GARY - Fans formed a prayer circle on the front yard of Michael Jackson's modest childhood home Thursday and hundreds more crowded the street after word spread that the "King of Pop" and Gary native had died.

Stuffed teddy bears and roses were left on the porch of the small white frame house where Jackson grew up, which now sits empty, as neighbors gathered to light candles and pen notes of condolence.

"I had to come here because I literally was going to break down if I sat in my house," said Wyatt Puryear, a truck driver from Gary who said he named his son Michael after Jackson, who died in Los Angeles at age 50.

"I grew up on Michael Jackson," said Puryear, 38. "Ever since I was a kid, I was dancing and singing like him."

Bernetta Galloway of Gary said she headed straight to the Jackson home from her doctor's office after hearing the news. The 50-year-old said residents are proud of Jackson because he was "somebody from Gary who did something with their life."

Jackson was born the seventh of nine children in Gary on Aug. 19, 1958. He was 11 years old when the family moved out of the city after the Jackson 5 recorded their first album in 1969.

Gordon Keith signed the Jackson Five to his Gary-based Steeltown Records in 1967. Decades later he sued Jackson family members over the rights to their early recordings with Steeltown.

Keith, who still lives in Gary, recorded the Jacksons' first record, a 45 with side one "Big Boy" and flip side "You've Changed" released in 1967. Michael Jackson was 7 1/2 or 8 at the time.

"He was super when I first met him and heard him," Keith said. "I definitely knew that about him."

The Jackson 5 played two concerts at West Side High School in 1971, but Michael Jackson did not return to Gary until June 2003. It was his last trip to his hometown.

Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, who was not yet mayor then, said Jackson received a hero's welcome. Clay said Jackson made residents in the beleaguered city along Lake Michigan proud of their once-prosperous steeltown.

"I had the opportunity to shake his hand and talk to him ... and that's where I saw the love in his heart and how humble he was as a person," Clay said. "You could feel the love that Michael had for people."

Clay said Jackson was dear to Gary residents because his rise to superstardom made the city world famous and made residents proud of their roots.

The mayor said, "We loved him before he became famous and we still love Michael Jackson and always will love Michael Jackson."

The mayor said he'd like to see the pop singer buried in Gary.

Short of a burial, he hopes Jackson's body can at least lie in repose at the City Hall.

Clay says he'll push for that but hasn't broached the possibility with Jackson's family.

The 73-year-old mayor says he also hopes the community of about 96,000 along Lake Michigan becomes a mecca for Jackson fans, similar to the way Elvis Presley fans flock to Graceland in Memphis, Tenn.

Flags flew at half staff outside City Hall on Friday and Jackson's music, including "Bad," was piped through an intercom system inside the building.

Robert Crawford, 42, a crane operator who has lived in Gary all his life, started singing the Jackson 5 song "Going Back to Indiana" as he stood in front of the Jackson's boyhood home Thursday evening.

"I think his memory is going to live on," Crawford said. "They should bring a statue of Michael right here."

Music, videos quickly sell out

NEW YORK - Michael Jackson's death has led to skyrocketing sales of his music and videos, with major retailers selling out of products that have regained immense popularity overnight.

Bill Carr, Amazon.com Inc.'s vice president for music and video, said Friday that once the world learned that the pop icon had died Thursday, the Web site sold out within minutes all CDs by Michael Jackson and by the Jackson 5 - the group Jackson and his four older brothers formed out of Gary, Ind., in the late '60s.

Jackson's albums accounted for all 10 of Amazon's "Bestsellers in Music" list Friday, with the 25th anniversary edition of the celebrated "Thriller" album taking the top spot.

Barnes and Noble Inc.'s Web site and retail stores also sold out most Jackson CDs, DVDs and books, and its 10 bestselling CDs were Jackson titles as well. Borders Group Inc.'s Web site sold out almost everything related to the star; albums also sold out at some of the book seller's retail locations, including its New York stores.

"We saw something similar when (Luciano) Pavarotti and (Frank) Sinatra passed, but from the initial read on this it seems to be a faster rush," Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said. "People seem to be shocked by the news and want to go out and rediscover his music."

At a Borders in midtown Manhattan, Chris Barnes, 37, came in during his lunch break Friday and was disappointed he couldn't get a compilation of the star's number-one videos - something he had seen on the shelf just a few days earlier.

"He was an icon. I grew up on 'Off The Wall' and all that," Barnes said, listening to Jackson's "Rock With You" on his iPod as he spoke.

Apple Inc. would not describe the level of demand for Jackson's music at its online iTunes Store, but his dominance of iTunes' top-seller lists Friday speaks for itself.

Before word of Jackson's hospitalization, none of his albums were in iTunes' list of top sellers. After the news broke, "Thriller" quickly cracked the iTunes top 100; within hours, it reached No. 1. By Friday afternoon, nine of the top 10 albums were Jackson's. "The Essential Michael Jackson" song collection was the top-selling album, followed by "Thriller."

Five of Jackson's singles made it to iTunes' list of most-purchased tracks - "Man in the Mirror," "Thriller," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," and "Smooth Criminal" - in what may be one of the best barometers to gauge his most popular songs.

Borders, Barnes and Noble and Amazon all were working on restocking their stores.

Sixty percent of Amazon's CD orders Thursday were for Michael Jackson music, something Carr called "stunning." He said he'd "never seen anything like this" before at Amazon after the death of a pop culture icon.

With Amazon sold out of Jackson CDs, Carr said many customers were buying Jackson's music in digital form. Sales of Jackson-related videos are also up on Amazon - Carr said most DVDs, including the 1978 movie musical "The Wiz," are currently out of stock.

Carr said it was difficult to say whether the increased sales would persist, saying Amazon for now was taking things "minute by minute" and reacting to customers' orders.

"They love him, he's a legend, and they're anxious to make sure they have his music in their collections," he said.

Demand for Jackson-related products also shot up abroad.

The Web site for Britain's largest music seller, HMV Group, saw an unprecedented amount of downloads of Jackson's music after his death.

At HMV stores, sales rose about 20-fold, though they had stocked up on albums in advance of concerts that were to begin next month, HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said. Jackson, 50, had been prepping for a 50-show engagement at London's O2 Arena.

Raw video: The Jackson 911 call

The Los Angeles City Fire Department has released the 911 call from Michael Jackson’s home to paramedics.

To see the video and here the call, click here.