Michael Jackson Dies at 48

Practice News Story 5: Obituary

Posted: February 15, 2007, 9:23 p.m.

The world of popular music has lost their king. The “king of pop”, Michael Jackson was pronounced dead yesterday Feb. 14 at 11:37 a.m. at the UCLA Medical Center. Mr. Jackson was undergoing breast augmentation surgery when, due to complications of anesthesia, he died on the operating table. There has been no word as to why Michael wanted to perform this surgery, or the precise cause of death. It seemed too many of his fans that loved him, his untimely death is a tragedy, they said he had so much more to accomplish, Jackson was only 48.

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in the small town of Gary Indiana. He was the second youngest-brother of seven, and eight of ten children born to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. Michael started his illustrious career in music at a very young age when in 1966 he was co-lead with his brother Jermaine in their families group, the Jackson Five. In 1980 he finally won his first three music awards for his first solo album. Many more awards would soon follow. In 1983 while performing “Billie Jean” at The Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow concert Michael debuted what he is most famous for, his signature moonwalk. Thousands of pre-pubescent school boys were trying to master Michaels style and poise in the hallways of their school the next morning to no avail, it seemed as though he was magic. Then in February of 1984 Michael was nominated for twelve Grammy awards, of which he took home eight, he shattered the record for Grammy awards won in a single year. All of his awards stemmed from his groundbreaking album Thriller, which stayed at the top of Billboards Hot 100 list for months to come. Some said he was perfect in every way musically, Michael once said, "I believe in perfection, and I try to create that in everything we do. We never seem to totally get there, but I believe in perfect execution. And when we don't get at least 99.9%, I get really upset..." Although many did not agree with Michaels personal habits later in his life, almost all loved his music.

Michael will also always be known for all his humanitarian work through the entire world. His 1985 collaboration with Lionel Richie brought us, “We are the World”. This single, devoted purely for charity, helped raise money for the widespread famine in East Africa, and also gave Jackson the Grammy award for “Song of the Year”. Finally in 1989 Elizabeth Taylor presented Michael with the award for “Artist of the Decade”, and dubbed him, “the true king of pop, rock, and soul.”

Michael Jackson is survived by his two ex-wives, Lisa Marie Presley, and Deborah Jeanne Rowe, his two sons, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., and his daughter Paris Katherine Jackson. He is also survived by his close family: Joseph, Katherine, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Janet, La Toya, Rebbie, Randy, and of course all the fans that loved him dearly.