Michael Jackson: Mourning an Icon

From his childhood home in Gary, Ind., to Moscow, fans around the world grieve the death of the King of Pop
By Serena Kappes
Updated June 26, 2009 01:00 PM

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LOS ANGELES

Credit: Hector Vasquez/Broadimage

Even before Michael Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. PST on Thursday, thousands of fans sang his songs and stood vigil outside L.A.'s Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. An autopsy will be conducted on the singer by the Los Angeles County Coroner on Friday, though some toxicology tests can take days or weeks to complete.

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TIMES SQUARE

Credit: Brian Ach/WireImage

At Madame Tussauds in New York City's Times Square, fans snap photos and gaze at the singer's wax figure – dressed in his "Thriller" jacket and black pants. Nearby, when news of his death flashed on the Times Square JumboTron screen, a gathered crowd gasped.

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HOLLYWOOD

Credit: Jen Lowery/Startraks, inset: Dave Buchan/INF

With the Brüno premiere taking place near Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, fans couldn't pay tribute to the singer at his actual star. Instead, they gathered near the star of another Michael Jackson – a radio personality.

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PURI, INDIA

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A massive sand sculpture in the singer's likeness – with a guitar and a fedora hat flanking him – is erected by Sudarshan Pattnaik in Puri, India, on Friday.

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LONDON

Credit: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

In London, where Jackson was scheduled to perform a series of comeback concerts, fans pay tribute to the singer outside a train station on Friday. The city's tabloids scrambled to publish tribute editions, with headlines like "London Blamed For Jackson Death" on the cover of the Evening Standard, referring to Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman's comments about the singer exhausting himself in preparation for the series of shows.

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MOSCOW

Credit: Natalia Kolenikova/AFP/Getty

Russian fans place flowers, handmade signs and memorabilia in Jackson's memory outside the American embassy on Friday morning. In 1993, Jackson performed a historic concert in the Russian capital as a major Western superstar – and the visit inspired him as well, producing his song "Stranger in Moscow."

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ENCINO, CALIF.

Credit: Philip Scott Andrews/AP

Dressed in full Jackson regalia, fan Lili Nour has a moment of silence for the King of Pop Thursday night outside the Jackson family home in Encino, Calif. Flowers, cards and posters were placed near the home and small candles on the ground were shaped into an M and J, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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BEIJING

Credit: Ng Han Guan/AP

In Beijing, China, fans observe a three-minute moment of silence for the singer during a candlelight memorial on Friday. Jackson's official Chinese Web site was bombarded with more than 27,000 postings within hours of his death, the New China News Agency reported.

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GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND

Credit: Joel Ryan/AP

At the Glastonbury Music Festival, fans wear T-shirts memorializing the pop star on Friday. "I'm just like everyone else, in shock," supermodel Naomi Campbell, who was at the festival, told the U.K.'s The Guardian after hearing news about Jackson's death.

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HARLEM, N.Y.

Credit: Zak Brian/Sipa

Outside the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, N.Y., where the Jackson 5 first performed in 1969, the billboard was cleared for the message, "In Memory of Michael Jackson. A True Apollo Legend." Rev. Al Sharpton, a friend of the singer, addressed the huge crowd: "Way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama, Michael did with music what they later did in sports and in politics and in television," he said.

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GARY, IND.

Credit: Andy Lavalley/AP

Fan Lasonya Hamblin holds an iconic poster of Michael Jackson's smash 1979 album cover Off the Wall near the Jackson family home in Gary, Ind. Mourners gathered Thursday outside the single-story home at 2300 Jackson Street, placing flowers and teddy bears in tribute to the singer. Mayor Rudy Clay told Chicago Public Radio that the home may become part of a future museum dedicated to the music legend.

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By Serena Kappes