BREAKING NEWS: Pop King Michael Jackson Dies (World Watch)

By BosNewsLife North America Service with reporting by BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos

LOS ANGELES, USA (BosNewsLife)– Michael Jackson, who became known as ‘the king of pop’, has died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50.

His death came shortly after Jackson was rushed to the hospital, a fire department official said. Captain Steve Ruda said Thursday, June 25, that Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m.

The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda said. Jackson’s reported death ended a successful career as best-selling artist of all time with his Thriller album,  but also a troubled life that included a long trial in the 1990s over his alleged involvement in child abuse.

Anxious fans could be seen near the hospital and in front of his rented villa in Los Angeles.

His sudden death cut short plans of a major comeback with concerts plans in the United Kingdom and around the world.

NOT COMFORTABLE

Yet, the man who became a star at the age of 10, was never comfortable with being a ‘king of pop’, searching perhaps,  some Christian outsiders would argue, for the King of Peace.

“Most kings are destined to be remembered as kings, not as the person they had been before ascending to power. Even though Michael Jackson earned recognition as the ‘king of pop’, the legacy he leaves is that of a boy prince,” said Michael Ventre, a contributor for msnbc.com, the Website of the American network.

Jackson. he said, “was never comfortable in the adult world. Early on he recognized he would be the happiest in the land of Ferris wheels, cotton candy, docile animals and 24/7 playtime, and he clung to that life. He looked at film of the Jackson 5, circa 1968, noticed the front man was a kid, and wondered whatever happened to that boy’s childhood.”

As Michael Jackson passed away Thursday, June 25, “It’s always sad when parents outlast their children. It’s even sadder when the inner child and the adult can’t decide who will go first,” he added.

LOOKING BACK

Jackson often seemed to look back to his young life, which was reportedly marked by abuse, but also by major hits. At the tender age of 12, singing in his trademark high voice of startling maturity,  his “I Want You Back” shot immediately to No. 1.

Along with his brothers, Jackson went on to score two hits in dizzyingly quick succession: “ABC” and “The Love You Save.” .

The next single, “I’ll Be There,” proved Jackson could show tenderness and devotion as well as passion and ecstacy, music experts said.

Jackson finally emerged as a solo adult star, with 1979’s “Off The Wall” and in the early 1980s sold tens of millions of albums with his peak hit “Thriller” a disc which remains the biggest selling album of all time.

Yet he later became increasingly lonely and frail, reportedly suffering of a rare skin disease and other ailments.  His trial over alleged sexual abuse of minors, which he eventually won, also left its marks on Jackson, his friends and family members said.

STILL POWER

Jackson reminded the world again of his musical power as a artist with an exhilarating halftime performance at 1993’s Super Bowl XXVII before a U.S. TV audience of more than 135 million.

However, not long after the Super Bowl, he talked about his troubled childhood, his virtiligo and other tabloid issues in a wrenching 90-minute televised interview with television star Oprah Winfrey. Later that year, he was accused of sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy.

The stress of that situation led Jackson to become addicted to various painkillers and rather than stand trial, he ultimately settled with the boy’s family for $22 million, observers said.

His reputation never fully recovered, even when he married singer Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley later that year. They kept their Dominican Republic ceremony secret for nearly two months, and had an amicable parting two years later.

HIS STORY

Jackson’s 82-concert HIStory World Tour in 1996 was seen by 4.5 million fans. It was his biggest ever, and also his last. It was also during the tour that he married Deborah Rowe, a dermatologist nurse with whom he had two children —Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. They divorced in 1999, with Rowe giving Jackson full custody rights.

In 2002, Jackson had a third child, Prince Michael Jackson II, who he said was conceived via the artificial insemination of an unidentified surrogate mother. He raised eyebrows after he dangled the baby over a hotel room balcony.

The following year, he was charged with nine felonies relating to the molestation of a 14-year-old.

These charges came after a documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, showed him holding hands and discussing sleeping arrangements with the boy.

JACKSON ACQUITTED

Jackson was acquitted of all charges at a highly publicized trial five months later and he left the United States to live in Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah, a member of the royal family who had paid Jackson’s legal fees.

The superstar constantly struggled with his finances after the 2003 trial. However despite the controversies, for his fans he remained a king of pop, and visionary, urging to ‘heal the world’ in another song that captivated young and old.

He reportedly died with family members near his bed side in hospital, leaving behind many memories and questions over a remarkable but complicated man. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

Jackson passed away just hours after Actress Farrah Fawcett, who gained international fame from the TV-series “Charlie’s Angels”, died on Thursday, June 25 as she lost her battle against cancer.  She was 62.

“I am sorry to say our Farrah has passed to a better place and left the pain and confines of her bed behind,” her publicist said in a brief statement. “She is free to be the woman we all knew and loved. So Few have touched so many. You all keep Fighting the Fight,” the statement said.