Fans stunned by pop star's death

NEW YORK (AFP) - 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 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.
In a spontaneous homage at Harlem’s Apollo theatre — long a center of African American music — Shelly Lopez joined hundred of others shouting their impassioned tributes.
“He’s our Elvis” she cried.
The theatre, where the Jackson Five once triumphed, posted its own message. “In memoriam Michael Jackson, A True Apollo Legend” was seen emblazoned across its illuminated signage.
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.