “The purpose of the First Amendment is supposedly getting at the truth, but the lack of defamation protection for an individual no longer living isn’t helpful in that regard.

In an interview Branca said the on-campus facility was a tribute to his uncle Ralph, a member of the school’s athletic Hall of Fame, and his father, who attended NYU on the GI Bill after World War II.

Before the facility was built, NYU players, including Branca’s son Dylan, one of the team’s pitchers, had to travel as far away as Brooklyn or Staten Island to practice.