Pop singer Michael Jackson has died after being found unconscious at his home in Los Angeles. Los Angeles coroner Fred Worral said Jackson was pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital having suffered a heart attack on Thursday afternoon at his home.Paramedics were sent to Jackson's home in the Bel-Air area of the city but they were unable to revive him, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Hundreds of people massed outside the hospital after news of his hospitalisation and death emerged, some of them bursting into tears when news of his death emerged. In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed news that Jackson had died. Worral said an autopsy was very likely to be carried out on Friday.

The news comes four months after Jackson, 50, announced that he was to perform a series of 50 shows in London in July.
 
The shows were seen as the beginning of a public comeback by Jackson, who had spent recent years countering a series of damaging allegations about his private life.

Damaging allegations

The singer was acquitted in 2005 of charges alleging that he had committed abuses against children and that he had plotted to kidnap the youth who had filed a complaint against him.

Reverend Al Sharpton, the US civil rights activist, praised the singer's accomplishments, saying they would not be overshadowed by controversial claims.

"No controversy will erase the historic impact [Jackson had]. He learnt how to sing and dance past unfair criticism."

Jackson reached the peak of his fame in the 1980s as a solo artist, after leaving his brothers in the already hugely-successful Jackson 5, later known as the Jacksons.

His 1982 album Thriller went on to become the world's then top-selling album of all time, with sales exceeding 41 million copies, cementing his image as the self-styled "king of pop".

Producer Quincy Jones, who collaborated with Jackson on three of his best-selling albums, Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad, said in a statement:

"I am absolutely devastated at this tragic an unexpected news. For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at this young age, I just don't have the words."

But while Jackson's 1987 album Bad was also a strong seller and helped him maintain his position as the biggest solo musical artist in the world, critics and fans alike began to pay increasing attention to dramatic changes in Jackson's physical appearance.

Jackson repeatedly denied that he had had a series of plastic surgery sessions to alter his appearance, claiming that a rare skin condition was responsible.

His stated preference for the company of children and his friendship with a chimp also earned him critics and the nickname "Wacko Jacko".

Jackson leaves three children from two marriages, the first to Lisa Marie Presley, who he divorced in 1996, and two to Debbie Rowe, who he divorced in 1999.