Fame-to-memoir timeline: January 2011-May 2012 (16 months)
Collective Internet attention is fickle. The Man with the Golden Voice made sure to keep his audience captive by churning out a hardback version of his life before the last grain of sand dropped in his hourglass of fame.
A Golden Voice, Williams’ memoir co-written with Bret Witter, was published May 10, 2012. His velvety voice earned him instant attention—and job offers—after the video of his life-changing encounter with a Columbus Dispatch reporter went viral in January 2011. The book, though, centers more on his past as a homeless highway panhandler than his life post-Cinderella story.