Michael Jackson, shown in 2008, was one of the biggest pop stars in history.

He was 50.

He collapsed at his residence in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, California, about noon Pacific time, suffering cardiac arrest, according to brother Randy Jackson. He died at UCLA Medical Center.

Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy would probably be done on the singer Friday, with results expected that afternoon. Video Watch crowds gather at Jackson’s hospital »

“Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said. “To say an ‘icon’ would only give these young people in Harlem a fraction of what he was. He was a historic figure that people will measure music and the industry by.”

Jackson’s blazing rise to stardom — and later fall from grace — is among the most startling of show business tales. The son of a steelworker, he rose to fame as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, a band he formed with his brothers in the late 1960s. By the late ’70s, as a solo artist, he was topping the charts with cuts from “Off the Wall,” including “Rock With You” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” Video Watch Jackson perform at a 1988 concert »

In 1982, he released “Thriller,” an album that eventually produced seven hit singles. An appearance the next year on a Motown Records 25th-anniversary special cemented his status as the biggest star in the country. Timeline: The life of Michael Jackson »

For the rest of the 1980s, they came no bigger. “Thriller’s” follow-up, 1987′s “Bad,” sold almost as many copies. A new Jackson album — a new Jackson appearance — was a pop culture event. iReport: Share your memories of Michael Jackson

The pop music landscape was changing, however, opening up for rap, hip-hop and what came to be called “alternative” — and Jackson was seen as out of step.

His next release, 1991′s “Dangerous,” debuted at No. 1 but “only” produced one top-ranking single — “Black or White” — and that song earned criticism for its inexplicably violent ending, in which Jackson was seen smashing car windows and clutching his crotch.
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And then “Dangerous” was knocked out of its No. 1 spot on the album charts by Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” an occurrence noted for its symbolism by rock critics.

After that, more attention was paid to Jackson’s private life than his music career, which faltered. A 1995 two-CD greatest hits, “HIStory,” sold relatively poorly, given the huge expense of Jackson’s recording contract: about 7 million copies, according to Recording Industry of America certifications.

A 2001 album of new material, “Invincible,” did even worse.

In 2005, he went to trial on child-molestation charges. He was acquitted.

In July 2008, after three years away from the spotlight, Jackson announced a series of concerts at London’s O2 Arena as his “curtain call.” Some of the shows, initially scheduled to begin in July, were eventually postponed until 2010.

According to reps, Wayne will headline while Jeezy, Soulja Boy and Drake will serve as openers. Tickets for the 21-city tour go on sale June 20th via Ticketmaster, Live Nation and select venue ticketing systems.

Lil Wayne’s upcoming rock album, “Rebirth,” was originally slated for an early April release then pushed to May and then June. Now, his seventh solo studio album is due on July 21 via Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Records. First single, “Prom Queen,” reached No. 15 on the Hot 100 chart earlier this year.

Drake, who is an affiliate of Wayne’s Young Money label and possibly the most sought-after artist in hip-hop, recently went in the studio to work on his highly-anticipated debut, “Thank Me Later,” although it is unknown yet which label will release it.

Soulja Boy is currently working on his third studio album, “The DeAndre Way,” as well as Jeezy, who is readying his “Thug Motivation 103.” Neither album has a release date yet.

Tour Dates:

July 27: Scranton, PA (Toyota Pavilion)
July 29: Saratoga, NY (Performing Arts Center)
July 30: Pittsburgh, PA (Post Gazette Pavilion)
July 31: Philadelphia (Susquehanna Bank Center)
August 1: Wantagh, NY (Jones Beach Theater)
August 2: Virginia Beach (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)
August 4: Toronto (Molson Amphitheater)
August 5: Montreal (Bell Centre)
August 6: Cleveland (Blossom Pavilion)
August 7: Washington, D.C. (Nissan Pavilion)
August 8: Raleigh, NC (Walnut Creek Amphitheater)
August 9: Atlanta (Lakewood Amphitheater)
August 12: Phoenix (Cricket Wireless Amphitheater)
August 13: Los Angeles (TBD)
August 14: Irvine, CA (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)
August 15: Oakland, CA (Sleep Train Pavilion)
August 17: Vancouver (GM Place)
August 18: Edmonton, AB (Rexall Place)
August 20: Denver (Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre)
August 22: Houston (Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
August 23: Dallas (Superpages.com Center)

Following another successful collaboration with Rick Ross on the Miami rapper’s latest album, “Deeper Than Rap,” production trio the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League is working on several new projects. Headlng the League’s to-do list is a new track by Atlantic rapper Maino. Titled “Here Comes Trouble,” the track has been tapped as the theme song for the independent film “Brooklyn’s Finest.” Directed by Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) and due in late 2009, the suspense thriller stars Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere and Wesley Snipes. The story centers on three unconnected Brooklyn, NY police officers (two of them undercover) who end up at the same deadly location in the Brooklyn projects. According to the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League’s co-manager Chuck Greene, the song will also be a single for Maino and included on his upcoming album. Back in the studio again with Young Jeezy, the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League (Just Undeniably Some of the Illest Composers Ever) are working with several other artists on upcoming albums. Among them: Mary J. Blige, Plies, Drake and The Game. Recent collaborations include Lil Wayne, Fabolous, OJ Da Juiceman, Busta Rhymes and the aforementioned Ross, who scored a top 10 R&B/hip-hop hit with the League-produced track “Magnificent.” The trio’s earlier productions include the 2008 2 Pistols hit “She Got It’ (featuring T-Pain and Tay Dizm). Comprised of members Rook, Colione and Kenny “Barto” Bartolomei, the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League has been together since 2004, making live instrumentation a key component of its production style. Colione notes the group collectively plays 13 instruments including the saxophone, electric and bass guitar, drums, flute, piano and trumpet. “We go for real artistry,” says Colione. “A lot of people lose that just sitting behind a computer. We want to bring real music back.” With artists like Jay-Z, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears on its wish list, the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League is staying busy in the meantime developing three artists under its own banner. They are Haitian rapper/singer Supa Show plus rappers Slim E from Orlando and Prime from Tampa.

Rock singer Bret Michaels had a run-in with some stage scenery at the Tony Awards.

Michaels, star of the reality show “Rock of Love,” took to the stage with his hair-metal band Poison during the telecast’s opening production number, featuring performances from the season’s Broadway musicals.

They performed “Nothin’ But a Good Time” with the cast of “Rock of Ages,” and as Michaels exited the stage, a descending set piece smacked him on the head and knocked him to the ground.

“Drake is very talented,” rapper Bun B, who collaborated with Drake on his popular mixtape “So Far Gone,” told Billboard.com this week. “There’s a difference between trying to be an artist and being one. Drake has the confidence to go very far and the chance to make history.”

Although another source says Universal is the closest to snagging Drake, especially given the already established relationship between Cash Money/Young Money and the label, another label has allegedly offered $2 million dollars up front in order to further persuade the young artist to join its roster instead.

“Just know that whatever label we sign to it’ll be because they’ll add to what we’ve created on our own,” Drake, who offers no clues about which label he’ll choose to sign with, told Billboard.com last month. “I am very happy in my situation now, which is signed to Cortez [Bryant] and Gee Roberson at Young Money and management through ‘Hip Hop Since 1978.’ The most important thing for me is being around my team – they are stronger than any label.”

“Both bands kind of separately and together said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to do an album together, so that’s something that’s just kind of flying around,” Chicago’s Robert Lamm tells Billboard.com. “I think the guys that write (songs) are thinking that could possibly be the next project.” Lamm predicts that a Chicago-EWF album “would sound big. It obviously has to genetically reflect where the two bands are coming from sonically and writing-wise, but I’m hoping that something new could emerge, something modern, something contemporary that the sum of the two bands is greater than that, so that’s my fantasy of what it could be.”

In conjunction with their 2009 summer tour, which kicks off June 5 in Orange Beach, Ala., the two groups put together a special set of songs for download, with proceeds going to World Hunger Year. Chicago recorded a version of EWF’s “I Can’t Let You Go,” while EWF covered Chicago’s “Wishing You Were Here.” The two bands then collaborated on a new EWF-composed song called “You.”

“It’s kind of a very Earth, Wind & Fire sort of funk, ballad groove,” Lamm explains, “but the lyrics really sort of chastise people into thinking beyond just themselves and (to) think for a minute about what you see when you’re walking through an urban landscape, let’s say — or anywhere for that matter. I mean, I was in Santa Monica and there is homelessness and hunger right out here in Laguna Beach, so this song kind of alludes to if things are going to change they have to start with ‘you.’ It’s kind of cliche, but it just happens to be true.” Chicago and EWF are asking fans coming to the shows to bring three cans of non-perishable food or $3 — which will go to local food banks — in exchange for a download card. The songs can also be accessed by making a donation at EWFandChicago.com.

Lamm says he and Chicago’s other songwriters were recently in Nashville “doing some recording for our own amusement” with no firm plans for any of those songs yet. The group’s Bill Champlin will release a solo album, “No Place Left to Fall,” on Aug. 4, while Lamm says he’s “always” entertaining ideas for solo projects and has also been in touch with former Chicago bassist Peter Cetera about doing some writing together

Frontman Ozzy Osbourne, who left the band in 1979 and returned in 1997 for periodic touring and a live album, is suing guitarist Tony Iommi, accusing him of falsely assuming ownership of the Sabbath name in a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The suit contends that Osbourne’s “signature vocals” were responsible for the band’s “extraordinary success,” noting its decline in popularity after he left the first time. Osbourne is demanding a 50 percent share of the name for himself as well as a split of monies earned while he was not in the band.

Iommi has not yet responded to the suit, but prior to that he acknowledged to Billboard.com that a desire to avoid “legal issues” was behind adopting the name Heaven & Hell for the currently active lineup that includes himself, original bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler, singer Ronnie James Dio (who replaced Osbourne in 1979) and drummer Vinnie Appice. And whole he acknowledged that having another name for a band that had recorded as Black Sabbath “does get confusing,” he maintained that it portrays the current group’s repertoire more accurately.

“I think if we went under the Black Sabbath label it would cause problems along the line,” Iommi said. “

People would expect us to be playing ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Paranoid’ and other stuff from (the Osbourne era), and that wasn’t the idea with this lineup. The idea was to play all the stuff we’ve done with Ronnie, and that’s why we’re using the different name.”

Heaven & Hell, which reunited in 2007, is currently on tour in Europe and begins a 15-show North American swing on Aug. 7 in Vancouver.

Osbourne has also reached out to Iommi in a public statement released by his publicist, which reads:

“Since 1997 when Geezer, Bill (Ward, the group’s original drummer) and myself rejoined the band, Black Sabbath has returned to its former glory as we headlined sold-out arenas and amphitheatres playing to upwards of 50,000 people at each show around the world. We worked collectively to restore credibility and bring dignity back to the name ‘Black Sabbath,’ which lead to the band being inducted into the UK and US Rock & Roll Hall of Fames in 2005 and 2006, respectively…Tony, I am so sorry it’s had to get to this point by me having to take this action against you. I don’t have the right to speak for Geezer and Bill, but I feel that morally and ethically the trademark should be owned by the four of us equally. I hope that by me taking this first step that it will ultimately end up that way. We’ve all worked too hard and long in our careers to allow you to sell merchandise that features all our faces, old Black Sabbath album covers and band logos, and then you tell us that you own the copyright. We’re all in our 60s now. The Black Sabbath legacy should live on long after we have all gone. Please do the right thing.”

The rapper made a concertlike entrance to the Forrest City low-security prison — showing up late inside of a black conversion van with tinted windows.

T.I. (real name: Clifford J. Harris Jr.) was to report at noon, but the deadline passed as guards outside blocked reporters and onlookers from coming near the facility on a rural state highway.

It was not immediately clear if T.I.’s late arrival would affect his plea deal with prosecutors.

Federal prison spokeswoman Linda Thomas said the Atlanta rapper would be known inside by guards as federal prison inmate No. 59458019.

Traci Billingsley, another prison spokeswoman, said the prison had no special protections prepared for the rapper. The low-security prison has double-bunked cells and a large fenced exercise yard, where inmates in white jumpsuits could be seen Tuesday morning.

“We treat all our offenders in the same manner,” Billingsley said.

T.I., 28, was arrested after trying to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers from undercover federal agents in 2007. That came after the rapper’s best friend was killed following a party in Cincinnati in 2006. The rapper has said the bullets that killed his friend were meant for him.

The self-proclaimed “King of the South,” T.I. had faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each charge in his three-count indictment. However, he reached a plea deal with prosecutors after spending time on house arrest before his sentencing and speaking before community groups and high schools about the dangers of drugs, violence and guns.

Fans gathered down the road from the prison Tuesday and screamed “we love you, T.I!” when the black van pulled at the prison. Afterward, they shouted at TV cameras that “T.I. is the greatest!”

“We’re still riding with the king!” yelled Porshe Tiswell, 22, of Forrest City.

Fan Eugene Smith, 24, of Forrest City defended T.I., saying the rapper feared for his life when he purchased the machine guns and silencers from federal agents.

“Somebody set him up, they snitched on him, so it’s a whole different thing,” Smith said. “We got to live a life, you know what I’m saying. We’re out in the street life.”

Upon his release, T.I. will be on probation for three years. He also must pay a $100,000 fine as part of his sentence.

His sixth album, “Paper Trail,” has sold about 2 million copies and the rapper earned a Grammy for the song “Swagga Like Us” that he performed with Jay-Z. T.I. wrote the lyrics for the album while awaiting trial.

He performed Sunday in Atlanta and told the crowd he’d “see y’all in 366 days.”

It’s Eminem’s fifth straight No. 1 debut — and fifth overall No. 1. His only album to miss the top spot was his “Slim Shady LP” debut, which bowed and peaked at No. 2 in 1999. His last studio set, 2004’s “Encore,” arrived with 711,000 after an abbreviated debut week — it was released four days earlier than scheduled in order to counter leaks. A little over a year later, his greatest hits package “Curtain Call” took the stage with 441,000 in December 2005. Collectively, his six albums have sold 34 million in the U.S., making him the biggest selling hip-hop act in the SoundScan era (1991-present). Eminem was seemingly the pied-piper last week in terms of new releases, as a cavalcade of artists unleashed their latest sets last Tuesday (19). Of course, it didn’t hurt that the two-night “American Idol” finale, which wrapped up on Wednesday (May 20), brought a lot of people into physical and digital stores too.

Kenny Chesney’s CD-only “Greatest Hits II” arrives at No. 3 with 89,000. That gives the country king his eighth top 10 album overall, and his seventh consecutive bow in the top 10. His first “Greatest Hits,” released in 2000, peaked at No. 13 and was his last non-Christmas album to miss the top 10. The new “Hits II” contains one previously unreleased track, “Out Last Night,” which bullets at No. 4 for a second week on the Hot Country Songs chart. The tune isn’t available digitally, so perhaps some fans were lured into buying the new “Hits II” album in order to obtain the new single.

Method Man and Redman pair up for another top 10 album as “Blackout! 2″ starts at No. 4 with 63,000. The rappers collaborated on the first “Blackout!” album in 1999, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 with 254,000. Method Man has had another four solo top 10 sets on his own, while Redman has one solo top 10 (2001’s “Malpractice”).

Comedian/actor Dane Cook garners his second top 10 album as “ISolated INcident” starts at No. 4 with 61,000. His first top 10, 2005’s “Retaliation,” debuted and peaked at No. 4 with 86,000 and spent 84 weeks on the list. His new album was heralded by Comedy Central’s unprecedented commercial-free airing of a stand-up premiere as the network debuted Cook’s “ISolated INcident” special on Sunday, May 17.

Busta Rhymes returns to the chart after nearly three years as “Back On My B.S.” enters at No. 5 with 59,000. The rapper’s last set, 2006’s “The Big Bang,” blew in at No. 1 with 209,000. Method Man and Redman pair up for another top 10 album as “Blackout! 2″ starts at No. 7 with 57,000. The rappers collaborated on the first “Blackout!” album in 1999, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 with 254,000. Method Man has had another four solo top 10 sets on his own, while Redman has one solo top 10 (2001’s “Malpractice”).

Tori Amos finds herself with her seventh top 10 album as “Abnormally Attracted to Sin” starts at No. 9 with 41,000. The effort is her first with Universal Republic, after having released her last three sets on Epic between 2002 and 2007. The rest of her chart career, from 1992-2001, was spent with Atlantic Records.

Singer/actress Kate Voegele jumps onto the Billboard 200 with her second studio album “A Fine Mess,” landing at No. 10 with 37,000. The performer, who has a recurring role on the CW’s “One Tree Hill,” saw her first set, “Don’t Look Away,” peak at No. 27 last year.

Last week’s No. 1, Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown,” slips to No. 2 with 166,000 — down only 23% after its first full week in stores. Elsewhere in the top 10, the soundtrack to “Hannah Montana: The Movie” slips four spots to No. 6 with 58,000 (down 15%) while Lady GaGa’s “The Fame” falls four slots with 45,000 (up 9%). GaGa was pushed down the chart despite her gain because of the five new albums that arrived in the top six this week.

Overall album sales in this past chart week (ending May 24) totaled 6.57 million units, up 12.9% compared to the sum last week (5.82 million) and down 8.8% compared to the same sales week of 2008 (7.21 million). Year to date album sales stand at 142.9 million, down 13% compared to the same total at this point last year (164.5 million).

The rapper confirms reports that he has left the record company where he made most of his biggest hits and went from artist to president, and back to artist again.

In an interview with the Web site RapRadar.com, he thanks the label’s executives and calls his time at Def Jam “a unique and fulfilling experience.”

Last year, Jay-Z and Live Nation struck a wide-ranging deal that included touring, publishing and albums. Jay-Z had owed Def Jam one more record. A representative for Jay-Z declined to elaborate on his comments.