Michael Jackson dies after suffering cardiac arrest
The Source: /www.alarabiya.net - 26/06/2009
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Variety News
American pop icon Michael Jackson died Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest, according to the Los Angeles coroner
The Los Angeles Times' website first reported that Jackson, 50, suffered a heart attack just after 12:20 p.m. (1900 GMT) local time and that paramedics were unable to revive him, citing law enforcement sources.
Paramedics responded to a call at the pop star's Bel Air home and performed CPR, Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. According to reports he was not breathing and arrived at the hospital in a deep coma. He would have been 51 on Aug. 29.Fans immediately gathered outside the UCLA Medical Center, less than 10 minutes from where he was living, after the news broke.Jackson's 1982 Thriller album, featuring some of his most popular songs like Billy Jean, was the best-selling album of all time. And the video helped launch the music video genre.Jackson, whose career began to take off in the 1970s as the lead singer for the Jackson Five and soared to fame with his dance moves and off-the-charts pop anthems, was set to perform a 50 show concert series for more than 1 million people over the summer in London.Tickets for the comeback show at London's O2 Arena, which was to kick off July 8, sold out in a matter of hours after going on sale in March.In recent years he was most often in the spotlight for his odd behavior, including allegations of child molelstation and dangling his infant over from a balcony. He settled a child molestation case in 2005 for $10 million.
His appearance also became the focus of headlines over the years due to plastic surgery and a medical condition called vitiligo that causes skin to turn white.Jackson was first married to Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock and roll legend Elvis Presley, and later married an Australian nurse and fathered two children with her. The mother of his third child is unknown.
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Farah Fawcett dies
Another American pop culture icon, Farrah Fawcett, died Thursday at age 62 from cancer, according to her publicist Paul Bloch.
The actress who soared to fame as a national sex symbol in the late 1970s on "Charlie's Angels" and in an iconic swimsuit poster was diagnosed with a rare anal cancer in 2006.
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