The only thing about Michael Jackson that died today was his body.

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Michael Jackson.

The rest of the King of Pop including his outsized talent, soul-stirring voice that could start a verse in a vulnerable whisper and end it with an aching falsetto lives on many singers today.

I was thinking of Jackson's reach earlier this week when I attended a Maxwell concert at the Paramount Theatre. The R&B singer was all smooth slides, gyrating hips and elastic springs upon knees that must require cortisone injections to endure. He was, In two words, Michael Jackson 20 years ago. That's no slam against Maxell. Jackson's sinewy swagger lives on in young singers from Usher to Justin Timberlake to even Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5.

Jackson was more than one of the best entertainers in the world. He and his brothers made up the Jackson 5 , the alpha of boy bands and the omega of family musical acts - there has not been such an amazing family act since the Jackson boys. The Jackson 5 were emblematic of the cool, the verve and the hard-working, prodigious talent within black America. They kept the hits coming. Growing up, family gatherings always included a moment where my sisters and I would slide across our polished basement floor mimicing steps we had seen performed by the Jacksons. I knew the words to "ABC" and "I Want You Back before I knew about love. Back in the day, every boy wanted a red leather jacket and Jheri curl like Michael Jackson's. Girls, we just wanted Michael.

HIs whole family, which included a very religious mother and hard-charging father plus three girls including singer, Janet Jackson, was part of the popularity. Their story was that of a hard-working, close-knit family growing up poor in Gary, Indiana. It was a perfect picture of the black American family.

Time called Michael Jackson, then 25, a one-man rescue team for the music business. The video release for the song Thriller was a much-anticipated event aired on a major television network during prime time. When he moonwalked, people including me screamed in our living rooms and wished for the technological ability to hit replay. for One need only look back and see how many times he was on the cover of People to gauge Jackson's impact on music, fashion and pop culture.

As so many singers snared pieces of Michael Jackson for themselves, whether it was his iconic outfits - think Kanye West - or his lush dancing style - I'm picturing Ne-Yo and Usher, Jackson seemed to retained less and less of himself. Prodigious musical talent gave way to a reclusivity marked by numerous plastic surgeries and periodic embarassments like catching his hair on fire while filming a Pepsi Cola commercial.

It was his strange behavior that made young girls stop swooning. By the time Jackson started getting sued for allegedly molesting young boys and owing people money, he was an admired has-been. If anyone mentioned his name it tended to be less about his music and more about his money, or lack of it as it appeared he was being sued by so many people he was a dance step away from bankruptcy.

Around the world Jackson remained a loved icon. A planned run of 50 comeback concerts in London starting in July are already sold out. The King of Pop is dead, yet in so many ways and in so many singers he lives.

It is a strange feeling to ponder the death of someone who spawned so many styles, categories of music and ideas that will linger beyond them. It is hard to think of Michael Jackson as dead when his music, his style of dress, his dance moves, the single glove and even the gold-rimmed Aviator sunglasses, are all living on in other people. I guess the good don't really ever die.