Michael Jackson Dies at 50

Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American tale of celebrity and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure haunted by lawsuits, paparazzi and failed plastic surgery, was pronounced dead on Thursday afternoon at U.C.L.A. Medical Center after arriving in a coma, a city official said. Mr. Jackson was 50, having spent 40 of those years in the public eye he loved.

The singer was rushed to the hospital, a six-minute drive from the rented Bel-Air home in which he was living, shortly after noon by paramedics for the Los Angeles Fire Department. A hospital spokesman would not confirm reports of cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm.

As with Elvis Presley or the Beatles, it is impossible to calculate the full effect Mr. Jackson had on the world of music. At the height of his career, he was indisputably the biggest star in the world; he has sold more than 750 million albums. Radio stations across the country reacted to his death with marathon sessions of his songs. MTV, which grew successful in part as a result of Mr. Jackson’s groundbreaking videos, reprised its early days as a music channel by showing his biggest hits.

Source: NY Times Added by: Jabril Faraj
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The music was danced to by everybody. I recall the diverse audience. The Motown sound attracted a lot of white people as well as black people. But [Mr. Jackson] was one of those individuals that had the ability to produce music that would cross racial barriers. It was just incredible.
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— Eddie Edwards, the former owner of television station WPTT in Washington, D.C.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Added by: Jabril Faraj