King of Pop Michael Jackson dead from heart attack at 50

Michael Jackson was a child prodigy, a musical genius and remains an idolised artist despite a troubled life in later years.
Los Angeles County Coroner's office spokesman confirmed the pop star's death on Thursday.
Lieutenant Fred Corral told CNN that Jackson, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:26pm local time, (0726 AEST) after reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest.
A life overshadowed by scandal
Michael Jackson started his career as a child star who fused R&B and soul before his life deteriorated amid increasingly freakish scandals.

Earlier, it was reported he was hospitalised on Thursday after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The Los Angeles Times and entertainment website TMZ.com said the pop icon had died after paramedics could not revive him.
Jackson told fans at a brief press conference in London in March that his planned London performances - his first major shows for more than a decade - would be his "final curtain."
For all his fame and legions of fans, Jackson has lived as a virtual recluse since he was acquitted in 2005 on charges of child molestation and plotting to kidnap his young accuser.
Despite his acquittal, the trial was a body blow from which the pop music superstar has yet to recover.
Four years later, the 50-year-old is still worshipped by fans for revolutionising music, dance and music videos at the peak of his success.
The attention however paid to him in recent years has been less flattering, focusing on apparent cosmetic surgery -- which he denies -- his baby dangling antics and a decade of swirling child abuse allegations.
Born on August 29, 1958, Jackson made his show business debut with four of his older brothers in the Jackson Five pop group, and went on to lead the stage clan with a piping soprano and dazzling dance moves.
By 1969, the group had signed a contract with Motown Records, becoming one of the last great acts to emerge from the legendary label.
The Jacksons produced seven platinum singles for Motown, selling over a million, and three multi-platinum albums, selling more than two million. They moved to CBS's Epic Records in 1976.
Despite the early success, Jackson was to recall those years as unhappy and lonely ones. Eventually the family act broke up, as Jackson went solo.
In 1979, Quincy Jones produced Jackson's first solo album for Epic, Off the Wall, a huge disco-oriented success that sold 10 million copies.
They teamed up again in 1982 for what would be Jackson's breakthrough album as a composer and co-producer, Thriller, which became the top-selling album of all time, with sales exceeding 41 million.
According to Robert Thompson, an expert in pop culture at the University of Syracuse, New York, Jackson's later problems can be traced back to the phenomenal success of Thriller.
"He got to the point that he was so rich, so powerful and so famous, that he was allowed to kind of withdraw from any kind of reality," Thompson said.
Thriller was followed by Bad in 1987 (20 million sold) and Dangerous in 1991 (21 million sold) with videos whose auto-erotic dance contrasted with Jackson's sweet, childlike personality offstage.
A pop culture icon with enormous wealth, Jackson in 1991 signed a deal with Sony Music described as the most lucrative contract ever for a recording artist. Although Jackson's share was not disclosed, Sony estimated the potential in sales at a billion dollars.
But in 1993, a 13-year-old boy made sex abuse allegations against his former pal Jackson, and prosecutors and police launched an investigation.
A year later, Jackson struck an out-of-court agreement with the family under which he paid out a total 23.3 million dollars, a deal which Jackson has said he now regrets.
The deal halted the criminal case, which was being pursued by Tom Sneddon, the chief prosecutor in Jackson's trial.
As Jackson's life was complicated by his meteoric rise to fame, he also started undergoing a dramatic physical transformation.
Over the years, his skin has become much lighter and he appears to have had extensive plastic surgery on his face. Vanity Fair magazine reported in 2003 that the tip of his nose is actually a prosthesis.
In 1994, he stunned the public by marrying Lisa Marie Presley, the 26-year-old daughter of Elvis Presley.
The marriage lasted less than two years and was a hot topic for the tabloids. However, the renewed interest in Jackson's love life did not spark interest in his music.
In June 1995, he released the double album HIStory, Past, Present and Future - Book I to negative reviews and weak sales - despite Sony Music's $US40 million ($A50.22 million) investment. And Jackson's next album, Invincible, flopped.
Jackson then married Debbie Rowe in Sydney, Australia. She was a 37-year-old nurse he met while undergoing plastic surgery in 1997.
They had two children, Prince Michael and Paris Michael Katherine, before divorcing in 1999.
Jackson had custody of the two children and of a third, Prince Michael II, born to an unknown woman, when in November 2002 he came under fierce public criticism for dangling his youngest child from a fourth-floor hotel balcony in Berlin for photographers.
Adding to his woes Jackson has also been hit by a flurry of lawsuits from former aides and promoters and from a slew of people suing over alleged unpaid bills.
Last November, Jackson and a Bahraini prince struck an "amicable" deal to avoid going to court in a $US7 million ($8.79 million) lawsuit.
The extent of Jackson's financial woes is unclear, with conflicting reports about the singers assets and debts.
But a treasure trove of Jackson memorabilia, including a wrought iron gate from his Neverland Ranch and his famous white glove, are to be auctioned off in Beverly Hills next month, reflecting the singer's change in circumstances.

Farrah Fawcett dead at 62

Actress Farrah Fawcett, best known for her role in television series Charlie's Angels, has died, her long-time companion Ryan O'Neal says. She was 62.
Fawcett died in hospital surrounded by friends and family shortly before 9.30am on Thursday (0230 AEST Friday), reports said.
"After a long and brave battle with cancer, our beloved Farrah has passed away," O'Neal said in a statement released by Fawcett's publicist Arnold Robinson. "Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world."
Farrah Fawcett dies aged 62
Farrah Fawcett, whose luxurious hair and blinding smile helped redefine sex appeal in the 1970s as one of TV's 'Charlie's Angels,' has died.

O'Neal told People magazine's online edition he had talked to Fawcett through the night.
"She's now with her mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart. I will miss her so very, very much. She was in and out of consciousness. I talked to her all through the night.
"I told her how very much I loved her. She's in a better place now."
Speculation that Fawcett's death was close at hand had mounted after veteran ABC television interviewer Barbara Walters said the actress had been given her last rites earlier on Thursday.
Reports said O'Neal and Alana Stewart were at Fawcett's bedside when she passed away at St John's Hospital in Santa Monica.
Earlier this week, O'Neal revealed he planned to marry Fawcett, who has been battling cancer for three years. "I've asked her to marry me, again, and she's agreed," O'Neal said.
O'Neal, 68, and Fawcett had been romantically involved off-and-on since 1982. The couple had a son together, Redmond, but never married.
Redmond O'Neal is in jail in California for drug offences and was not at his mother's bedside when she died but spoke to her on the phone before her death, his father told People.
Fawcett's son told her "how much he loved her and asked her to please forgive him that he was so very, very sorry," Ryan O'Neal was quoted as saying.
Fawcett emerged as a pop-culture icon in the 1970s and 1980s after her role in Charlie's Angels and appearance in a famous poster wearing a red swimsuit that would come to be her defining image.
During the 1970s, Fawcett was married to Six Million Dollar Man star Lee Majors, from whom she separated in 1979. In 1982 she began a long romance with actor O'Neal and the couple had Redmond in 1985.
After splitting from O'Neal in the 1990s, Fawcett faded from view, although she appeared in Robert Altman's 2000 comedy, Dr T and the Women, in an ensemble cast that included Richard Gere, Helen Hunt, Laura Dern and Kate Hudson.
In recent years, Fawcett's health was the subject of intense scrutiny by a voracious tabloid media.
News of her cancer fight broke in October 2006, sparking an outpouring of support from fans and well-wishers.
In 2007 she declared that months of gruelling chemotherapy had seen her beat the cancer despite "excruciating pain and uncertainty".
"It never occurred to me to stop fighting - not ever," she said.
However, in April this year it emerged that the cancer had returned and the actress was gravely ill.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times published in May, Fawcett criticised the media frenzy over her health, saying she would have preferred to have kept details of her illness private.
"It's much easier to go through something and deal with it without being under a microscope," Fawcett said.
"I'm a private person," she continued. "It would be good if I could just go and heal and then when I decided to go out, it would be OK."

Tributes to cancer surgeon Christopher O'Brien, dead at 57

Cancer specialist Christopher O'Brien is being remembered as a gifted clinician and someone who could reach out to his patients in their darkest days.
Professor O'Brien died at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital overnight, losing his three-year battle with brain cancer.
Fellow surgeon Charlie Teo, who operated on Professor O'Brien several times for his cancer, said his colleague's death was "too depressing to really describe in words".
"I think Chris, to many people, epitomised what a doctor ought to be like, and he was a great gold standard by which doctors judge themselves," Dr Teo told ABC radio.
"It's just a huge loss for not only medicine but for Australia."
Professor O'Brien's demeanour in the face of death had been "so commendable", Dr Teo said.
"People face death in many different ways but he faced it with such dignity and tenacity ... he taught me some great lessons on life.
"He knew that he was fighting a formidable enemy and yet he still remained very positive until the bitter end."
Long-time friend and colleague Michael Boyer praised Professor O'Brien's surgical skills and ability to sincerely reach out to patients.
He said when Professor O'Brien became a patient himself, his courage in facing his illness head-on made him an inspiration for many people throughout the community.
Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop, a friend and colleague of Professor O'Brien, was at the launch of Sydney's new Cancer Centre in Sydney in April.
"It was a very emotional event," he told ABC radio this morning.
"It was a dedication to Chris' work over the last three years or so, and his time before that.
"But certainly the work he has put in since he was diagnosed with cancer."
Professor Bishop said Professor O'Brien matched in reality the personality portrayed on the medical television program RPA.
"He was very much like his personality on television," he said.
"He was very engaging and friendly.
"He was very caring (towards) the patients. He treated them with a lot of dignity, respect and was a great listener."
Professor Bishop added that Professor O'Brien's communication skills were invaluable.
"He is very witty (and) cheeky and I think that sort of wink and glint from the eye was also a great aspect that really endeared him to everyone.
"He was a genuine person who was genuine about caring about the person he was talking with, and interested in them.
"I think we need more and more of those in the medical profession, where we can talk to people not as patients but as people with a particular problem we may be able to help them with."
"I think all his patients very much appreciate that."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was at Professor O'Brien's bedside last night.
At the cancer centre launch in April, Mr Rudd said he considered the former surgeon a "friend" and "inspiration".
"In the two years since I've known Chris, I've come to respect him deeply, to admire him deeply, to love him deeply as a first-class human being," Mr Rudd said.

Actor David Carradine found dead in Bangkok aged 72

Thai police are reportedly investigating whether Kung Fu star David Carradine died during a sex game gone wrong.
The 72-year-old actor, who also starred in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films, was found hanging in a Bangkok hotel room wardrobe with a rope around his neck and other parts of his body.
Police first said his death was suicide because there was no evidence of a struggle in the room and no bruising on Carradine's body.

But there was also no suicide note, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported, leading an unnamed police officer to raise the possibility the actor's death could have been an attempt at auto-eroticism.
Carradine was in Thailand to shoot a film called Stretch. A spokesman for the film's producer also said the star's death "could be accidental".
A spokeswoman for Carradine's Los Angeles agents said the "circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown".
The actor left behind wife Annie Bierman and their three children. Family spokeswoman Julie Nathanson said the family was "devastated".
"There will be no further comment until more information can be confirmed," Ms Nathanson said.
Carradine's manager, Chuck Binder, paid tribute to the actor, telling the BBC: "He was full of life, always wanting to work ... a great person."
Carradine was the son of prominent actor John Carradine and part of an acting family that includes brothers Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine.
He was born on December 8, 1936, during Hollywood's "Golden Age'' of cinema, though he first entered showbusiness through musical theatre on New York's Broadway.
While best known for his role as the fugitive half-Chinese Shaolin monk Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s TV drama Kung Fu, Carradine had a long a varied career in film.
He appeared in Martin Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha in 1972, and played legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie in the 1976 film Bound for Glory, which gained him a Golden Globe nomination.
The following year, director Ingmar Bergman called on Carradine to play a wandering out-of-work American Jew in poverty-struck Weimar Germany, for the movie The Serpent's Egg.
Swedish master Bergman was said to have entrusted Carradine to take the role for his commanding physical presence, recalling that of his father.
In the following two decades Carradine continued to work, but failed to find success outside of cult B-movies, as he was beset by the use of drugs and alcohol.
In the mid-1990s, he reprised the role as Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, which found home on US TV for a further 60 episodes.
A huge fan of his B-movie work during the 1980s and 1990s, director Quentin Tarantino called on Carradine to play the title character in the 2002-2003 revenge-action-epic Kill Bill and Kill Bill II.
Carradine's work on the movies earned him a fourth Golden Globe Best Actor nomination.
Married five times, most recently in 2004, and the father of two daughters, Carradine was still working at the time of his death.