<== Michael Jackson. Photograph by: Hector Mata, AFP/Getty
VANCOUVER - Michael Jackson has died at 50, the Los Angeles coroner's office confirmed Thursday.
The pop superstar suffered cardiac arrest and failed to respond to CPR given by paramedics in the ambulance that responded to a 911call to his L.A. mansion just after noon.
His sister, pop star LaToya, ran in the hospital sobbing after Jackson was pronounced dead, the web site TMZ reported. He had gone into a deep coma after the heart attack.
"The King of Pop" was in rehearsals for a massive concert agenda at London's O2 Arena, where he was scheduled to perform at 50 sold-out shows starting on July 13.
Joe Jackson, Michael Jackson's father, told EOnline the family was informed that the singing star has been taken to hospital. The family is reportedly gathering at the deceased singer's bedside.
A Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman said that Jackson wasn't breathing when emergency workers arrived at 12:26 p.m. Thursday, The L.A. Times reported.
Parademics performed CPR and took Jackson to the UCLA Medical Centre.
Entertainment Tonight has posted a photo on its website of the singer being led away by paramedics. Calling it the exclusive last photo of the pop star, it can be viewed at etonline.com.
After years of bad press regarding his trial and acquittal on child molestation charges, Jackson was hoping the O2 concerts would signal a comeback.
The Times reported the pop icon was living in a Bel-Air mansion and was in rehearsal for the shows. It said he was being funded by two billionaires to ensure the success of the venture.
Jackson is in massive debt, and was hoping the shows would restart his career with a world tour, new album and movies.
The O2 concerts would have attracted some 750,000 fans.
RollingStone reported that for the concerts, Jackson was seeking a children’s choir that knew sign language and was “exactly equal” in racial diversity.
Word of Jackson’s passing has spread online, already garnering tributes. Longtime friend and collaborator Quincy Jones issued this statement:
"I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news. For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words.
Divinity brought our souls together on The Wiz and allowed us to do what we were able to throughout the 80's.
To this day, the music we created together on "Off The Wall," "Thriller" and "Bad" is played in every corner of the world and the reason for that is because he had it all...talent, grace, professionalism and dedication.
He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever.
I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."
Former Barenaked Ladies frontman Stephen Page has Twittered on Jackson “you saved a very shy and awkward 12 year old boy in 1983. Thank you.”
Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, the seventh child of the Jackson family. He debuted at a talent show with his brothers in The Jackson 5 at the age of six in 1964.
His groundbreaking videos featured well-crafted, danceable pop songs, accompanied by his signature dance steps, of which the reverse-sliding "moonwalk" was the most famous.
They included such mega-hits as Beat It, Billie Jean and Thriller, which helped make popular such newborn music-television stations as MTV and MuchMusic.
While known for financial and legal challenges in later years, the pop star earlier won global adoration for his performances and charity work. He funneled millions of dollars through his foundation.
He is included in the Guinness Book of World Records several times; one for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time."
He teamed up with producer Jones to make Off the Wall (1979) which yielded four hit singles and then Thriller with its dance, rock and pop tunes that produced seven Top Ten singles and stayed on U.S. charts for over two years. By 2009 it had sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.
In 1985, he wrote the famine relief charity single We Are The World with Lionel Richie, which became one of the fastest selling singles of that era.
The multi-Grammy winner enjoyed album sales of 750 million albums.
Jackson earned the monicker "Wacko Jacko" in the 1980s for exhibiting behaviour many considered bizarre. He purchased a chimpanzee and named him Bubbles. Bubbles shared a bathroom with the pop star. Jackson claimed the simian buddy also cleaned his room.
He then reportedly bought the bones of The Elephant Man, a misshapen man and the subject of a popular movie.
His skin grew paler and his nose more aquiline and shape of his lips changed.. Some reports say he was trying to look increasingly like one of his musical heroes, former Supreme Diana Ross.
He came to hate the term "Wacko Jacko."
He was later diagnosed with vitiligo, making him extremely sensitive to sunlight. Some reports said the treatment he took for condition lightened his colour.
While his fans stood by him, the press often savaged him. He told one reporter: "Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you're a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight", people would say, "Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He's cracked up. You can't believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth."
After two, ultimately unproved, allegations in 1993 and 2003 of sexually abusing young boys during sleepovers at his Neverland Ranch in California, Jackson never recovered the exuberance and musical creativity that marked his youth.
After his acquittal in 2005 on charges of sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy, Jackson shut the gates of Neverland and began a nomadic lifestyle in Bahrain, Dubai, Ireland and Las Vegas while battling lawsuits over his dwindling finances.
Jackson said repeatedly that he loved children and would never harm them but he was often forced to defend his views on sharing his bed with children. “Children love me. I love children ... They want to be with me. But anybody can come in my bed. A child can come in my bed if they want,” he said in a 1996 U.S. television interview.
Michael, once married to Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis, is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.
With a file from Reuters
