Gary Indiana Native Michael Jackson Dead at 50

[Confluence Logansport]

From The New York Times

Michael Jackson, the singer, songwriter and dancer who earned the
title “King of Pop” in a career that reached unprecedented peaks of
sales and attention, died Thursday at 1:07 p.m. Pacific time, a Los
Angeles city official confirmed. He was 50.

The circumstances of Mr. Jackson’s death were not immediately clear.
He was unconcious when rushed to UCLA Medical Center on Thursday
afternoon by paramedics who performed C.P.R., according to the Los
Angeles Fire Department.

Mr. Jackson’s 1982 album “Thriller!” is the best-selling album of all
time, claiming global sales of more than 100 million copies. But Mr.
Jackson was a star before and after “Thriller!,” from his days as the
piping lead singer of the Jackson 5 to his increasingly bitter final
albums. He was forever a paradox: a precocious child star, a childlike
grown-up, a superhumanly skilled performer who always appeared
vulnerable, a figure who pursued worldwide fame only to find himself
besieged and embittered by media attention. In the 1980’s, he was the
embodiment of American pop success, with his ubiquitous hits and video
clips, his one white glove and his moonwalk, dancing across stages and
heard on radio worldwide. But that success could not last forever, and
Mr. Jackson struggled in its aftermath.