Singer Michael Jackson 'dies'

Jackson was found unconscious at his home in Los Angeles by paramedics, reports said [AFP] Pop singer Michael Jackson has died after being found unconscious at his home in Los Angeles, US media reports say. Paramedics were sent to Jackson's home in the Bel-Air area of the city on Thursday at 12.21pm (2021 GMT), but they were unable to revive him, the Los Angeles Times reported. "Pop star Michael Jackson was pronounced dead by doctors this afternoon after arriving at a hospital in a deep coma, city and law enforcement sources told The Times," the newspaper reported on its website. The UCLA medical centre has not confirmed that Jackson has died, but the Associated Press reported that a person with "knowledge of the situation" had told them that the singer had died in hospital. Hundreds of people massed outside the hospital after news of Jackson's hospitalisation and death emerged. 'King of pop' The news comes four months after Jackson, 50, announced that he was to perform a series of 50 shows in London in July. Jackson was one of the biggest solo artists during the 1980s and 1990s [Reuters] The shows were seen as the beginning of a public comeback by Jackson, who had spent recent years countering a series of damaging allegations about his private life. The singer was acquitted in 2005 of charges alleging that he had committed abuses abuses against children and that he had plotted to kidnap the youth who had filed a complaint against him. Jackson reached the peak of his fame in the 1980s as a solo artist, after leaving his brothers in the already hugely-successful Jacksons. His 1982 album 'Thriller' went on to become the world’s then top-selling album of all time, with sales exceeding 41 million copies, cementing his image as the self-styled "King of Pop". But while Jackson's 1987 album 'Bad' was also a strong seller and helped him maintain his position as the biggest solo musical artist in the world, critics and fans alike began to pay increasing attention to dramatic changes in Jackson's physical appearance. Jackson repeatedly denied that he had had a series of plastic surgery sessions to alter his appearance, claiming that a rare skin condition was responsible. Jackson leaves three children from two marriages, the first to Lisa Marie Presley, who was divorced in 1996, and two to Debbie Rowe, who he divorced in 1999.