Today the world lost an icon in the music industry ~ Michael Jackson died this afternoon.

A 911 call was made from the Los Angeles mansion Michael was renting around Noon today. Paramedics arrived to find Michael in cardiac arrest without a pulse. Upon taking him to the hospital and working on him for close to 45 minutes doctors were never able to revive him and he was pronounced dead at 2:26pm.

An autopsy will be performed on him tomorrow morning. Several sources say that Michael had been in bad health the last few months. One source even said that today specifically he was “in really bad shape,” and was given a shot of Demerol (pain killer similar to Morphine) about an hour before he stopped breathing.

Michael was set to do 20 shows in London starting in July (to help pay back his millions of dollars in debt) Critics who saw him rehearsing in L.A. say he finally had gotten it right, and predicted the ‘comeback’ he’d been trying to make happen for decades.

Despite the personal scandal he’s encountered – Michael was undoubtably one of the greatest pop stars of our generation and is responsible for influencing just about ever star we play on B96 and beyond. He’s had 13 grammys, 13 #1 hits, and holds the record for the best selling album of all time with, “Thriller,” selling over 50 million copies worldwide.

Michael’s family is asking that the press respect their privacy at this time. Michael has 3 children: Michael Jr., Paris and Prince.