12:11 AM CDT on Friday, June 26, 2009 Michael Jackson, 50, died Thursday in Los Angeles as sensationally as he lived, as famous as a human being can get. He was a child Motown sensation who grew into a moonwalking megastar, the self-anointed King of Pop who sold 750 million records throughout his career and enjoyed worldwide adoration. But with that came the world’s relentless curiosity, and Jackson came to be regarded as one of show business’s legendary oddities, hopping from one public relations crisis to another.
Michael Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in Holmby Hills, Calif. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him at his home for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him. “It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known,” his brother Jermaine said. Police said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.
In the end there were two sides to the record: The tabloid caricature and the singer that his fans will always treasure. There were those whose devotion knew no bounds, who visited the gates of his private ranch north of Santa Barbara, Calif., arriving at Neverland on pilgrimages from Europe and Asia, and who were among the first to flock to UCLA Medical Center as news of his death spread Thursday. Those were the same kind of fans who camped out at the Santa Barbara Superior Courthouse, to show their support during his 2005 trial. They released doves and wept when he was acquitted.
Then there was the other kind of fan, who preferred to keep memories of the singer locked firmly in his 1980s prime: Today’s young adults all have memories of being toddlers and grade-schoolers who moonwalked. Even hard rockers will easily confess to the first album they ever bought: Thriller. “I am just devastated,” said Bridgette Cooper, 44, of Mitchellville, Md., who was driving her children to math tutoring when her 12-year-old got the news by text. “I don’t ever remember not loving him. … Even through the turmoil and the public spectacle, I still loved him and his music.”
Michael Jackson’s death set off an instant media frenzy befitting the later chapters of his stardom. Web sites began reporting that the singer had been taken to the hospital. Soon, streets in the neighborhoods around the hospital were closed and crowds of onlookers formed, much as they did wherever the singer had appeared. Soon, they were dancing and playing Jackson’s music. “No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow,” Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend had sent him. “It’s like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died.”
A star is born Jackson’s career began as a family business in Gary, Ind. As the Jackson 5, the group moved in comparably short time from local talent contests to national stardom. Two years later, when Michael was 12, the Jackson 5 had four No. 1 hits, including the Grammy-winning “ABC,” (which won a Grammy Award as best pop song) “I Want You Back” and “I’ll Be There.” At 15, his voice broke, giving him a range from soprano to tenor. Michael and his brothers continued performing as the Jacksons, and in 1978 Michael sang and danced as the Scarecrow in the film The Wiz , an all-black remake of The Wizard of Oz. Quincy Jones, who produced The Wiz’s soundtrack, agreed to produce Jackson’s next solo album. Their first collaboration, Off the Wall (1979), sold 9 million copies and had four Top 10 hits. In 1982, Jackson released his next, Thriller, which was also produced by Jones. It became an instant phenomenon, selling more than 40 million copies and yielding seven Top 10 hits, including “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and the title track.
In his 30s, Michael Jackson started to become more enigma than entertainer. He straightened his hair and nose, beginning a process of self-reconstruction that ultimately reached bizarre lengths. In time, Jackson’s skin turned from brown to a pale, ghostly white, his nose shrank from repeated plastic surgery, and his frame remained painfully gaunt. He wore outlandish costumes in public, spoke in an airy, high-pitched whisper.
His world devolved into a series of tabloid headlines that reported rumors or facts about everything from his curious pet ownership to the plastic surgeries that drastically changed him. He built a private playland, the sprawling Neverland, replete with an amusement park and zoo, to which he invited scores of underprivileged children. He was accused of abusing a child in the 1990s (a case which was settled out of court in 1994 for a reported amount between $15 million and $24 million).
Many misfortunes Jackson’s life seemed to play out as a metaphor on the delusions and cruelty of fame. He was unlucky in the art of public relations, and sometimes he was just unlucky, as when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. Other misfortunes he seemed to bring on himself – and theories about his behavior were never in short supply.
People loved to think they had cracked the mystery of Michael: He wanted his face to resemble Liz Taylor’s. He hated his appearance because his father and brothers used to tease him. He was repressed, he was asexual, he was an addict, he was a pervert, he was from outer space, he was a genius, he was stupid, he was insane. The truth was never known, and Jackson recoiled from media scrutiny and largely thwarted the assistance of image experts. The hits didn’t keep coming, but the headlines did: In November 2002, Jackson appeared to dangle his infant son over a Berlin hotel balcony while greeting fans and paparazzi below, which brought outrage.
Michael Jackson was planning to appear in a sold-out series of concerts in London next month that would have run until March. Promoters of the concerts had recently said that the singer had passed a physical examination to assuage any doubts he was ready for a comeback.
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