Michael Jackson dead at 50

LOS ANGELES

For his legions of fans, he was the Peter Pan of pop music: the little boy who refused to grow up. But on the verge of another attempted comeback, he is suddenly gone, this time for good.

Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American tale of celebrity and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure haunted by lawsuits and failed plastic surgery, died yesterday afternoon at UCLA Medical Center after arriving in a coma, according to a city official. He was just 50 years old, 39 of which he spent in the public eye he loved.

Jackson was pronounced dead at 1:07 p.m. Pacific Time. He had been rushed to the hospital, a six-minute drive from the rented mansion in which he was living, shortly after noon by paramedics. "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.

As with Elvis Presley or the Beatles, it is impossible to calculate the full effect he had on the world of music. At his peak, he was indisputably the biggest star in the world and has sold more than 750 million albums. Radio stations across America reacted to his death with marathon sessions of his songs. MTV, which was born in part as a result of Jackson's groundbreaking videos, reprised its early days as a music channel by showing his biggest hits.

From his days as the youngest brother in the Jackson Five to his solo career in the 1980s and early 1990s, Jackson was responsible for a string of hits like "I Want You Back," "I'll Be There" "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" "Billie Jean" and "Black and White" that exploited his high voice, infectious energy and ear for irresistible hooks.

As a solo performer, Jackson ushered in the age of pop as a global product -- not to mention an age of spectacle and pop-culture celebrity. His early career with his brothers gave way to a solo act in which he became more character than singer: his sequined glove, his whitened face, his Moonwalk dance move became embedded in the cultural firmament.

But not long after his entertainment career hit high-water marks -- Thriller from 1982 has been certified platinum 28 times -- it started a bizarre disintegration. His darkest moment undoubtedly came in 2003, when he was indicted on child-molesting charges. A young cancer patient claimed that the singer had befriended him and then sexually fondled him at his Neverland estate near Santa Barbara, Calif., but Jackson was acquitted on all charges.

He was an object of fascination for the media since his first hit, "I Want You Back," in 1969. His public image wavered between that of the musical naif, who wanted only to recapture his youth by riding on roller-coasters and having sleepovers with his friends, to the calculated mogul who carefully constructed his persona around his often baffling public behavior.

Jackson had been scheduled to perform 50 concerts in London beginning next month. The shows were positioned as a potential comeback, with the potential to earn him up to $50 million, according to reports.

But there had also been worry and speculation that Jackson was not physically ready for such an arduous run of concerts, and Jackson's postponement of the first of those shows from July 8 to July 12 fueled new rounds of gossip about his health.

Jackson is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.

Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Ind., on Aug. 29, 1958. The second youngest of six brothers, he began performing professionally with four of them at the age of 5 in a group that their father, Joe, had organized the previous year. In 1968 the group was signed by Motown Records.

The Jackson 5 was an instant phenomenon. The group's first four singles -- "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" -- all reached No.1 on the pop charts in 1970, a feat no group had accomplished before. And young Michael was unquestionably the center of attention -- he handled virtually all the lead vocals, danced with energy and finesse, and displayed a degree of showmanship rare in a performer of any age.

In 1971 Jackson began recording under his own name, while also continuing to perform and record with his brothers. His recording of "Ben," the title song from a movie about a boy and his homicidal pet rat, was a No.1 hit in 1972.

Jackson's first solo album for Epic, Off the Wall, released in 1979, yielded four No.1 singles and sold 7 million copies, but it was a mere prologue to what came next. His follow-up, Thriller, released in 1982, became the best-selling album of all time and helped usher in the music-video age. The video for the album's title track, directed by John Landis, was an elaborate horror-movie pastiche that was more of a mini-movie than a promotional clip, and played a crucial role in making MTV a household name.

Seven of the nine tracks on Thriller were released as singles and reached the Top 10. The album spent two years on the Billboard album chart. It also won eight Grammy Awards.

Such accomplishments would have been difficult for anyone to equal, much less surpass. Jackson's next album, Bad, released in 1987, sold 8 million copies and produced five No.1 singles and another state-of-the-art video. It was a huge hit by almost anyone else's standards, but an inevitable letdown after Thriller.

It was at this point that Jackson's bizarre private life began to overshadow his music. In 1987, Jackson paid about $17 million for a 2,600-acre ranch 125 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Calling it Neverland after the mythical island of Peter Pan, he outfitted the property with amusement-park rides, a zoo and a 50-seat theater, at a cost of $35 million, according to reports, and the ranch became his sanctum.

Then came the child-molestation trial, a lurid affair from which Jackson never recovered. Media from around the world came to watch as Jackson, wearing a different costume each day, appeared in a courtroom in Santa Maria, Calif., and a parade of witnesses spun a sometimes-incredible tale. Jackson's accuser said that the defendant had gotten him drunk and molested him several times.

Jackson walked away a free man to try to reclaim a career already in decline for years. He largely left the United States for Bahrain, the island nation in the Mideast. But despite the public-relations blow of his trial, Jackson and his ever-changing retinue of managers, lawyers and advisers never stopped plotting his return.