2009 June

The King of Pop, whose stardom and scandal kept him permanently in the headlines, was found unconscious at his rented Bel Air mansion and was rushed to the UCLA Medical Centre. The 50 year old singer died of a massive heart attack at rented residence at Holmby Hills. The Los Angeles Fire Department was called to Jackson’s rented residence. The paramedics performed a CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) on Jackson who was not breathing at that time. He was than rushed to the UCLA Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana, Jackson was a child star with the Jackson 5 and became one of the most successful recording artists of all time with the release of the album “Thriller” in 1982 – the best selling album of all time. His successful songs redefined the modern music video and forced MTV to start showing black performers, and paved the way for the acceptance of rap and hip-hop as mainstream musical styles.

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

Fans react to Michael Jackson’s death

Video: Michael Jackson: “King of Pop” dies at 50 France 24

UPDATE

INTERNET SLOW DOWN AFTER MICHAEL JACKSON DEATH

The news of Michael Jackson’s death prompted a deluge of entertainment websites to slow down last night, with the likes of Twitter posting an apology for the service underperforming due to heavy demand.

The popularity of the King of Pop was plain to see when some of the internet’s biggest websites ground to a halt.

“We have had to temporarily disable search results from the logged-in homepage of twitter.com. We are working on the underlying problem and will bring back these features as soon as we can,” explained the Twitter blog during the midst of confusion over Michael Jackson’s death.

Broken by TMZ

Video: Death of Michael Jackson: star dies after suffering a cardiac arrest