It was a surreal moment learning that the intergalactic megastar and uncontainable force of musical energy known as Michael Jackson had died from a drug overdose five years ago today.
This writer was stuck in Washington’s Reagan National Airport on June 25, 2009, when murmurs pierced the still quietness.Multiple people sitting next to me and passersby were talking about the unthinkable:
- A flight attendant ran up to her flight captain with the news, ‘Did you hear …?’;
- A man of Turkish descent expressed horror at MJ’s demise through his thick accent;
- A young child who was born long after MJ’s prime had come and gone nevertheless began to cry after hearing that the King of Pop was dead.
It is hard to believe that it’s been five years since Michael Jackson died suddenly in Bel Air, Cali., from cardiac arrest due to chronic abuse of potent  anesthetic Propofol.
Still, as Quincy Jones said to this reporter last year, he still hears songs from Off the Wall and Thriller being played in nightclubs across the globe.
In honor of the King of Pop, here are seven other ways Michael Jackson’s legacy continues to live on after his tragic death on June 25, 2009.