Michael Jackson Reportedly Hospitalized After Cardiac Arrest

Michael Jackson has been taken by ambulance to a Los Angeles hospital after reportedly going into cardiac arrest, TMZ reports. The 911 call from Jackson's Holmby Hills home was placed at 12:21 p.m. PST. No other details are known as yet, but Jackson's mother is reportedly already on the way to the hospital. Jackson is in "really bad shape," an unspecified family member told TMZ, while Jackson's father Joe told the site, "He is not doing well." Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Steve Ruda told L.A. TV station KTLA that Jackson wasn't breathing when paramedics arrived; they performed CPR and took Jackson to UCLA Medical Center.

(Look back at Jackson's life and career, in photos.)

Jackson is 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, sources say Jackson has been absent from many rehearsals, with a stand-in required to take his place. While no reasons were given for why Jackson might be missing the rehearsals, questions regarding the King of Pop's health have dogged the Thriller singer for years.

(Rolling Stone's essential Michael Jackson coverage: photos, reviews and more.)

So 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 rep 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.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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