A Death of a Legend...

Australia woke this morning to the news that our legendary King of Pop, Michael Jackson passed away aged 50.

Jackson was brought into UCLA Medical Centre where he was resusciated for over an hour before being pronounced dead to his close associates and family (7:26am AEST). A large crowd gathered outside the Medical Centre waiting for information about Jackson’s health as news spread that he was admitted to hospital with respitory problems, later being confirmed that it was in fact a heart attack.

Michael Jackson’s brother, Jermaine Jackson gave a press confrence shortly after and tried to remain as composed as he could saying, “My brother, the King of Pop Michael Jackson, is believed to have suffered cardiac arrest but the formal cause of death will not be known until his autopsy,” Jackson said.

“[Michael’s] personal physician, who was with him at the time, attempted to resuscitate my brother. As did the paramedics who transported him to Ronald Reagan UCLA medical centre,” Jackson said.

“Upon arriving at the hospital, at approximately 1.14pm (6.14am AEST), a team of doctors including emergency physicians and cardiologists attempted to resuscitate him. For periods of more than one hour. They were unsuccessful,” he said.

Jermaine went on to ask the public and the media to respect his families privacy during this tough time. The speech he gave was simple, composed and allowed the world to know what had happened to their icon.

Jackson is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.

There is and will be an enormous outpouring of grief the world wide as celebrities and everyday people come to grips with the reality that our much loved King of Pop has actually gone. Michael was two weeks shy of his comeback tour starting in London and the fans who were set to attend his high intensity shows will be devastated that their icon is no longer with us.

His 50 shows were a sell out in a matter of minutes when they went on sale earlier this year.

There are moments in time when someone who has impacted the world in a massive way passes, and it’s those times we remember ‘where we were when we heard’ and ‘how we felt when we heard’ the terrible news.

John Lennon, Elvis Presley and the iconic Princess Diana were all moments like this.

And it’s those irreplacable marvels that we grieve for.

RIP Michael Jackson.