Michael Jackson has died at age 50 after being rushed to UCLA Medical Center, NBC News has confirmed.

Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Steve Ruda told the L.A. Times that Jackson was not breathing when paramedics arrived at his home and CPR was performed.

TMZ.com reported that he may have suffered cardiac arrest.
Jackson had been due to start a series of comeback concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer, whose hits included “Thriller” and “Billie Jean,” had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months.

The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within minutes of going on sale in March.

His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, makes him one of the most successful entertainers of all time.

He lived as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on charges of child molestation.
There were concerns about Jackson’s health in recent years but the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

“I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news,” said Quincy Jones, a longtime friend of Jackson’s and producer of his “Thriller” album. “For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words. … I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

A life in music
Jackson was born on Aug. 29, 1958, in Gary, Ind., the seventh of nine children. Five Jackson boys — Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael — first performed together at a talent show when Michael was 6.

They walked off with first prize and went on to become a best-selling band, The Jackson Five, and then The Jackson 5.

Jackson made his first solo album in 1972, and released “Thriller” in 1982, which became a smash hit that yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21 million copies in the United States and at least 27 million worldwide.

The next year, he unveiled his signature “moonwalk” dance move while performing “Billie Jean” during an NBC special.

SOURCE:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com

Los Angeles Fire Dep. Capt. Steve Ruda said to the Times that paramedics replied to a 911 call from the home. When they arrived, Jackson wasn’t breathing.

The paramedics performed CPR and took Jackson to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda said. Hundreds of writers gathered at the surgery awaiting word on his condition. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, declared relations rushed to Jackson’s bedside, where he was in a deep coma.

The circumstances of Jackson’s death remain confusing. Law enforcement sources said that L. A. Police Dept robbery-homicide investigators have opened an investigation into the death, though they stressed that there’s no proof of criminal wrongdoing.

The investigators plan to interview relations, buddies and Jackson’s doctors to try and work out what happened. The L.A. County coroner’s office will determine a reason for death. A Los Angeles Fire Office source told the Times that Jackson was in full cardiac arrest when rescue units arrived.

A doctor was in the house performing CPR on Jackson, announced the source who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media. Paramedics were called to a home in the hundred block of Carolwood Drive off Sunset Boulevard.

Jackson leased the Bel-Air home — called a French chateau built in 2002 with 7 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, twelve, and child Paris Michael Katherine, 11.

Jackson, fifty, died as he was attempting a comeback after years of tabloid headlines, most particularly his trial and exculpation on kid molestation charges.

In May, The Times reported that Jackson had rented the Bel-Air residence and was 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.

His backers envisioned the shows at AEG’s O2 as an audition for a career rebirth that could have ultimately encompassed 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 have wiped out Jackson’s massive debt.

If you want to watch any of Michael Jackson’s movie or videos, click here.

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