WOW!

Michael Jackson died yesterday (Thursday) afternoon from cardiac arrest at U-C-L-A Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 50.

From the details disclosed thus far, Jackson went into cardiac arrest at the home he was renting with his three children in Los Angeles at about 1:00 p-m. In a statement made by his brother Jermaine last night, his personal physician was apparently with him at the time. Paramedics responded and rushed Jackson to U-C-L-A Medical Center. At about 2:30 p-m, Jackson was pronounced dead at the hospital. His body was flown in the early evening from the medical center -- which was engulfed by throngs of fans who'd spontaneously gathered around the facility -- to the Los Angeles County Coroner's office. An autopsy is expected to be conducted today.

The Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery and Homicide Division is handling the investigation, but foul play is not believed to be involved. A police spokesman indicated that the division was chosen due to the media involvement.

Jackson family spokesman Brian Oxman painted a shocking picture in a telephone interview with C-N-N. He said the Jackson family has "been trying for months and months and months to take care of Michael Jackson. The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him. If you think that the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, it is nothing in comparison to what we have been seeing taking place in Michael Jackson's life."

---

A superstar before he hit his teens, Jackson was one of the most successful artists of all time, with millions of fans around the world. He had 13 number-one hits and won 13 Grammys. However, the latter part of his life was marred by odd behavior and legal woes -- including an infamous child-molestation charge -- eclipsing the talent he was originally known for.

Jackson was born the fifth of six brothers to Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Indiana in 1958. He began his professional career in The Jackson Five with brothers Jermaine, Marlon, Jackie and Tito. After being discovered by Suzanne De Passe, then an assistant to Motown founder Berry Gordy, they signed to the label and became Berry's star artists. The Jackson Five set a record when their first four singles -- "I Want You Back," "A-B-C," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" -- charted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

After scoring countless hits with the Jackson Five, Michael went solo and recorded his first disc, Off the Wall, with producer Quincy Jones. Released in 1979, the album solidified Michael as a bona fide solo star with hits such as "Rock With You," "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and the title track. It earned him countless awards and honors, including an induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

His second album, 1983's Thriller, is the biggest-selling disc of all time. Not only did it spin off classics including "Beat It," and "Billie Jean," the video for the title track became a cultural phenomenon.

Michael released Bad in 1987, which would prove to be his last major effort. His third album from Epic and the final album with Quincy Jones, Bad had lower sales than Thriller but was still a commercial success, with "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Man in the Mirror" and the title track.

In the years following, Michael's behavior became stranger and stranger, making him the outcast he'd always pegged himself as. What started with a small rhinoplasty in the '70s morphed into an apparent addiction to plastic surgery. With each album he released -- including 1991's Dangerous and 1995's History -- his physical appearance became odder and odder. His skin appeared to have been bleached, which he blamed on the disfiguring skin disease vitiligo. His album sales plummeted as well.

After a devastating trial on child sexual abuse charges in 2005, he was eventually acquitted. Jackson then traveled the world with his three children, landing in Dubai for a time (the prince of a neighboring emirate, Bahrain, who was his benefactor, would later sue him) and, eventually, near Las Vegas. Despite mounting debts, he turned down all offers to return to any semblance of a musical career. He battled creditors -- even sanctioning a 2009 auction of a number of his personal belongings and allowing his beloved Neverland Ranch to go into foreclosure to raise much-needed funds.

Finally, earlier this year Jackson announced a run of 50 shows in London, which all sold out in minutes. They were to begin in early July, but last month he postponed all but one of the concerts until March 2010, prompting speculation about his health.

Michael Jackson is survived by his three children -- two by former wife Debbie Rowe, Prince Michael the First and Prince Michael the Second, and Paris, born to an unidentified mother.

Michael Jackson's Number-One Hits, according to Billboard

Ben	1972
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough	1979
Rock With You	1979
Billie Jean	1983
Beat It	1983
Say Say Say (with Paul McCartney)	1983
I Just Can't Stop Loving You	1987
Bad	1987
The Way You Make Me Feel	1987
Man in the Mirror	1988
Dirty Diana	1988
Black or White	1991
You Are Not Alone	1995