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Post by formermi6agent on Jun 25, 2009 18:15:00 GMT -5
www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2009/06/25/obit-michael-jackson.htmlMichael Jackson dies at 50: reports
Last Updated: Thursday, June 25, 2009 | 6:58 PM ET Pop star Michael Jackson, who bridged the gap between black soul and white pop music, has died in Los Angeles on Thursday, according to media reports. He was 50.
Jackson had been rushed by ambulance to a Los Angeles-area hospital after suffering from cardiac arrest, according to a report from the Times.
Capt. Steve Ruda, an official with the Los Angeles Fire Department, told the Times that Jackson was not breathing when paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m.
The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper.
Police in Los Angeles have blockaded streets around Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Hundreds of fans and media gathered outside Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after reports began circulating that he had been transferred there.
His family were also reported to be on their way to the hospital.
There had been recent reports that Jackson was in poor health, and his London concert series, billed as a farewell to London, was postponed by a few days.
However, the concerts quickly sold out, a testament to the enduring appeal of the singer, known as the "King of Pop."
Jackson left an indelible mark on pop music, largely on account of his 1980s hits such as Beat It and Billie Jean.
His music set the world dancing, with a catchy beat and innocuous lyrics.
He also set a new standard for music videos with the creative and gripping Thriller, a horror-film spoof that Jackson wrote and produced with John Landis in 1983.
He won two Grammy Awards for the Thriller video, and MTV named it the best video ever made.
In recent years, he was much in the news for his financial and legal troubles, including the auctioning of personal items and the battle over his Neverland ranch.
His odd personal appearance and relationship with his children also detracted from his image.
But he remained one of pop's most successful musicians, winning 13 Grammy Awards and selling 750 million albums worldwide.
Thriller spent 37 weeks at top of pop charts
Born in Gary, Ind., in 1958, Michael Jackson began his music career at the age of five, joining his brothers Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine as the lead singer of the family pop music group, the Jackson Five.
The group played at nightclubs in the Gary area, and young Michael soon made a name for himself as a singer and dancer of exceptional ability.
In 1968, the Jackson Five signed with Motown Records and moved to California. The group ruled the charts in the late 1960s and early '70s, and its first four singles, I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save and I'll Be There, all became No. 1 American hits. The Jackson Five recorded 14 albums and Michael Jackson recorded four solo albums with Motown.
In 1978, Jackson made his film debut in The Wiz, playing the Scarecrow, with Diana Ross in the lead role of Dorothy.
Jakson's first big solo success was the 1979 album Off the Wall, which spawned a record-breaking four No. 1 singles in the U.S. and earned Jackson his first American Music Award.
His 1982 album Thriller made him a musical phenomenon. Produced by Quincy Jones, it spanned a number of pop genres and reigned for 37 weeks on top of the charts.
It produced seven hit singles, and the videos that accompanied them made Jackson's signature moonwalk one of the best-known dance moves in the world. His Bad, Dangerous and HIStory albums also were bestsellers.
In the 1980s, he racked up industry awards, honours from the United Negro College Fund and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as a reputation as one of the world's most beloved entertainers.
He was a key player in the all-star 1985 benefit single We Are the World, written by Jackson and Lionel Richie, which raised $60 million US for hunger relief in Africa.
Survived by three children, two ex-wives
But, in recent years, Jackson became better known for his troubled life, and his legal and financial problems, which included battling a variety of lawsuits from former business associates and creditors.
Revelations about Jackson's personal life in the documentary were one of the factors that resulted in his trial on charges of child molestation. He was later acquitted of all charges.
The months Jackson spent in court took their toll on him. He felt betrayed by Bashir, whom he had grown to trust, and he was forced to watch many former friends testify against him.
In recent years, there were talks of a comeback tour and another album, but neither materialized.
Jackson had two brief marriages — to Lisa Marie Presley, whom he married in 1994, and to Deborah Rowe, whom he married in 1996.
Rowe is the mother of his son, Prince Michael Jackson Jr., and his daughter, Paris Michael Katherine. Jackson's second son, Prince Michael II, was born in 2001, to an anonymous surrogate mother.
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Post by Ace on Jun 26, 2009 6:16:35 GMT -5
Completely shocking.
================================================
Michael Jackson's Musical Legacy Will Endure
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 26, 2009; 3:24 PM
Try, for a moment, to separate the art from the artist. Consider Michael Jackson's entertainment proffer in a vacuum-sealed space.
In that bubble, where Bubbles and all the peculiarities and plastic surgeries matter not one whit, you will find a man -- and, if you go back far enough into the archives, a child -- who was unquestionably one of the most transcendent performers in popular music.
He was Elvis with an androgynous tenor, Sinatra with a moonwalk and killer pop instincts, Prince with more mass appeal, John, Paul, George and Ringo with high-water pants, white socks and a single, sequined glove.
Jackson was a singular talent, even if he was sometimes derivative. He sang like Frankie Lymon by way of Smokey Robinson and Diana Ross, though his soulful, ingratiating voice sounded original and distinctive; to this day, it remains one of the most easily recognizable voices in the world.
He also danced with the explosiveness of James Brown and the smooth grace of Fred Astaire. Jackson was simply mesmerizing whenever he moved across a stage or TV screen -- never more so than on the 1983 special, "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever." The star-studded concert featured some of Motown's most legendary figures -- Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Four Tops and the reunited Miracles and Supremes -- but the night belonged to Jackson by virtue of his electrifying performance of "Billie Jean."
Who cared if he was lip-syncing? Those moves!! He was a dancing disco ball, all thigh slaps and tornado spins and kicks and slip-sliding feet. When he unleashed the gravity-defying moonwalk roughly 3 minutes in, it was over: Jackson had had his Elvis-(or the Beatles)-on-Ed Sullivan moment, producing the defining performance of his career.
It didn't hurt that "Billie Jean" was a truly potent single, a state-of-the art song built around a sharp, simple drum pattern, an indelible bass line and an undeniable melody. Jackson sang it mostly in that high, feathery tenor of his, but he occasionally slipped into falsetto, mostly to add his signature "HEE hee" vocal licks. The lyrics were no laughing matter, though, as Jackson was sneering about paternity suits.
His star power was staggering from the very start: The Jackson 5 crashed onto the pop radar in 1969 with "I Want You Back," an exuberant song about a guy who's having second thoughts about dumping his lover. Never mind that Jackson wasn't even a teenager when he recorded the lead vocal, nor that he had a child's soprano; he sang it convincingly, his pleading voice exploding from the speakers.
When the brothers went on TV to sing the up-tempo song, the cherubic Michael was front and center as the featured singer who happened to be a dazzling dancing machine. How could you not be hooked?
As a child star, Jackson was a preternaturally gifted vocalist who had advanced emotional range, whether he was singing the aching, bereft "Never Can Say Goodbye" or the tender promise of a ballad, "I'll Be There."
When he finally went solo, his lyrical themes shifted, becoming more confrontational, hardened and paranoid -- an apparent side effect of not actually having a childhood to enjoy.
But more striking was how his sound developed.
Jackson's instincts as a songwriter, producer and recording artist were nearly unrivaled in the early stages of his solo career, when he and Quincy Jones were crafting of-the-moment, genre-spanning hits. Jackson's official introduction as a solo artist came with 1979's "Off the Wall," whose lead single, "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," was a slick, giddy amalgam of disco and funk coated with a pop sheen. Thirty years later, it's still a surefire dance-floor-filler for club DJs who need to send a jolt through the room.
Jackson's epochal "Thriller" album was produced and mixed to within an inch of its life yet managed to sound completely vibrant, whether it was the rhythmically complex album opener, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," or the tough-sounding gangland rocker "Beat It," which Eddie Van Halen sends into overdrive with a fleet-fingered guitar solo.
The latter song was Jackson's first rock crossover, but he was hardly a newcomer to color-blind pop; how fitting, then, that he'd be the artist to break through MTV's color barrier. (It was especially appropriate given that Jackson was elevating music videos from a mere promotional tool to an actual art from.)
Jackson eventually lost his place at the forefront of pop music; by 1995, his songs were starting to sound as though they'd been cryogenically frozen in a previous decade.
Still, in his heyday, he was the Michael Jordan of pop, the performer against whom all other wannabes were -- and continue to be -- measured. That's particularly true of high-voiced male singers who favor R&B and can't stand still onstage (Usher, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, etc.), though his considerable influence crossed gender lines: Beyoncé and Britney have both cited Jackson as one of their greatest inspirations.
Of course they did; Michael Jackson was a masterful performer whose prowess onstage, in videos and in the studio has never been matched in the pop space.
He was one of the greats -- not for nothing did the King of Pop moniker stick -- and his face is destined to be carved onto pop's Mount Rushmore. It's just too bad that so much of the discussion surrounding the tribute will be about how Jackson's nose should look on the monument.
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Post by formermi6agent on Aug 10, 2009 20:40:07 GMT -5
artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/michael-jackson-film-to-be-released-in-october/?partner=rss&emc=rssAugust 10, 2009, 3:54 pm Michael Jackson Film to Be Released in OctoberBy Ben Sisario Hours after a judge in Los Angeles approved a deal for a movie using footage of Michael Jackson’s concert rehearsals, Sony announced that the film, “This Is It,” would be released on Oct. 30 in theaters around the world. Named after Mr. Jackson’s planned 50-date engagement in London, the film is to include scenes of Mr. Jackson rehearsing at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, along with a career retrospective and interviews with friends and collaborators, and parts of it will be in 3-D, the announcement said.
Sony paid $60 million to make the film, as part of a deal between the studio, the Jackson estate and AEG Live, the concert promoter, which shot the rehearsals. Until permanent executors are confirmed, Judge Mitchell Beckloff of Los Angeles Superior Court must approve deals made by the interim administrators, John Branca and John McClain. The two were named as executors in Mr. Jackson’s will.
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Post by brosnangirl on Aug 24, 2009 10:01:24 GMT -5
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Post by formermi6agent on Aug 29, 2009 10:29:33 GMT -5
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!!!!!!!!
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Post by formermi6agent on Sept 2, 2009 22:22:11 GMT -5
www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/1002569/1/.htmlFinal farewell as Michael Jackson laid to rest
Posted: 03 September 2009 1007 hrs
LOS ANGELES : Family and friends of Michael Jackson will bid a final farewell to the tragic King of Pop here Thursday as the singer is laid to rest in a private ceremony at a star-studded Los Angeles cemetery.
More than two months after Jackson's sudden death from a drug overdose on June 25, mourners will gather for a sunset service in a mausoleum at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park - a cemetery that is home to a galaxy of celebrity graves.
The service will be in stark contrast to the lavish public memorial held at Los Angeles's Staples Center in July, which was attended by 20,000 fans and beamed live around the world to an estimated audience of 1 billion.
Police in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale on Wednesday urged Jackson devotees to stay away from the funeral, warning that the neighbourhood surrounding the cemetery's entrance would be on lockdown.
"A special request would be to encourage fans to stay at home," a statement said. "The closure of the streets for the day will not afford anyone the opportunity to get anywhere near the gates."
Police helicopters and search dogs would patrol the 300-acre (120-hectare) cemetery, on the lookout for any fans trying to sneak into the service, which is due to take place at 7:00 pm (0200 GMT Friday).
Jackson will be interred inside Forest Lawn's Great Mausoleum, an elaborate neo-classical building inspired by Genoa's famous Campo Santo.
Jackson's gold-plated casket will be placed in a private section of the crypt that is also home to the final resting places of famous names from Hollywood's golden age such as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Carole Lombard.
Other entertainment icons buried at Forest Lawn include Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn and Jimmy Stewart.
Although open to the public, the funeral home is renowned for its strict privacy, and unlike many other Hollywood cemeteries does not provide maps.
"The Great Mausoleum where he is going is like the Holy Grail of grave hunters," Scott Michaels, who runs a sightseeing tour specialising in the macabre side of Hollywood, told The Los Angeles Times.
"There are cameras all throughout it, and if you are just wandering about, they will find you and kick you out."
One of Jackson's brothers, Marlon, meanwhile revealed in an interview with a British newspaper that the singer's children - Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince Michael II, 7 - would leave notes in their father's coffin.
Jackson said messages reading "Daddy we love you, we miss you," would be placed in the casket alongside the singer's trademark single white glove.
On Wednesday a Los Angeles judge supported a request from Jackson's mother, Katherine, that the cost of the service should be paid for by her son's estate.
A lawyer for the two entertainment industry figures who control Jackson's fortune said the costs of the service would be steep.
"The expenses will be extraordinary, but Michael Jackson was extraordinary," Jeryll Cohen said, without specifying the anticipated bill.
Los Angeles coroners said last week Jackson's death was being treated as homicide and revealed the star had six drugs in his body when he died, including propofol, a powerful anesthetic.
Propofol is used to induce unconsciousness in patients undergoing major surgery in hospital. Medical professionals say it should never be used by private individuals at home.
The coroner's announcement fuelled speculation that authorities may charge Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, in connection with the death. Cardiologist Murray was the last person to see Jackson alive.
Jackson, one of the most influential figures in pop music history whose four-decade career included the highest-selling album of all-time, "Thriller," had been preparing for a July concert comeback at the time of his death.
- AFP/il
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Post by brosnangirl on Sept 3, 2009 9:46:37 GMT -5
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Post by formermi6agent on Sept 3, 2009 18:14:21 GMT -5
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6820912.eceFrom Times Online
September 3, 2009
Three months after his death, Los Angeles prepares to put Michael Jackson to rest
More than three months after he was killed by a lethal cocktail of anasthetic and sedatives, Michael Jackson was tonight due to be laid to rest in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
The private service for family and friends only, with press coverage limited to one pool photographer and one TV camera, was expected to begin at 7pm local time (3am BST).
By this afternoon, police had set up a perimeter outside the cemetery, and the Federal Aviation Authority had restricted all flights within a three-mile radius.
Although the cost of the service has been redacted in court documents, a lawyer representing the administrators of Jackson’s estate has called it “extraordinary”.
Nevertheless, the estate was this week given permission by a judge to cover the burial expenses - including the purchase of 12 burial spaces, instead of one - but only after proving that it could afford them.
“Mrs [Katherine] Jackson and her family wish to honor her son by a funeral that seeks to offer solace to his multitude of fans and by which the family also may be comforted,” wrote Burt Levitch, a Jackson family lawyer, in documents submitted to the court.
It is thought that the biggest expense is the fee charged by Forest Lawn for Mr Jackson to be interred within its 300-acre, lavishly landscaped and decorated grounds.
Designed in the early 1900s as an antidote to “unsightly, depressing” traditional graveyards, Forest Lawn’s theme park approach to death was infamously satirised by the British writer Evelyn Waugh in his 1948 novel The Loved One.
Mr Jackson, whose death at the age of 50 has now been officially ruled a homicide with his former doctor expected to be charged with manslaughter, will be laid to rest in the cemetery’s Great Mausoleum, alongside such Hollywood icons as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and WC Fields.
The singer’s remains will be stored in crypt in the Holly Terrace section of the mausoleum, surrounded by newly installed statues and stained glass windows.
With Mr Jackson’s burial site likely to become a major draw for tourists, negotiations over where he should be laid to rest caused some friction within the singer’s family.
Mr Jackson’s brother, Jermaine Jackson, lobbied for the singer’s body to be buried in a Graceland-style museum at his former Californian ranch, Neverland. But those who live near Neverland objected - the property is located in rustic 'wine country’, north of Santa Barbara - and the singer’s 79-year-old mother decided on Forest Lawn instead.
During Mr Jackson’s life, Neverland became synonymous with the child abuse allegations which dogged the singer’s career, and it is thought his mother came to the conclusion that her son wouldn’t have wanted to be laid to rest there.
In addition, Forest Lawn is only a 20-minute drive from Mrs Jackson’s home in Encino, a wealthy part of the San Fernando Valley. She lives there with Mr Jackson’s three children, Prince, Paris, and Blanket, after a custody arrangement was reached in July with their biological mother, Debbie Rowe.
The cost of security for Mr Jackson’s funeral is expected to be $150,000 at the most, with the Glendale police department providing everything from sniffer dogs to air support. A spokesman said that the burial would not divert resources away from the wildfires still burning in the northern canyon suburbs of Los Angeles.
Mr Jackson’s burial comes a month after his public memorial concert in downtown Los Angeles.
But it will not end the controversy over how he died. Ever since Mr Jackson’s death was ruled a homicide - after his brain was temporarily removed from his body for testing - there have been rumours that the singer’s former doctor, Conrad Murray, is facing imminent arrest. Dr Murray had been giving Mr Jackson a hospital-grade liquid anesthetic to help him sleep at night.
Dr Murray, who was paid $150,000 a month to treat Mr Jackson ahead of his comeback tour at London’s O2 arena, was also giving the singer’s sedatives. The doctor’s lawyer has said that his client did not give Mr Jackson anything that “should have” killed him.
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Post by formermi6agent on Sept 3, 2009 18:16:39 GMT -5
www.canada.com/entertainment/dates+after+Michael+Jackson+death/1959514/story.htmlKey dates after Michael Jackson's death
Agence France-Presse
September 3, 2009 4:02 PM
LOS ANGELES - Key dates following the sudden death of pop star Michael Jackson, who was to be buried later Thursday:
— June 25: Michael Jackson dies at age 50 in his Los Angeles home of an apparent cardiac arrest.
— June 26: The Los Angeles coroner says after an initial autopsy that there was "no indication . . . of foul play" in Jackson's death. A final ruling is deferred pending toxicology tests.
— June 27: Jackson's family says it wants a second autopsy. The doctor who was at Jackson's home on June 25, Conrad Murray, says he is not a suspect in the death.
— June 29: A Los Angeles court names Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, 79, temporary guardian of his three children, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince Michael II, 7, as well as of his estate, which includes his Neverland ranch and rights to songs by The Beatles.
— June 30: A former nurse who cared for Jackson says the pop star pleaded with her to provide him with a powerful anesthetic in the last months of his life to help him sleep.
— July 4: Reports surface saying investigators had found the powerful sedative propofol at Jackson's home.
— July 7: Jackson is honored by a televised, star-studded memorial celebration in Los Angeles watched by millions around the world.
— July 12: Jackson's sister La Toya alleges, in interviews with British newspapers, her brother was "murdered" by a "bad circle" of hangers-on.
— July 22: Federal agents search Murray's offices in Houston, Texas, as his lawyers say police are treating the star's death as possible manslaughter.
— July 28: Police raid Murray's Las Vegas home.
— August 3: A Los Angeles judge names Katherine as permanent guardian of the star's three children following an agreement granting visitation rights to his ex-wife Debbie Rowe for Prince Michael and Paris.
— August 10: The Los Angeles County coroner's office says it has completed the autopsy, but will not release the results until police complete their investigation.
— August 24: Court documents are unsealed revealing Murray told investigators two days after Jackson's death that he had been giving him nightly propofol injections for six weeks to treat chronic insomnia.
— August 28: Coroners rule Jackson's death a homicide, saying "acute intoxication" from propofol was the primary cause of death but that his body also contained five other powerful prescription drugs.
— August 29: Fans around the world mark what would have been Jackson's 51st birthday.
— September 3: Jackson is to be buried in a sunset service in a mausoleum at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
© Copyright (c) AFP
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Post by formermi6agent on Sept 3, 2009 18:25:49 GMT -5
I wonder if Pierce listens to MJ's songs.
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Post by brosnangirl on Sept 5, 2009 6:20:31 GMT -5
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Post by brosnangirl on Sept 14, 2009 11:38:40 GMT -5
"This is it" trailer !!!
Magic is born
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Post by formermi6agent on Oct 11, 2009 0:26:20 GMT -5
Anyone here seeing MJ's This Is It in theaters?
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Post by brosnangirl on Oct 11, 2009 5:00:37 GMT -5
Yes I am!!!! I have tickets for the 31st of October, I also pre-ordered the new album & have tickets for Thriller Live tribute show (first time in Belgium)
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Post by formermi6agent on Oct 16, 2009 11:54:46 GMT -5
Anyone else?
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