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The crowns fit: Michael Jackson was the King of Pop; Elvis Presley was the King of Rock 'n' Roll. Both men commanded the pop-culture landscape, as much as the charts. Both men influenced their industry, as well as scores of artists.

And both men died suddenly and barely into middle age.

Jackson, whose lifetime of hits sold more than 750 million albums worldwide, whose landmark Thriller broke records and racial divides, whose smooth moves revolutionized dance as much as pop, and whose penchant for headline-making helped burnish his brand, and, following child-abuse allegations, helped tarnish it as well, died today after being found unconscious at his Los Angeles-area home.

Jackson suffered a heart attack around noon, according to father Joe Jackson, and never recovered. He was prounced dead at 2:26 p.m., officials said.

Music's eternal Peter Pan was 50. In the end, the King of Pop outlived Presley, whose daughter Lisa Marie Presley Jackson would wed, by just eight years.

From child star to music icon—reflect on Michael Jackson's life with our collection of photos.

"There's really no question if you're going to talk about the most looming, dominant figure in 20th century pop music," pop-music expert and USC associate professor Josh Kun tells E! News, "Michael Jackson is that person."

"He became synonymous with what pop was, and what it still is today."

Beginnings

Born Aug. 29, 1958, in hardscrabble Gary, Ind., Jackson was a nightclub performer by the age of 5. The first gig, with older brothers Jackie, Marlon, Tito and Jermaine, earned the group $8, and, according to a Billboard-branded history of the charts, a whole lot more in tips. 

"On stage for me was home," Jackson told Oprah Winfrey in 1993.  "I was most comfortable on stage but once I got off stage, I was like very sad.

In 1969, the brothers were signed to Motown Records. Their band, the Jackson 5, with then 11-year-old Michael on electrifying lead vocals, scored their first No. 1 hit in 1970: "I Want You Back." "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" followed. As did teen idoldom.

Like their Osmonds counterparts, the Jackson 5 lived the 1970s highlife: hit records, magazine covers, an animated series, and a prime-time variety show, The Jacksons, which gave early exposure to a very young Janet Jackson, the musical family's youngest child, and a semi-green David Letterman. Unlike the Osmonds, the Jackson 5 did it all by breaking barriers as the first teen-idol act of color.

At the center of it all was Michael, who became a chart-topper on his own with 1972's "Ben," a song sweet enough to transcend its rat-movie roots.

The singular member of the Jackson 5, rebranded as the Jacksons after the group left Motown in 1976, Michael Jackson seemed primed for film stardom, as well, after costarring as the loose-limbed Scarecrow, opposite his mentor, Diana Ross, in The Wiz. But the 1978 musical bombed, and took out the decade's once-booming black-film market with it.

Breakthroughs

Hollywood's loss was pop music's gain. In 1979, Jackson released his first solo album, Off the Wall. Though overshadowed by what was to come, Off the Wall was an influential work in its own right, and a best-seller, too, producing classic tracks such as "Rock With You."

Then came Thriller.

Released in December 1982, Thriller represented the pinnacle of Jackson's career, and the birth of the Pepsi-pitching, Disneyland-appearing superstar. Combined with his Moonwalk-introducing appearance on Motown 25, the 1983 TV special, Jackson—and music—were transformed. The revolution, at the dawn and maybe peak of the music-video era, was televised on MTV, which previously had been slow to showcase black artists.

In a 2002 interview with Vibe magazine, Jackson said he knew Thriller and Off the Wall were going to be special.

"Not to be arrogant, but yes. Because I know great material when I hear it, and meoldically and sonically and musically, it's so moving." Jackson said. "They keep the promise."

Back before albums were cherry-picked by iTunes-downloading consumers, Thriller produced seven singles—"Beat It" and "Billie Jean," among them—and there were only nine songs in the collection.

"We call a lot of things king-sized," Syracuse University pop-culture expert Robert J. Thompson tells E! News. "In this case, it was not hyperbole. He even dressed like royalty."

On Grammy night in 1983, Jackson, glimmering in a military-style jacket, hiding behind a pair of shades and teasing with his trademark lone glove, carted off eight awards: seven for Thriller and one for his work on a children's recording of that year's film phenomenom, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.

Thriller ended up selling more than 104 million copies worldwide. In the United States, it spent years jockeying with volume one of the Eagles' greatest-hits collection for bragging rights as the nation's all-time best-seller.

Trouble

In the early 1990s, Jackson, who'd increasingly positioned himself as a kid-championing, if not kid-friendly, performer, suffered a near-knock-out career blow when he became the focus of a child-molestation investigation. Criminal charges were never filed in the matter; Jackson reached a reported $23 million settlement with his young accuser in 1994.

On the charts, Jackson rebounded with the 1995 hit "Scream," a joint howl with Janet Jackson, the most famous of his siblings.

But in 2003, Jackson was in trouble again. Authorities in Santa Barbara County, home to Jackson's Neverland Ranch, raided the fairyland complex. Another child-molestation case. This time, Jackson was booked and charged. 

A salacious 2005 trial followed. In the end, Jackson was acquitted of the charges.

Even with all the blows, Kun says, Jackson's star never fully dimmed. "Elvis is still very much remembered for the glory days of his career," he says. "And with Michael Jackson, that's what people are going to remember the most."

Legacy

In late 2007, Jackson, approaching his 50th birthday and looking back on the 25th anniversary of Thriller, described himself as grateful for his run.

"I'm very proud that we opened doors, that it helped tear down a lot," Jackson told Ebony magazine. "Going around the world, doing tours, in stadiums, you see the influence of the music."

Jackson, who was married and divorced twice, is survived by his three children, two by ex-wife Debbie Rowe, and his considerable family, including parents Joe and Katherine, his six bandmates and brothers, including Randy, a latter-day member of the Jacksons, and sisters Janet, Rebbie and La Toya.

More to come...

(Originally published June 25, 2009, at 2:55 p.m. PT)