Jackson was in the Los Angeles area for rehearsals for his upcoming 50-show This Is It! run of concerts at London’s O2 Arena. As Rolling Stone reported, rumors suggest that Jackson was often absent from the rehearsals, requiring a stand-in to take his place. While no specific reasons were provided for why Jackson might be missing the rehearsals, questions regarding the King of Pop’s health have dogged the Thriller singer for years. Thus far, the four opening This Is It! shows have been postponed due to the “massive and technically complex” nature of the shows and not because of Jackson’s health, a representative for AEG Live, who is staging the O2 concerts, told Rolling Stone. No official confirmation or statement regarding TMZ’s report was available at press time.
Daniel Kreps
Michael Jackson Dies Posted Jun 25th, 2009 5:20PM by TMZ Staff
We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.
Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived, Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.
A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived.
LaToya ran into the hospital sobbing after Jackson was pronounced dead.
Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
Story developing…
