"Money doesn’t buy you happiness,"

"But it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it."

- Johnny Depp as quoted in the July issue of Vanity Fair.

Living in LA for the past two months, it’s hard not to get caught up in the media / celebrity- buzz of tinsel town. The most prevalent of course being Michael Jackson’s unexpected recent death. I was actually in Toronto when it happened – but I can’t say the aftermath has subdued much at all since. Michael Jackson’s life, his legacy – and the criminal investigation of his untimely death – has been the top story in entertainment news for several weeks now. The latest twist being federal investigators raiding Jackson’s Dr’s office – Dr Conrad Murray, who was with him at the time of his death.

Famous from age 5 – Michael Jackson lived in the spotlight for 45

years – dying at age 50 on June 25, 2009. Sadly, his life and death show that even in the world of celebrity - money doesn’t buy happiness. With Thriller topping the charts as the best selling album of all time - estimated with as many as 110 million copies being sold worldwide (still going strong). It’s been said that Jackson was chasing it's success since the 1982 release – never being able to top or even match his own greatness. Fighting the verge of bankruptcy in recent years, while still wearing couture with jackets in the tens of thousands of dollars, it's clear he was deeply troubled.

It reminds us that too much of anything isn’t good – excess of fame, money, attention, or power seems to have the opposite effect of what you're hoping for in attaining them. Let his death be a lesson to us all and let's let the King of Pop rest in peace - after all, we are the world.

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