LOS ANGELES, California - MUSIC legend and world-renowned entertainer Michael Jackson passed away at age 50 yesterday (June 25) from cardiac arrest after being taken to the UCLA Medical Center.
Details were confirmed by Jackson’s brother Jermaine, who reported to the media that physicians attempted for over an hour to resuscitate Michael before he was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. Pacific Time.
News spread quickly as celebrity gossip website TMZ, and shortly after BBC, reported the grievous information.
A full autopsy is expected to be carried out this morning (June 26) and the results are expected to be released by the afternoon.
In a matter of minutes of the news being confirmed, family, friends and fans began flooding the internet with their memories of the man who defined three decades of pop music with his golden falsetto, and gave the world iconic images through his unique dancing and sense of fashion.
Jackson holds the Guinness World Record for the “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time”, having won 13 Grammy Awards and had 13 number one singles during his 32-year career as a professional musician.
Launching a solo career after the success of the family singing group The Jackson 5, Michael gained notoriety in 1979 when his debut record Off the Wall received high critical praise, thanks to hit tracks such as ‘Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough’, ‘Rock with You’ and ‘She’s out of My Life’.
Three years later, Jackson would release Thriller, and was quickly recognised as the type of musical talent that defined generations and would always remain in infamy.
Thriller wasted no time sky-rocketing to number one and was selling over one million copies per week during its peak in the early 80s. Seven of the nine tracks on the album reached the top 10 of Billboard Music’s Hot 100 listing, and three of those were written by Jackson himself.
Fans went crazy for singles such as ‘The Girl is Mine’, ‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, ‘P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)’ and the album’s title track. Videos from the album became pop art events in their own right, and undoubtedly helped make Music Television (MTV) a success.
The album continued to sell long after its release, and current estimates put it at roughly 110 million copies sold worldwide.
In his later career, Jackson became a tabloid favourite for his extravagant lifestyle and the unsavory rumours that surrounded it. He faced two trials, one in 1993 and the other in 2006, that accused him of sexually abusing children, but was acquitted of the charges both times.
Despite numerous other foibles in the media over the years and a occasionally bizarre personality that he seemed to play up, Jackson always remained a loved musical icon and continued to produce hit records, including Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory (1995) and Invincible (2001).
Jackson was in the midst of planning a 50-date sold-out comeback tour titled This is It before he died, which would have taken place later this year in London.
Reports indicate that Jackson’s famous family has gathered in Los Angeles to mourn his passing. The singer is survived by his three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince Michael II.
