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Michael Jackson Passes Away

 

911 call placed by bodyguard Alberto Alvarez, “Associated Press” (June 26, 2009) (archived)

Transcript of 911 call placed from Michael Jackson's Los Angeles mansion at 12:21 p.m. Thursday:

Operator: Fire and paramedics 33. What is the address of the emergency?

Alberto Alvarez (Michael Jackson’s bodyguard): Yes sir, I need an ambulance as soon as possible, sir.

Operator: OK, sir. What is your address?

Alberto Alvarez: It's 100 North Carolwood Drive, Los Angeles, California, 90077.

Operator: You said Carolwood?

Alberto Alvarez: Carolwood Drive, yes.

Operator: OK, sir. What is the phone number that you're calling from?

Alberto Alvarez: (REDACTED)

Operator: And what exactly happened?

Alberto Alvarez: We have a gentleman here that needs help and he's not breathing yet. He's not breathing and we're trying to pump him but he's not. He's not.

Operator: OK, how old is he?

Alberto Alvarez: He's 50 years old, sir.

Operator: 50? OK, he's not breathing? Not conscious.

Alberto Alvarez: No, he's not breathing. He's not conscious sir.

Operator: Do you have him on the floor? Where's he at right now?

Alberto Alvarez: He's on the bed sir. He's on the bed. We need them.

Operator: Let's get him on the floor. We're already on the way. I'm going to as much as I can to help you on the phone. We're already on our way. Did anybody see him?

Alberto Alvarez: Yes, we have a personal doctor with him, sir.

Operator: Oh, you have a doctor there?

Alberto Alvarez: Yes, but he's not responding to anything. He's not responding to CPR or anything.

Operator: Oh, OK, we're on our way there. If your guy is doing CPR and you're instructed by a doctor, he's a higher authority than me. And he's there on scene. Did anybody witness what happened?

Alberto Alvarez: No, just the doctor, sir. The doctor has been the only one there.

Operator: OK, so the doctor saw what happened?

Alberto Alvarez: Doctor, did you see what happened, sir?

(Someone spoke in the background but the words were not intelligible.)

Alberto Alvarez: Sir, if you can please.

Operator: We're on our way. I'm just passing these questions on to my paramedics while they're on the way there, sir.

Alberto Alvarez: Thank you sir. He's pumping his chest but he's not responding to anything. Please.

Operator: OK, OK. We're on our way. We're less than a mile away from Cedars and we'll be there shortly.

 

Jermaine Jackson, brother, “E! News” (June 25, 2009)

"My brother, the legendary king of pop, Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday, June 25, at 2:26 p.m." brother Jermaine Jackson told the media gathered outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center shortly before 6:30 p.m.

"It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until the results of the autopsy are known."

Jermaine continued: "The personal physician who was with him at the time attempted to resuscitate my brother. As did paramedics who transported him" to the hospital.

"Upon arriving at the hospital at approximately 1:14 p.m., a team of doctors, including emergency physicians and cardiologists, attempted to resuscitate him for a period of one hour and they were unsuccessful.

"Our family requests that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time, and may Allah be with you Michael, always."

 

Lavelle Smith, dancer, and Michael Prince, studio engineer, Piers Morgan interview (November 1, 2011)

I've got to ask you a difficult question because I know how close you were. Where were you both?

I'll start with you, Lavelle, when you heard that Michael had died.

SMITH: I was at home in my bedroom watching CNN and I heard Michael Jackson went to the hospital with a heart attack. And I thought, OK. That's—kept watching and it kept getting worse and worse. And I just thought this really either is a really bad publicity stunt or something is desperately wrong.

MORGAN: And you knew that Michael, you know, he could do publicity stunts.

SMITH: Of course. He's a show man.

MORGAN: I mean, he'd been in wheelchairs before to create an impression that he was somehow in a terrible state.

SMITH: Yes.

MORGAN: And then the next—because he always had this thing, make the public go low in expectation and then dazzle them with the high. This was

PRINCE: Absolutely.

SMITH: P.T. Barnum. That's what you do as a showman. Yes, you build it.

MORGAN: A part of you is thinking —

SMITH: Yes.

MORGAN:—Is this another Michael stunt?

SMITH: Yes. And I really was hoping for that. I kept hoping, and then it got worse. And then when they finally said, dead, of course, even that I didn't believe until it stayed there.

MORGAN: You saw that on CNN?

SMITH: Yes. It all went up from heart attack to something happened.

PRINCE: Not breathing.

SMITH: Not breathing, and then dead. And I was like, OK, just wait a few more minutes. And then it didn't go away. And I thought this is really crazy. I called his assistant. And she said, it's a madhouse around here. And I thought, OK, this is the real deal. I just went numb. I remember being numb for days and days. I couldn't cry. I think anger. Just every emotion except I couldn't cry.

I didn't cry until I did the TV shows with Jermaine in London. "Move Like Michael Jackson," and I was doing a little outtake like, you know, how you do for the show reading something that said Michael Jackson was—I kept saying Michael Jackson is—and they're like, you have to say was. I said, I got it this time. Michael Jackson is—OK. Finally when I got was, it was over. It was over.

MORGAN: And for you? Where were you?

PRINCE: I was at the Staples Center. I was getting ready for that day's rehearsal. I had a list of changes to do from the night before, instructions from Michael. And when they said that the first thing I thought was he wants two more weeks to rehearse, you know.

And then when they finally announced that he was D-E-A-D, I still—I went back to my computer. I made all the changes from the night before, because I was stunned. I said, well, no, he might come back, you know. And later that day, I just—I finally had to ask somebody what to do? And he said pack your stuff up, you know? And that was—it was dreadful.

For anything, I feel for his children, you know? He was the greatest dad in the world. Those were the loves of his life. You know? And —

MORGAN: They are extraordinary children.

SMITH: They are.

 

Frank DiLeo, ex-manager, “Raffles Entertainment” interview (archived transcript)

Exel: The day, June 25th, when you got the call, where were you and what went through you?

DiLeo: Being that we didn’t go to Staples until 4 o clock I was at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, I was having lunch, it was an early lunch but it was 11:30. I got a call from a fan, they had just served us some lunch, I was with a friend, and uh the fan said, “Do you know there’s an ambulance in front of Michael’s house?” I said ”No”. She said, “Well, you know there’s an ambulance there”. I said “Okay, let me get off, I’m going to call Michael’s Assistant”.

I called Brother Michael. I said, “Is there an ambulance in front on the house?” He said “Yeah”. He said “I’m going from my apartment to the house. There seems to be a problem.” I said “Okay.” He said, “But the Doctor’s with him.” I said, “Alright, I’m on my way to the house.” I had to go to my room to get my card .ticket and I had shorts on, I wanted to put a pair of pants on. As I’m walking I called Randy Phillips. I said “Randy, I don’t know what’s going on but there’s an ambulance at Michael’s house. I know you live in Beverly Hills; go there right now, I’m on my way, but I want you, you can get there quicker than me.” and I hung up. He was at the cleaners, he went right to Michael’s house. I got in my car and came out; you know Michael lives up in there in Hollywood or whatever it’s called. I was driven to his house on many occasions, he would send somebody to pick me up. Sometimes I would follow somebody; I know how to get back. I might had driven there twice on my own. I made the wrong turn…

Exel: All those streets there look alike.

DiLeo: They all look alike, so I came from the back. So it took me maybe a extra minute, you know, to find it. Instead of going the right way I was like a street off. So I got to there and the gates were wide open and the guards were out there, and I said “Where the ambulance?” They said, “They took Michael to the hospital.” I didn’t know which hospital. In my mind I thought it was Cedar-Sinai.

Well I said, “I better call Randy.” So I call Randy and I said, “Did you get to the house?” and he said “Yeah” he said “I’m following the ambulance.” I said, “Where are we going? To Cedar’s?” He said “No, were going to UCLA.” I said “Okay, I’m on my way.” And again, I didn’t really know where that was. Trent called me, Mrs. Jackson’s driver; I’m sorry, Mrs. Jackson called me. She said, “I heard they took my son to the hospital. “I said, “Katherine, they did. Should I come?” I said, “You know, I don’t know what’s going on yet. Just give me a minute, and I’ll call you back.” I hung up.

3 minutes later, as I’m still driving, her driver called, “Frank, what’s going on?” I said, “You know Trent, I don’t know, but tell Katherine to come on, bring her down here, were going to UCLA, it’s better that she comes” because I still don’t know what’s going on. I get to the hospital, I see all the security. Hospital security’s got everything blocked off, roped off, nobody’s getting in. Randy’s waiting for me in the emergency room area where you sit. I come in and I greet him, “What going on?” He says “I don’t know.” He says, “Let’s go back.” They let us back because they knew who we were. Everyone else had to hold on.

We got to the little room, you know, we heard them working on him, we thought he was alive…and…the rest happened. But Mrs. Jackson didn’t get there for like 40 minutes because they were coming from the valley.

I had a wheelchair, a Cardiologist and a social worker waiting for her so that she could – I didn’t want to walk it – I know that she had a bad heart. I wanted that cardiologist to oversee her.

 

Bea Swedien, wife of studio engineer Bruce Swedien, “My Life as a Studio Wife: A Lifetime of Love and Music with Bruce Swedien” (August 11, 2025)

Roberta [Swedien] had seen the news report online [of his death] and called us. We were absolutely shocked, shattered. It was impossible to process. The phone started ringing. Everyone was calling: musicians, studio people, family, friends, all wanting to know what happened. We had no idea. No one in the “inner circle” knew any more than anyone else. Websites were overloaded, news sites had outages, Twitter crashed. Fans and press were gathering outside the hospital. We turned on the TV and were glued to CNN. “The King of Pop has died. A very, very sad moment,” said anchorman Wolf Blitzer. We just stared at each other, speechless. The whole world was in shock and disbelief at the news. Michael was only fifty years old.

…The memorial service was held, fittingly, in the Staples Center. It was broadcast all over the world. We didn’t go. It was too emotional.