Shortly after noon Pacific time, Michael Jackson was rushed to UCLA Medical Center by ambulance after he collapsed at his home from cardiac arrest. When paramedics arrived at home of the 50-year-old King of Pop, Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda tells the Los Angles Times, Jackson wasn't breathing and the paramedics performed CPR. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital, which was just two minutes away. According to a statement by Jermaine, the doctors could tried to resustitate him for over an hour. LaToya, Joe Jackson and Michael's mother, rushed to the hospital. An autopsy is planned for Friday to determine specific cause of death.
As thousands of fans and celebrities digested what happened, Tito is said to have regrets that "he hadn't spoken to Michael in awhile."
A gifted musician for more than 45 years, Michael was a child star—achieving fame and fortune from the age of 11 and became the bigget pop star in musical history.
"Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color," the Rev. Al Sharpton said. "To say an 'icon' would only give these young people in Harlem a fraction of what he was. He was a historic figure that people will measure music and the industry by."
The son of a steelworker, he was born in Gary Indiana, at the time, the youngest of seven. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, a band his father formed with his brothers in the late 1960s. By the late '70s, as a solo artist, he was topping the charts with popular dance/pop tracks from "Off the Wall," including "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
In 1982, he released "Thriller," an edgier album that eventually produced seven hit singles, selling 80 million copies worldwide--and is still the biggest selling album in music history. An appearance the next year on a Motown Records 25th-anniversary special cemented his status as the biggest star in the country. For the rest of the 1980s, they came no bigger. "Thriller's" follow-up, 1987's "Bad," sold almost as many copies. A new Jackson album—a new Jackson appearance—was a pop culture event.
His next release, 1991's "Dangerous," debuted at No. 1 but "only" produced one top-ranking single —"Black or White" —and that song earned criticism for its inexplicably violent ending, in which Jackson was seen smashing car windows and clutching his crotch. That was only the beginning of the controversy, as Michael's later years found in embroiled in child molestration suits, a declaration that he had Vitiligo (to explain his color change), lawsuits, and more. Yet no matter what has ensued, Michael's music is what will endure and it has touched the hearts and souls of too many to number. He is survived by his three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince Michael.
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