LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, has suffered a stroke but is OK and resting in a Las Vegas hospital, a family friend said on Thursday.

"He was doing well and says he's feeling OK," close family friend Brian Oxman told Reuters.

Oxman, Michael Jackson's one-time attorney, said the 83-year-old patriarch of the pop music family started experiencing weakness on Wednesday while walking in a park near his home and was later admitted to a hospital.

Jackson has a history of strokes, Oxman said.

"He was talking fine," Oxman added. "He sounded excellent to me."

A former U.S. Steel employee from Gary, Indiana, Jackson managed and helped launched the career of his children with the R&B and soul group The Jackson 5 beginning in the 1960s.