The world is now in mourning the death of the man, the artist, the icon, Michael Jackson.
At 6:38 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, June 25, the body of pop icon Michael Jackson was lifted away from the UCLA Medical Center and transported to the L.A. coroner's office.
Crowds of people stood outside of the hospital devastated – heads bowed, eyes watered. People began to swarm the hospital grounds around 12:30 p.m. when the singer was rushed to the hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest in his L.A. home.
Michael Jackson is the King of Pop. As a solo artist, Jackson had more than 13 No. 1 singles, performed more than 15 world tours and sold more than 750 million albums worldwide.
He began singing at the tender age of 5 with his brothers in the world-renowned band, The Jackson Five. From 1964 until 1976, The Jackson Five produced a number of hits including “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I'll Be There.” The group performed on numerous tours, a family variety show and broke both musical and racial barriers around the world.
In 1977, Jackson began what would be a long, lucrative and innovative solo career. In his solo debut, Off the Wall, he recorded hits such as “Rock with You” and “Dirty Diana,” establishing him as a force to be reckoned with in the world of music. In 1984 alone, Jackson won eight of his career total of 13 Grammy awards for the groundbreaking, chart topping album Thriller, which went on to become the highest selling album of all time.
While Jackson continued to reign supreme in the music world his eccentric personality, strange relationships and outlandish spending habits, led the public to question the man behind the music. Lawsuits, tabloids and documentaries continuously attacked the star. Everyone who could probe into his personal life in attempts to expose the truth behind allegations of child molestation did. Yet, through it all, Michael Jackson remained the King of Pop and a star who stole the hearts of millions.
“Watching Mike as a child was like watching magic,” said Phillip Jones, a sophomore jazz studies major. “The way he would draw the audience into his performance was simply amazing to me.”
Michael Jackson's death has shocked the world, and despite the recently filed $20 million lawsuit against the singer, his upcoming “This Is It” tour, which featured 50 performances at London’s O2 arena, sold out within the first minutes of opening the box office. The tour was scheduled to begin July 13.
Jackson’s “Thriller” video changed the concept of music videos; every concert of his was an unforgettable experience; everything from his attire to the way he wore his hair was distinctive and memorable. The man behind the music of the MTV generation has passed on, but his legacy lives on through artists he has influenced and the avant garde pop he is responsible for creating.
“He was the greatest entertainer of our century,” said John Miller, a sophomore theater administration major. “He raised the bar for what a concert was supposed to look like [and] he changed our culture with the way he danced and sung. Most of his music-classic, most of his life-tragic, but he will always be remembered as the best. His sorrowful life, unfortunately, brought us happiness.”
Michael Jackson’s family members have expressed grief after the loss of their brother, but have requested the media to respect the family during this tough time. No statements have been released stating exactly what caused the singer’s sudden death.
A Jackson family spokesperson, Brian Oxman, told CNN reporters that they “tried in vain to take care of him for months,” as some of the medications he was taking because of injuries he had sustained from performances were causing problems during his rehearsals for the upcoming tour. The coroner’s office has yet to perform all of the tests that will confirm what sparked the full cardiac arrest that the singer was in as he was rushed to the hospital unconscious.
Cardiologist Dr. O.S. Randall of Howard University Hospital and professor in the School of Medicine explained what cardiac arrest is and how it could have been induced.
“Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops beating efficiently or pumping enough blood to move oxygen to the vital organs,” Randall said. “Either [the heart] doesn’t beat at all or it beats too fast or too irregularly which causes ventricular fibrillation. Everyone whose heart fibrillates dies, unless it can be defibrillated – which is the shock to regulate the rhythm.”
The causes of cardiac arrest include extreme heart disease, a potassium deficiency, or reactions to certain medications. In some cases the cause is idioplasmic or unknown, however he said that is rare.
“It is unlikely that this fatal episode was due to blocked arteries or heart disease –Jackson wasn’t old, he wasn’t fat, diabetic and he had no history or signs of blocked arteries,” Randall said. “A guy who dances like he dances would have known beforehand if he had heart problems. People in good physical condition have low incident rates of heart trouble unless they were born with an abnormality or something else went wrong.”
The cause of the death of this legend will remain a mystery until the Los Angeles coroner’s office releases further information on the autopsy.
“His life had a tremendous affect on so many people,” said Andrew Jones, a senior legal communications major. “Hopefully his death will inspire those people to value their lives and live their dreams.”
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