For a brief moment, Ted Williams captivated America as "The Man With the Golden Voice." One minute he was homeless, the next minute he was famous, and his rags-to-riches tale was the feel good story of 2011. But not all fairytales have happy endings. So, whatever happened to The Man with the Golden Voice?
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00For a brief moment, Ted Williams captivated America as the man with the golden voice.
00:05One minute he was homeless, the next minute he was famous, and his rags-to-riches tale
00:09was the feel-good story of 2011.
00:12But not all fairy tales have happy endings.
00:14So whatever happened to the man with the golden voice?
00:17Williams' overnight fame dates back to a video posted by the Columbus Dispatch in 2011.
00:22At the time, Williams was homeless and asking for help on the streets of Ohio, aided by
00:26a sign that read,
00:27"'I have a God-given gift of voice.'"
00:29When you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you're listening to Magic Nutty
00:338.9.
00:34Thank you so much, God bless you."
00:37His remarkable sound went viral.
00:39A $375,000 book deal and offers from Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, MSNBC, the Cleveland Cavaliers,
00:46and many other opportunities soon followed.
00:48Williams, whose former radio career was sidelined by years of addiction to drugs and alcohol,
00:53had suddenly been given a second chance at life.
00:56"'Kraft Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese, cheesy noodles topped with golden brown breadcrumbs.
01:01You know you love it.'"
01:04About a week after he became famous, Williams admitted to talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw
01:08that he was still drinking, and agreed to enter a treatment facility.
01:12A spokesperson for The Dr. Phil Show told CNN that Williams' decision was fueled in
01:16part by a physical altercation with one of his daughters.
01:20Williams lasted just 12 days in the facility before leaving voluntarily.
01:24About four months later, Williams returned to rehab, committing to a 90-day program.
01:28After entering treatment, the Cleveland Cavaliers opted not to pursue a working relationship
01:32with him, and other gigs were also put on hold.
01:35Williams appeared on The Today Show in May 2012 to discuss the release of his book A
01:39Golden Voice, How Faith, Hard Work, and Humility Brought Me from the Streets to Salvation.
01:44The memoir revealed some startling information, including that Williams was a delinquent parent
01:49and had even played a role in prostituting his girlfriend so he could get money for drugs.
01:54Despite his struggles, Williams said he was maintaining his sobriety and had surrounded
01:58himself with better people this time around, admitting,
02:00"...I take it one day at a time."
02:02In October 2014, nearly four years after his life-changing video, the Columbus Dispatch
02:08sat down with Williams for a lengthy interview.
02:10Williams revealed that despite all the opportunities that came with viral fame, he was struggling
02:14to make ends meet due to people taking advantage of him.
02:17"...A lot of things that I signed early on in 2011 probably shouldn't have signed.
02:23A lot of people that were involved in my life then shouldn't have been."
02:27One of those people was his former manager, Alfred Battle.
02:30In 2016, Battle again tried to convince Williams to work with him on an unspecified project
02:35in Africa.
02:36Luckily, Williams said no, as Battle was arrested at the Newark airport for trying to smuggle
02:40a half-million dollars' worth of heroin into the country from Ethiopia.
02:45Of all the wild stories to come out of Williams' rise to fame, none was as surprising as the
02:49time he announced he would be running for President of the United States.
02:52According to USA Today, Williams made the announcement in June 2015 while appearing
02:57on Scott Spears' now-radio program.
02:59"...I was created to create change.
03:02I want to do it big.
03:03Looking at all the other people running, I said, why not change things on the highest
03:07level?"
03:08Alas, his bid for the White House concluded by the end of that summer.
03:10He told NBC News,
03:11"...I wanted to focus on other things.
03:13I wanted to inspire and encourage."
03:16Five years after the video that made him famous, the Columbus Dispatch profiled Williams again
03:20to see how he had been doing.
03:22This time, the news was good.
03:23He had landed a Pepsi commercial and had even begun starring in his own weekday radio program,
03:28The Golden Voice Show, in Columbus.
03:30The best part?
03:31It was on WVKO-AM, which was the same radio station where Williams began his career in
03:36the 80s.
03:37According to Christian Today, Williams said during one of his shows,
03:39"...I'm almost like a poster child for redemption."
03:42In 2016, Williams was featured in one of Oprah's Where Are They Now segments.
03:47While recapping the story of his rise, fall, and rise again, Williams became emotional
03:51about his desire to leave a legacy of which both his fans and family could be proud.
03:55To that end, he has been working with homeless charities, even returning to Friends of the
03:59Homeless, a shelter that he once relied on when he was down and out.
04:02"...I was right there at the head of the line waiting for my handout.
04:05So this is where I have a lot of loyalties now.
04:08It's just exciting to meet the people and to embrace them with hugs and all of that
04:11stuff because they know that I was just five years ago in the same situation that they
04:15were."
04:16Williams has even larger charitable aspirations, however.
04:18He wants to open up a homeless laundromat so that those who are in the position he once
04:22was have a shot at getting back to work, just like he did.