Harold Kant; lawyer helped Grateful Dead protect legacy
LOS ANGELES - Harold "Hal" Kant, the Grateful Dead's longtime principal lawyer, who spent more than three decades helping protect the legendary rock band's lucrative musical legacy, died of pancreatic cancer on Oct. 19 at home in Reno, said his son, Jonas. He was 77.
Once described in the National Law Journal as a "conservative, Republican, poker-playing opera fan," the bearded, Bronx-born lawyer launched his 36-year association with the Northern California band in 1971.
Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir described Mr. Kant last week as a "dear friend" who was "most instructive to us."
"The Grateful Dead was known for its revolutionary approach to the music industry, and Hal was part and parcel of that," Weir said in a statement. "We wanted a place for humanity in a business that more resembled a nightmare circus than much else, and he helped us find it."
Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia, another founder of the band, died in 1995.
With tongue in cheek, Mr. Kant's Grateful Dead business cards described his title with the band simply as "Czar."
"He oversaw every aspect of their business, whether licensing, touring, trademarks, merchandise, or Garcia getting busted for drugs," said Jonas Kant, a music lawyer and a senior vice president at Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
"They were known for being a free-loving, peace-loving band, but he helped them run everything like a structured business," he said.
The elder Mr. Kant, who accompanied the band on various tours, "did all of their recording and music publishing agreements," his son said. "He was renowned for being very much ahead of his time in terms of protecting the artists' and songwriters' rights."
Mr. Kant ensured that the masters of the Grateful Dead's recordings and copyrights in the music would be owned by the band, his son said.
Dennis McNally, author of the 2002 biography "A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead," said Mr. Kant "was a significant force in keeping them together by having the business function well so that they could do what they wanted to do, which is play music."
When Ben & Jerry's ice cream produced a new flavor, Cherry Garcia, in 1987, McNally wrote in his book, the company did so without discussing the idea with Garcia. Although Garcia was unconcerned - "At least they're not naming a motor oil after me, man," he said - Mr. Kant convinced him that the issue should be addressed.
Mr. Kant remained the band's general counsel until around 2000, but he continued to represent Ice-Nine, the band's music publishing company, until his death.
He also was a lifelong poker player, who cut classes at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx to play penny poker with other kids in a clubhouse in the cellar of a tenement house.
With a penchant for wearing a cowboy hat and boots and smoking Cuban cigars, Mr. Kant began playing casino poker in 1984 and won the World Series of Poker in 1987.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Kant was a clerk for a US appeals court judge before he started a general business law practice and eventually began representing movie industry clients.
"The only attorneys in the music business were the attorneys for the record companies, and their job was to get as much money as they could for their company and leave as little as possible for the artists," he told The Boston Globe in 2000. "I decided, maybe the other guys should have an attorney, too."
He began by handling the Association and in time represented artists including Sonny & Cher, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hot Tuna, and Captain Beefheart. 