In Times Square, fans stunned by Jackson's death

NEW YORK:Their idol is dead, but for Michael Jackson's fans, the King of Pop is a legend that will live on forever.

With tears running down her cheeks, Chantal de Roy van Zuydewijn watched in disbelief at the giant screen overlooking New York's Times Square where she, like other fans, tourists and passersby, read the inexorable news: "Michael Jackson dies at age 50."

"He is a legend. He is a genius," said the 28-year-old Dutch tourist, who had a ticket to the pop legend's scheduled comeback tour in July. "He was part of my life," she said, adding she had admired him since she was three years old.

When Solenne Amanda, an African-American from Long Island, east of Manhattan, learned that Jackson had suffered from cardiac arrest, she headed to Times Square with two friends.

"We were in Central Park when I got a phone call and decided to come here immediately to see what happened. We didn't cry, but it is depressing," said Amanda, 16.

"I don't think that he is gonna die," she insisted, even after news broke that her idol had died. "I wanted to buy tickets for his comeback tour," Amanda added, almost incredulous.

The first of four London concerts for the tour had been set for July 13. The kickoff concert was pushed back from July 8 because of the "sheer magnitude" of the show, promoters and producers AEG Live said.

"Getting ready for a show like this was very stressful," said producer Jay Coleman, who represented the artist in the 1980s, especially for his well-known Pepsi advertisements.

The artist's return to the stage had been widely publicized after the pop icon had lived in virtual recluse since 2005, when he was acquitted on charges of child molestation and plotting to kidnap his young accuser.

"No matter how psycho he was, we love him," said Amanda, who insisted that controversies swirling around Jackson in recent years had not made him fall from his pedestal. "He was the most successful entertainer of all times."

Coleman also acknowledged that the star had "a very eccentric personality."

Fans, the producer said, had expected that Jackson "would be as great as he was in the past."

In his artistic work, Jackson "was a perfectionist and very involved in the preparation, every detail was very important," Coleman said.