Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, is dead

UPDATED:

An autopsy is being conducted Friday to determine what caused the death of Michael Jackson, the Motown child singing sensation who became the King of Pop and enthralled the world with his music, dancing and antics. Mr. Jackson died Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest in a Los Angeles home. He was 50.

The pop icon, who in adulthood electrified America’s first music video generation, is being mourned by family, fans and celebrities around the globe.

Mr. Jackson’s death has resulted in widespread speculation about what exactly killed him — from poor health to a possible dependency on prescription drugs.

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The British tabloid The Sun reported, citing an Emergency Room source at UCLA Medical Center, that Jackson aides had said the singer collapsed and died after an injection of Demerol — a drug similar to morphine that also can cause breathing to shut down.

Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman told CBS: “I have said to family members that he is overmedicated.”

“I have warned that one day Michael Jackson would wake up dead, and that I would not be silent if that was the case, because of the misuse of medications,” he said.

The preliminary results of the autopsy by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office could be made available later this afternoon, but it could take weeks for any toxicology reports.

Mr. Jackson, who reportedly had a personal physician in his home Thursday, was preparing for 50 sold-out concerts at London’s 02 Arena and reportedly had to pass a lengthy physical for the concert promoters before signing up for the shows.

Mr. Jackson, named in the Guinness World Records as the “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time,” with 13 Grammy Awards, 13 chart-topping solo singles and more than 750 million albums sold worldwide, was just a few weeks away from those London performances aimed at reviving his career after years of bizarre tabloid stories and an acquittal on child-molestation charges.

He was declared dead at UCLA Medical Center at 5:26 p.m. EDT after doctors spent more than an hour trying to revive him.

His death stunned an unsuspecting nation, casting a cultural pall similar to three decades ago when an earlier generation’s iconic rock king, Elvis Presley, died an untimely death shrouded in mystery.

Hundreds of mourners streamed onto the streets near the hospital while radio stations coast-to-coast played nonstop Jackson music. Fans danced inside Harlem’s Apollo Theater to celebrate his accomplishments while Web users, young and old, pushed their favorite video remembrances onto YouTube, memorializing everything from the pop star’s famed single sequined glove and moonwalk routine to his barrier-breaking MTV video Thriller.

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