The legendary King of Pop Michael Jackson died earlier today after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Western Los Angeles, California.
Michael's brother Jermaine Jackson has just held a press conference on behalf of the family and said they are now awaiting the post mortem results on the cause of the death of the 51 year old who has been in the music industry since the 1960s.
Jermaine Jackson said doctors had tried to resuscitate the star for more than an hour without success.
CNN confirmed that Jackson died at about 11 o'clock this morning Fiji Time after being rushed to hospital.
The singer was not breathing when paramedics arrived at his Bel Air Home.
The paramedics performed CPR on Jackson as the ambulance took him to the UCLA medical centre.
Jackson's body was flown on a helicopter to a landing site before being taken to the coroner's office where a post mortem is expected to be carried out to confirm the cause of death.
Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5.
He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as Thriller and Bad.
Michael Jackson unleashed his pop masterpiece, Thriller in 1982 which rewrote the rule book on how pop is marketed, not least because of its ground breaking video clips.
The Thriller album is frequently named the biggest selling album of all time, 65 million copies according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
He caused jaws to drop around the world when he debuted the Moonwalk at a Motown television special in 1983.
Michael Jackson defined pop and was also the author of the ever popular We Are the World.
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King of Pop Michael Jackson dead
