In Every Little Step, Brown will for the first time tell the full story of his life and set the record straight, particularly about his relationship with Whitney Houston.
Bobby Brown has been one of the most compelling American artists of the past thirty years, a magnetic and talented figure who successfully crossed over many musical genres, including R&B and hip hop, as well as the mainstream. In the late 1980s, the former front man of New Edition had a wildly successful solo career—especially with the launch of Don't Be Cruel—garnering multiple hits on the Billboard top ten list, as well as several Grammy, American Music, and Soul Train awards. But Brown put his career on hold to be with the woman he loved—American music royalty Whitney Houston. The marriage between Brown and Houston was perhaps the most closely watched and talked about marriage of the 1990s—a pairing that obsessed the public and the gossip industry. Now, for the first time, the world will be able to hear the truth from the mouth of America’s “bad boy” himself. Raw and powerful, Every Little Step is the story of a man who has been on the top of the mountain and in the depths of the valley and who is now finally ready to talk about his career and family life, from the passion and the excess to his creative inspirations and massive musical success.
On the process of writing this book, Bobby says, “Right after I signed on to write my story, I went through one of the most agonizing traumas I had ever experienced with the death of my daughter. But I was surprised by how therapeutic it was to work on this project, to look at the entire arc of my life and to realize that although there has been considerable pain, I have also been incredibly blessed. I hope my fans and other readers of this book will be entertained by this trip into the crazy, exciting, fascinating world of Bobby Brown. And I hope they will feel that I have been as honest and open with them in these pages as I have tried to be my entire life.”
The
Sexy Nerd ‘Revue’
Bad Boy Bobby Brown is an iconic legend in his own right. He hails from my favorite male group New Edition, straight out of Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in the Orchard Park Projects. In fact, if it weren’t for Bobby, there wouldn’t be a New Edition to be had. Bobby tells a very enriching exciting and tragic story that only the man himself could explain. Bobby has been through hell and back and no one could dispute his resiliency over the years.
There’s been much speculation about his life and assumptions made by the public and media alike, but there isn’t one person who would even dare try to walk in this man’s shoes. In fact, I’m positive you’d want to jump out of his shoes in a heartbeat. Bobby knew he was destined to be great and do great things and that’s just the facts. His showmanship is undeniable. Whether you like the man or not, you cannot argue that he’s a great entertainer—whether that be from what you’ve witnessed on the stage, or what you think you know about his life from the media. It wasn’t enough that he created quite a buzz in New Edition, but having left a popular group at its heightened success, to going solo and having a great career in the music industry, the bad boy proved that he can handle the stage and command his audience to pay attention.
Bobby never imagined that he’d marry one of music’s most iconic voices to ever grace this world. Whitney Houston was and is a legend in her own right as well. Was it any wonder that these two-dynamic people were destined to spend their lives together? Everywhere they went, the paparazzi followed them like a watchful parent to a child. Their romance was all over the place. I’ve heard the stories just like most others, and I’ve always wondered what was the attraction between Bobby and Whitney? Love was their common denominator at first, and then things drastically changed in their relationship. Factor in drugs and alcohol to a Bobby and Whitney relationship, it’s going to be toxic. Bobby gives detail about his whirlwind marriage to the Voice, Whitney Houston. Their marriage produced a child, Bobbi Kristina Brown.
Like most marriages, Bobby’s certainly wasn’t perfect. He outlined his faults as well as his famous wife’s faults. He told his truth in only the way he knew how and I felt he was being as real as he could be. I felt his honesty and truth! It’s truly hard to judge him on his words because it was his life. None of us lived his truth, only he and God knows his heart.
This was a good book. I remember thinking when it came out that it was too soon for him to tell his story, considering having lost his daughter Krissy. His daughter’s life mirrored her mother’s and it wasn’t a great reflection. It was unfortunate that Bobby was kept in the dark and cut out of his daughter’s life from her mother’s doing, and ultimately from the Houston side of her family. I can only imagine how painful it was losing his ex-wife, whom he still loved, and then losing his child from her. In fact, there’s nothing that ties him to the Houston family anymore. Luckily, Bobby has been given a second chance to be the father he always wanted to be to his children he’s had with other women and with his current wife, Alicia. She seems to be very good for him, and I’m thankful he has someone now that truly gets him and helps him with all the demons he still faces.
There are parts of Bobby’s story that made me cry especially when he talked about losing his parents, and not long after, Whitney and then Krissy. I felt his pain as if I had gone through it. Bobby did the damn thing with his story. The one thing I didn’t care for was the fact that some of the members of New Edition, as well as Bobby’s family members wrote sections in the book. This told me one of two things. Bobby obviously didn’t have much to fill up his memoir, or he wanted to let others have their say. That sort of turned me off a little. To me, when a person writes their memoir, it’s a very personal thing. It’s something only that individual can write from his/her own life’s experiences, so when you allow someone else to insert their thoughts and experiences into your story, it changes the dynamic of the memoir. I realize his family needed to tell their side of the story, and I appreciate what they were doing, I just didn’t feel it should have been told from their views, but more so from Bobby’s own words. Their insertions broke the story up for me and on the Kindle version, it sometimes wasn’t clear where their stories ended and Bobby’s picked up again. Once I got into the rhythm of his story, I realized with certain clarity who was speaking.
Outside of the side stories inside Bobby’s memoir, it was a decent read. I’ve always been a fan and will continue to be one. There’s something special about Bobby Brown that I could never quite put my finger on. Often when he was in the news about something, I personally felt like I had to defend his actions to people who wanted to talk shit about him. I don’t know this man just like many others out here in the world don’t, but here we are speaking about what we think and/or thought we knew about him and Bobby put those people in their place with his book. I’m happy to say that much of what I defended Bobby on turns out I was right. He explained a lot of the negative press he received and why he believed that happened. What I love about Bobby is that he owns his part in his wrongdoings. He’s not hiding behind anyone or pointing the fingers at others. When a man can stand in his own truth, that’s as real as it gets, and he gives his readers that in his memoir.
Bobby shares a birthday with someone who is near and dear to my soul, my baby brother. That’s why I’ve always been drawn to Bobby and I never knew it. When I just learned that his birthday is February 5th, I about nearly fainted. (chuckle). So, there you have it folks. No wonder I went in hard on people who tried to say negative things about Bobby, because I often had to do that for my brother. The life of an Aquarius can be a difficult one, and they are often misunderstood because they live hard and fight even harder. I can relate to that.
Since Bobby is in his 50s, his bad boy persona no longer suits him because he’s not a bad boy, he’s just being who he is. With that, I call him a Better Bobby Brown. He’s doing all right in his life now, since being clean and sober for quite a few years, and it is my hope and prayer that he continues. If he has positive people around him, like his lovely wife and children along with fans such as myself, we’re going to see Bobby continue to flourish and be even a better version of himself. So please drop the bad boy and replace it with Better Bobby Brown! I’m proud of you, Bobby, and thanks for setting the record straight and letting us into your world. God bless you and your family.
Bobby's story was inspiring, sad, exciting, and intriguing all wrapped up into one. I’m looking forward to new music from Bobby and seeing him up on stage entertaining us for all he’s worth. If you haven’t read his life story, you need to add this one to your reading list.
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