Michael Jackson Dead At Age 50
Posted June 25, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, has died at the age of 50 after suffering cardiac arrest.
The massively popular and controversial entertainer was rushed to UCLA Medical Centre Thursday afternoon.
L.A. Fire Dept. Capt. Steve Ruda said emergency crews responded to a call at Jackson’s home near Sunset Boulevard. When they arrived he wasn’t breathing and couldn’t be revived.
Jackson was in the midst of an ambitious comeback when tragedy struck. He is survived by three children, won 13 Grammys and had 13 No. 1 hits during his solo career, putting him behind only Elvis, The Beatles and Mariah Carey.
A cultural icon for 40 years, word of Jackson’s death sent immediate shockwaves through a world that took careful note of his many highs and lows over the decades.
Recent years were defined by relative obscurity as he suffered financial and physical setbacks that could be traced all the way to the years that followed the 1982 release of his Thriller album, still the world’s biggest record of all-time having sold some 26 million copies.
Jackson also helped shatter the race barrier on MTV and was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation known for his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and high-pitched voice punctuated with squeals.
His single sequined glove and tight, military-style jacket were also trademarks, second only to his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Jackson’s looks changed dramatically through plastic surgery and he became the subject of widespread curiosity following the purchase of a massive property he christened Neverland Ranch.
Jackson also caused a furor in 2002 when he playfully dangled his infant son, Prince Michael II, over a hotel balcony in Berlin while fans watched from below.
In 2005 he was cleared of charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. The case followed years of rumours about Jackson and young boys stirred a TV documentary in which he acknowledged sharing his bed with children, a practice he described as sweet and not at all sexual.
But the case and rumours took a toll on his career and image and plunged him further into financial trouble.
There were also suggestions Jackson whitened his skin, although he insisted his paleness was the result of a medical condition. Either way, by the end he looked nothing like the boy who first met the music world along with brothers Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie and Tito as part of The Jackson Five in the early 1970s.
Born in Gary, Indiana on Aug. 29, 1958, he began singing at just four years old.
Jackson’s death Thursday coincided with that of another 1970s icon, Farrah Fawcett, who succumbed to cancer at age 62.
Well into Thursday night crowds continued to gather outside the Los Angeles hospital where he died and at makeshift vigils around the world, the start of a lengthy stretch of memorials and tributes celebrating the massive legacy Michael Jackson leaves behind.
With files from The Associated Press
Photo Credit: Michael Jackson announces plans for Summer residency at the O2 Arena at a press conference held on March 5, 2009 in London, England. (MJ Kim/Getty Images)
