Former homeless drug addict and the always golden-voiced Ted Williams has had a wild ride with the fame monster since January 2011, when he was given a second chance thanks to the internet. He turned to drinking heavily shortly after becoming a huge sensation pretty much over night. It was hard for him to suddenly be faced with a deluge of media and business opportunities, as well as emotional reunions with estranged family members.
Earlier this month Ted celebrated a full year of total sobriety, and is now releasing what promises to be a compelling book about his life’s story called A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Word, and Humility Brought Me From the Streets to Salvation. A former crack addict, Ted says he turned to alcohol he says because he thought no one would suspect that he would be drinking because it wasn’t his drug of choice.
He wasn’t just drinking a little, he fell into full swing alcohol abuse. Things came to a head about two weeks after his video went viral. While staying in a hotel with his daughter for a Dr. Phil taping, Ted consumed several beers and an entire bottle of Grey Goose vodka, then got into an altercation with is daughter Janey. Police were called, and they were both detained, but neither arrested. He went to rehab with the help of Dr. Phil following this incident, but left just a few days later. By May 2011 Ted, who was filming a reality show that now appears to be defunct, was ready to seek rehab treatment seriously and fully committed to his recovery.
It’s now over one year later and he’s written a book, and seems to be doing incredibly well. He’s now living a domesticated life with his girlfriend (who used to abuse drugs with him,) and is keeping really busy. Along with the book, Ted has a pretty nifty website tedthegoldenvoice.com, and still works with Kraft Macaronia and Cheese, and New England Cable News, though he still hopes to break into the New York radio market.
Originally from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Ted was at one time a top radio announcer and DJ in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, but a severe crack addiction cost him his family, his job, his house, and his hope (for a while.) He was discovered on the street in late 2010 by Doral Chenoweth, a videographer for the Columbus Dispatch.
Ted told Wendy Williams this week that the first time he tried crack he was celebrating the birth of his son and a friend offered him some “reefer” (that’s weed to the kids) laced with “rock,” or crack. He loved the feeling so much, the next day he went looking for some rock, and it’s been a rough and treacherous road from there. The 54-year-old father of nine kinds (and 16 grand children) recalls his kids coming to see him on the street asking him to get off the corner.
Congrats on your sobriety Ted! Keep it up!
BTW, right now the six Amazon reviews of his book are stellar, it sounds like a very honest and inspiring read.
