Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop" who rose from poverty to stardom alongside his brothers in The Jackson 5 and solo success to become the most influential entertainer of his era, has died. He was 50.
Jackson suffered cardiac arrest and was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital on Thursday. One of his brothers, Jermaine, said at a news conference that Jackson's personal doctor as well as paramedics and a team at UCLA Medical Center tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him.
Jermaine Jackson said cardiac arrest was the likely cause of death, but that it wouldn't be certain until an autopsy. Police said the body was with the coroner's office, and that robbery-homicide detectives would investigate, which is customary in high-profile deaths.
For all Jackson's accomplishments in music and humanitarian endeavors, his entire adult life was one attempt after another to recapture a childhood he felt he'd never known. The oddity of his fixation came to a dramatic climax in a criminal trial that led to his acquittal on child molestation charges.
Jackson, responsible for 13 No. 1 songs, was preparing for a series of London comeback concerts he hoped would alleviate his massive debts and return him to the glory days of such hits as "Thriller," "Beat It," "Bad," and "Billie Jean." His singing and dancing abilities and iconic look — from his lone silver glove to his multi-zippered jackets — made him one of the most recognizable and celebrated human beings of all time.
Jackson's fame slipped in the 1990s as his chain of hits broke and he reached a legal settlement with the family of a boy who had accused him of molestation. Jackson was acquitted of separate molestation allegations in 2005 after a five-month trial that resulted in a unanimous not-guilty verdict.
He came from the most humble of backgrounds in Gary, Ind. His family's raw talent and the fierce will of his father, Joe Jackson, helped the Jackson Five achieve stunning early fame with Motown Records. Their hits included "ABC" and "I Want You Back." Jackson also yielded such solo hits at the time as "Rockin' Robin."
Jackson would later say that his early success robbed him of his childhood. He said his father would beat him and his brothers for missing steps in their dance routines, and that he never had a chance to live a normal life
Jackson is survived by his three children: sons Prince Michael, 7, and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., 12, and daughter Paris Michael Katherine, 11.
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