One day after Michael Jackson’s sudden death, speculation was already turning on Friday to what killed the 50-year-old ”King of Pop” just weeks before his long-awaited series of comeback concerts.
Jackson, a former child star who became one of the best-selling pop artists of all time before a descending into a strange and reclusive lifestyle, died on Thursday afternoon at a Los Angeles hospital, where he had been rushed in full cardiac arrest after collapsing at his nearby rental home.
His passing was front-page news around the world, airwaves were filled with his greatest hits from Thriller to Billie Jean, social networking sites were bombarded with messages, and tributes from fans and musicians continued to pour in.
”It’s so sad and shocking,” said former Beatle Paul McCartney. ”I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever.”
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Few details were known about the circumstances surrounding Jackson’s death, but the entertainer was reportedly unconscious and not breathing by the time he arrived at UCLA Medical Centre, and doctors were unable to revive him.
His body was flown by helicopter from the hospital to the coroner’s office late on Thursday.
Brian Oxman, a spokesperson for the Jackson family, told CNN on Thursday the family had been concerned about his health and had tried in vain to take care of him for months.
”Michael appeared at rehearsals a couple of times, he was very seriously trying to be able to do those rehearsals,” Oxman said of Jackson’s preparations for a series of 50 concerts that were scheduled to begin in London in July.
”His use of medications had gotten in the way, his injuries which he had sustained performing, where he had broken a vertebrae and he had broken his leg from a fall on the stage, were getting in the way,” Oxman told CNN.
Authorities have scheduled an autopsy for Friday. But they cautioned it could take weeks to determine a cause of death, which will likely have to wait for the return of toxicology tests. Those tests will determine if Jackson had any drugs, alcohol or prescription medications in his system.
Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery Homicide division searched Jackson’s home in the upscale Holmby Hills neighbourhood of Los Angeles at the behest of Chief William Bratton. But they called the investigation an ”every day” event.
Tainted talent?
Jackson dominated the charts in the 1980s and is considered one of the most successful entertainers of the past century, with a lifetime sales tally estimated at 750-million records, 13 Grammy awards and several seminal music videos to his name.
”Michael was and will remain one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived,” said Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jackson’s first label boss.
”He was exceptional, artistic and original. He gave the world his heart and soul through his music.”
But Jackson’s reputation as a singer and dancer was overshadowed in recent years by his increasingly abnormal appearance, and bizarre lifestyle, which included his friendship with a chimp and a preference for the company of children.
He named his estate in the central California foothills Neverland Valley Ranch, in tribute to the JM Barrie’s Peter Pan stories, and filled it with amusement park rides and a petting zoo.
Jackson was twice accused of molesting young boys and was charged in 2003 with child sexual abuse. He became even more reclusive following his 2005 acquittal and vowed he would never again live at Neverland.
Facing a battered reputation and mountain of debts that the Wall Street Journal reported ran to $500-million, Jackson had spent the last two months rehearsing for the London concerts, including Wednesday night at the huge Staples Centre arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.
Despite reports of Jackson’s ill-health, the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March Jackson passed a 4,5-hour physical examination with independent doctors.
”I can’t stop crying over the sad news,” Madonna said in a statement. ”I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats but his music will live on forever.”
Medication
Amid the global tributes to Jackson, friends highlighted the mounting stress and dependence on medication as a possible cause of the his sudden death.
Among heartfelt tributes from Hollywood and music superstars, speculation mounted about the cause of death.
Oxman told CNN of concerns about Jackson’s use of drugs, saying members of the star’s entourage were ”enablers”.
”This is not something that has been unexpected … because of the medications which Michael was under,” Oxman said.
”The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him … If you think that the case of Anna-Nicole Smith was an abuse, it was nothing to what we have seen in Michael Jackson’s life.
”I do not know the extent of the medications that he was taking but the reports we had been receiving in the family is that they were extensive,” Oxman added.
Jackson’s former producer, Tarak Ben Ammar, denounced the doctors around the late pop icon as ”criminals”.
”It’s clear that the criminals in this affair are the doctors who treated him throughout his career, who destroyed his face, who gave him medicine to ease his pain,” he told France’s Europe 1 radio.
”He was a hypochondriac and one never really knew if he was sick because he had become surrounded by charlatan doctors who were billing him thousands and thousands of dollars worth of drugs, vitamins…,” said the Tunisian producer.
Moonwalk
Jackson was born on August 29 1958 in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children and first performed with his brothers as a member of the Jackson 5.
His 1982 album, Thriller, yielded seven top-10 singles. The album sold 21-million copies in the United States and at least 27-million internationally.
The following year, he unveiled his signature ”moonwalk” dance move, gliding across the stage and setting off an instant trend, while performing Billie Jean during an NBC special.
In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley’s only child, Lisa Marie, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
”I’m so very sad and confused with every emotion possible. … This is such a massive loss on so many levels, words fail me,” Presley said in statement.
Jackson married Debbie Rowe the same year and had two children, before splitting in 1999, and he later had another child with an unidentified surrogate mother.
He is survived by three children named Prince Michael I, Paris Michael and Prince Michael II, known for his brief public appearance when his father held him over the railing of a hotel balcony, causing widespread criticism. — Reuters, AFP