I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT WAS TRUE!
The King of Pop is dead.
Recording artist, entertainer and global superstar Michael Jackson has died from an apparent heart attack in Los Angeles, Calif. He was 50 years-old.
It was reported earlier by various news sources that Michael Jackson suffered a heart attack this afternoon at his home; paramedics were unable to revive him, TMZ reported.
The Los Angeles Fire Department is saying Jackson was not breathing when paramedics arrived.
Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
LA Times
Paramedics were called to a home on the 100 block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard. Jackson rented the Bel-Air home — described as a French chateau built in 2002 with seven bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 12 fireplaces and a theater — for $100,000 a month.
The home is about a six-minute drive from UCLA Medical Center.
Jackson has three children — sons Prince Michael 7, and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, and daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11.
The news comes as Jackson, 50, was attempting a comeback after years of tabloid headlines, most notably his trial and acquittal on child molestation charges.
In May, The Times reported that Jackson was living in a Bel-Air mansion and rehearsing for a series of 50 sold-out shows in London’s O2 Arena. Jackson had won the backing of two billionaires to get the so-called King of Pop back on stage.
The concerts had been scheduled to kick off July 13.
Johnny Caswell, a principal at Centerstaging, the Burbank soundstage where Jackson rehearsed for his London concerts, watched many of the run-throughs and said he was “absolutely shocked” by the performer’s death.
Jackson, he said, was “very frail” but approached the rehearsals with boundless energy.
“He was working hard. Putting four days a week in here. Six hours a day. Working hard. Dancing,” Caswell said. “We’re in shock over here.”
The performer moved from the Burbank facility to the Forum at the beginning of June, Caswell said.
Rand Phillips, the chief executive officer of promoter AEG Live, said in an interview last month that a medical screening of Jackson uncovered “no issues whatsoever.”
Screeners “declared him healthy,” Phillips said. “His cholesterol level is better than mine.”
But a physical may not have revealed a looming heart attack, said Dr. John Harold, a Cedars-Sinai Medical Center cardiologist.
“This is the type of patient who could have a stress test the day before and it could be completely normal, and the next day could have a plaque rupture and a fatal heart attack,” said Harold, who did not treat Jackson.
His backers envisioned the London shows as an audition for a career rebirth that could ultimately encompass a three-year world tour, a new album, movies, a Graceland-like museum, musical revues in Las Vegas and Macau, and even a Thriller casino.
Such a rebound could wipe out Jackson’s massive debt, estimated at $400 million.
Jackson needed a comeback to reverse the damage done by years of excessive spending and little work. He has not toured since 1997 or released a new album since 2001, but he has continued to live like a megastar.
To finance his opulent lifestyle, he borrowed heavily against his three main assets: his Neverland Ranch, his music catalog and a second catalog that includes the music of the Beatles that he co-owns with Sony Corp. By the time of his 2005 criminal trial, he was nearly $300 million in debt and, according to testimony, spending $30 million more annually than he was taking in.
Compounding his money difficulties were a revolving door of litigious advisors and hangers-on. Jackson has run through 11 managers since 1990, according to Frank DiLeo, his manager and friend of three decades.
Outside the white walls of the UCLA emergency center, the valets stand idle as dark-suited men move back and forth between the entrance and a number of parked black SUVs.
In the circle driveway a woman, who identifies herself as Jackson’s cousin, waits with a friend. A harried man in a suit gets out of his car and barks into his cellphone, “Did Latoya come in?”
Suddenly the sound of Jackson’s music blares from speakers on the balcony of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house across the street.
“Oh, now they’re playing Michael Jackson,” the man in the suit declared in exasperation into his phone.
As the music played, a gaggle of crying young girls gathered in the emergency room driveway until police moved them and all other bystanders back onto the sidewalk.
1 Comment
June 25, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Ironically, Farrah Fawcett died this morning. But this came out of the blue…The King of Pop.
Rest in Peace Michael!
You can’t get on the internet. Everyone is trying to find out what’s going on with Michael Jackson. This is unbelievable!