THE MAN BEHIND THE MAN

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR “The Man Behind the Man/Looking from the Inside Out”, should not be disregarded as yet another tell all about what you see and hear of the fabulous life of society’s high regarded celebrities. It is also not an at-tempt to play victim or take others in as casualty, this is not my intention. I consider this my closure and my rebirth! This book is a notification of my story as I remember it. All of the events and experiences detailed are true and have been written as I re-member them. Some of the names in this book are of actual people and for the sake of those who are dear to my heart some are fictional. For the truth in me, I am not interested in protecting the integrity or confidentiality of any of the various individuals involved who have shown no consideration for me. This writing is not written to represent word-for-word documenta-tion. However, I have retold this story in a way that evokes the real feeling and meaning of what was said, in keeping with the true essence of the mood and to bring to life the spirit of the event. In writing this book I was clearing my mind and in some ways crying out. In search of trying to fig-ure out where and how it all went wrong, this writing has been therapy for me. I spent half of my twenties and most of my thirties grooming one of my former best friends, Robert Kelly, for stardom. Resentment was very much present. This writing helped me to release that pain. For years I have had a personal battle within myself for all of the bad decisions I made. Those left offended should consider this one question, “Have you thought of me?” The Man behind the Man is a pivotal testimony. I welcome you to fellow me on my pursuit of redemption. It is said; “The truth will set you free.” Luke 12:2—“For there is nothing covered that shall not be re-vealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” CHAPTER 1 The Sacrifice LIFE IN THE music business, the glamour, the fame and the hype of it wasn’t all that it claimed to be, at least not for me it wasn’t. It all started off with us believing we were on a mission or a spiritual calling. I have always thought everybody should be helping somebody, allowing that somebody to help somebody else. In doing so, everybody would be looking out for one another. It would be a great big beautiful world. But with the lumps and detours along the way, I didn’t see what was to come. We were young singers with a strong desire to become successful entertainers in the music industry. We made it all the way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in my broken-down 1973 burnt-orange Chevy Station Wagon. The notion that we would ever achieve success seemed farfetched, but I had a vision. I put my heart into the journey and I was taking the steps to bring my dream into reality. It was 1985 and we were sitting in the home of one of the NBA’s star point guards for the Milwaukee Bucks, Craig Hodges. He was my brother-in-law, married to my younger sister Ce-Ce. I felt as if Craig was the connection needed to open a door for me into the music industry in order to get this young, multitalented artist that I was working with heard. With Craig being a professional basketball player, he got to meet many influential people. And everybody that was somebody was at the NBA games. This was during the time when Kareem Abdul Jabar was at the height of his career, and then there was Julius Erving (Dr. J), Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird. This was at the beginning of the Michael Jordan era. All the top names were at the games to see these greats perform. Yes, the entertainment industry, lights, cameras and action—it was where I wanted to be. I knew early on, things were in place for this to happen in my life. The first door for me now was Craig! I had no doubt in my mind he’d like young Robert because I was crazy about him. Besides, Craig had always told me he would invest in my musical career. I was just starting up as a singer but my young protégé, Robert Kelly, was ready! As I saw it, for me to put my career on hold to get this kid started was well worth the sacrifice. However, when I asked Craig for his assistance to promote somebody else, whom he didn’t know, he was hesitant at wanting to talk to me about it. I knew it would take some extreme convincing, so I told Ce-Ce about Robert first. She had a good ear and could even hum a few tones herself. I felt that she would be receptive and she’d help me in getting through to Craig. When I found out that she was coming up to Chicago to visit our mother, I told young Robert that I was going to take him to meet her. He was modest in saying, “Yea right, man I don’t believe you!” But at the same time he was asking when was she coming and shyly, the boy was blushing as he sat at his keyboard, fumbling around and humming to a new melody. I made all of the necessary provisions to be at my mom’s home when Ce-Ce arrived. After introducing her to young Robert Kelly later in the afternoon, she whispered in my ear, “That little boy got some big ears.” At that point, I knew that she wanted to see and hear all that I had been telling her about my young artist. It was time to let her hear this little boy with the big ears sing. As the young Robert Kelly performed for her, he touched her with his voice. He was smooth. He sung as if he went into the debts of heart so you could feel his soul. I watched Ce-Ce melt. She was enchanted into amazement. This little boy, as she called him, brought a sparkle into her eyes and made her gasp for breath. He displayed elegance along with grace as he sang and played the piano. I think what amazed Ce-Ce most were the songs he sang. They were songs she had never heard, but yet, the passion he released while singing touched her. Looking at her, I could see she felt the waves and fell into the bliss of the boy’s sound. I knew after Ce-Ce heard Robert sing that she would go back to tell Craig about him. Because I felt she wasn’t going to be able to get this “little boy” off of her mind. Little Robert Kelly had gone Donnie Hathaway on her and serenaded her with “A Song for you.” After his performance, she was all in my ear asking questions: “How old is he?” What are you going to do with him?”, and “What is it you want me to do to help?”—Those were welcome words to my ears. As the afternoon went into the evening, we were all feeling good. We sat around talking and laughing right into night. Before Ce-Ce left, she told me she would indeed tell Craig of my young artist and how she thought Robert was someone she could see her and Craig investing in. As I was driving Robert home that night, I remember word for word telling him, “Rob, you gonna be a star dude. The door was opening for us.” I was excited and feeling real good about the direction this would take my life. To me, Craig was the link to help me on this journey to the next level. “Man, this is unreal. I was singing in front of Craig Hodges’ wife, Johnny-man. Awl man,” Robert said as if he was in awe. He kept asking me, “Was that for real, Johnny? I was singing for Craig’s wife, man, Johnny,” he said, sounding as if he was lost in wonderland, “Yeah, Rob, you were awesome, dude. She was crazy about you. We’ll be going to see Craig next,” I told him. We both seemed to let our thoughts drift away as we rode to his house in silence. It was less than a week later when Craig called and offered to help me. He said Ce-Ce spoke very highly of young Robert and had been talking about him all week. He told me he looked forward to meeting and hearing him soon. The door was opening! I knew Craig had the finances that would help get things started for us. Rob and I felt it was a blessing for us to have met each other too. I was feeling real confident about this journey! Success seemed inevitable now. It was within our grasp. I figured my decision to put my own singing career on hold while I worked with this young cat, Robert Kelly would be well worth the sacrifice. Plu