Announcer Ted Williams Backs Out Of Baltimore Fashion Week

Have you been wondering where he's been???

By John-John Williams IV

Baltimore Fashion Week may be under way, but the showcase of models and designers is missing its star announcer.

Due to contract disputes, Ted Williams, the homeless Ohio man with the golden baritone who became an overnight sensation earlier this year, won't be manning the microphone this weekend, organizers said Friday.

Fashion Week founder Sharan Nixon said she canceled Williams' contract because he made last-minute requests which soured the deal — accusations Williams' camp denies.

Williams signed a contract in March to announce the designers during the four-day event, which runs through Sunday. He was also scheduled to do radio spots and attend promotional events.

The arrangement fell apart earlier this month when Williams asked if Baltimore Fashion Week could also pay for hotel accommodations for his girlfriend, Nixon said.


"According to the contract, I was suppose to provide accommodations for him, his manager and bodyguard," Nixon said. "Then they started demanding other requests that were not in the original contract."

Alfred Battle, Williams' agent, said budget cuts were responsible for the severed contract.

"That was on the producer, Sharan Nixon," he said. "She called and said that she had to do some cut backs, and the budget she had for him had to be cut. We were really disappointed about that."


Battle said adding Williams' girlfriend to the mix might have also played a role.

"I told her that she would have to come," Battle said. "The two met each other in rehab. But her presence wouldn't have been a deal breaker for her. We would have put them in a room together, I don't want to contradict what she had to say. I don't want this to come off as a controversy. But this was due to budget cuts. It was due to her budget."

Williams' absence is the latest setback for Baltimore Fashion Week.

Eight days before the annual event was set to begin, Nixon announced that she did not have a venue to host her event. An initial agreement with H&S Properties Development Corp., the group responsible for developing the area, fell through leaving her without a location. Nixon later found the Scottish Rite Masonic Center north of the Hopkins Homewood campus.

Williams achieved instant celebrity in January after the Columbus Dispatch posted on its website a video interview of him where he demonstrated his voice by doing a mock radio announcement. The video hit YouTube and went viral — making him a household name. He has recorded voice-overs for various national brands and even been offered a job announcing at games for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Nixon said that different personalities from local radio stations will be filling in for Williams, including Belinda Merritt from Magic 95.9, Tim Watts from Magic 95.9. and Mikel from Magic 95.9.

Source;  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-st-ted-williams-fashion-week-20110819,0,4309399.story

The "Golden Voice" Ted Williams - The Voice Of Fashion Week In Baltimore

Ted Williams, the homeless Ohio man who became an overnight sensation earlier this year, will be bringing his "golden voice" to Charm City in August when he serves as announcer for Baltimore Fashion Week, the event's executive director, Sharan Nixon, confirmed.

Williams signed a contract Tuesday morning that results in him live announcing designers each day of the four-day event. In addition, Williams will do radio spots and attend promotional events associated with Baltimore Fashion Week, which runs Aug. 18-21.

"When we finally found his information, and his agent said he wanted to come, I just started crying because I couldn't believe it," Nixon said. "Having someone of his magnitude say they are willing to be a part of my event is just fabulous."

Williams achieved instant celebrity in January after the Columbus Dispatch posted on its website a video interview of him where he demonstrated his voice by doing a mock radio announcement. The video hit YouTube and went viral — making him a household name. He has recorded voice-overs for various national brands and he's been offered a job announcing at games for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Williams has also had his share of troubles, including being detained in Los Angeles by police after an altercation with his daughter, and a brief stay in rehab for alcohol abuse after appearing on "Dr. Phil."

Nixon said she is not concerned that Williams' personal troubles will affect his appearance at her event.

"His agent has assured me that he will be fine," she said. "There won't be any problems. Everybody has their problems in life. It is not my place to wonder if he is going to handle himself accordingly as a special guest of Baltimore Fashion Week."


Williams is excited to attend Baltimore Fashion Week, according to his agent, Alfred Battle.

"We have not been in the Baltimore area," said Battle, who has known Williams for the past 25 years. "Surely there are some people who have been touched and affected by his story in that area. We want to make a personal appearance by those people."

Battle stressed that Williams would be ready for his trip to Baltimore. In fact, Williams is scheduled to begin taping a reality television show "Second Chance At Life," which will chronicle his life as well as allow him to give other homeless people a chance at redemption, according to Battle.

"Ted is doing wonderful," Battle said. "He is living in a sober living environment in Los Angeles. He's doing a good job with it, too."
The addition of Williams is the latest in an attempt to elevate the event's image, according to Nixon.


In January, Nixon announced that she was moving the event back to Baltimore after holding it at the Sheraton Baltimore North in Towson. The new site — a parcel of land near the Morgan Stanley building in Harbor East — will provide Nixon with the type of location she envisioned when she first launched the event, she said.




To Read More>>>Overnight sensation Ted Williams to be the voice of Baltimore Fashion Week

Tentmate Sells "Home" And Gives Money To Good Cause

It seems that while Ted Williams was in rehab for a few days and since leaving he has been informed that while he was away his tentmate sold their home! It went to a good cause, though.

January 29, 2011

LIMA, Ohio -- The tent in which Ted Williams, the golden-voiced homeless man who became an overnight media sensation, used to live sold for $355 Saturday in an online auction.

Victor Houston, who shared the dwelling with Williams before he became famous, put it on eBay on Jan. 23 with a starting price of $100. It attracted 16 bids before ending at $355.

The website listing stated, "This is your chance to bid on a piece of web history. Much could be said about Ted Williams, but one thing is for sure, he has had historical success overnight from the web ... This story will be remembered as the defining moment for viral video.

The money raised from the auction will go to Houston and the Lima Rescue Mission, a homeless charity in Lima, Ohio

Williams became an overnight sensation after a Columbus Dispatch reporter discovered him panhandling on the side of a highway in Ohio with a sign saying he had the God-given gift of a radio voice. He was inundated with freebies, bookings and voiceover gigs but made headlines for the wrong reasons when he was detained by Los Angeles police following an alleged Jan. 10 shouting altercation with his daughter.

Williams entered rehab on Jan. 12 for drug and alcohol dependency after admitting on the "Dr. Phil" TV show that he struggled with addiction. But after 12 days at the facility he left against medical advice and headed for an unnamed airport

On Friday, Williams returned to the Ohio street corner where he used to live and located Houston. Williams gave Houston a wad of cash and promised to help Houston get off the streets once he himself gets his life in order.

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Ted Williams Detained By Police

LOS ANGELES – Ted Williams, the Ohio homeless man whose smooth radio voice made him an internet sensation, had to do some quick talking to Los Angeles police.

Officers were called when Williams and his daughter got into a heated argument Monday night at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa, Officer Catherine Massey said.

"I don't know how loud they were" but the argument at about 9 p.m. led to a disturbance report, Massey said Tuesday.

"It was minor. Both parties were angry but there were no signs of visible abuse," Massey said. "They were brought in, calmed down, talked to and released."

She said she did not know the nature of the argument.

Williams and his daughter, whom Massey declined to name, were held at the Hollywood police station for less than an hour and they were not arrested, she said.

It was not known whether the two returned to the hotel. "Due to guest privacy laws, we don't share details of our guests or their stays," said Dan Shaughnessy, director of sales and marketing for the Rennaissance.

Williams' manager, Al Battle, declined to comment about or provide details of the incident but said a statement would be issued soon.

"Once we get all the facts, it'll be out there for everybody to have," he said in a brief phone interview with The Associated Press.

Williams was in town to tape an appearance on TV's "Dr. Phil" show.

The two-part episode was taped over the weekend to air Tuesday and Wednesday. On the Wednesday segment, Williams meets with his ex-wife, Patricia, and five of his nine children, according to a statement from the show.

"In this emotional reunion, Williams talks openly with his family about the man he is today, the influences that threaten his sobriety and what his children can expect from him in the future. His children respond in a very raw and candid manner," the statement said.

"Everyone is pulling for Ted, but his 15 minutes are going to be over and then he'll be left to manage a life filled with temptation," host Phil McGraw said. "We're going to try and help him prepare for that because it would be a real tragedy if he did not make the most of this extraordinary second chance."

Williams, 53, trained to be a radio announcer but found his life derailed by drugs and alcohol in the 1990s. He has served time in prison for theft and forgery and has been cited with numerous misdemeanors, including drug abuse.

Williams became famous almost overnight after The Columbus Dispatch newspaper posted a web video of him last week. Viewers were enthralled to hear a deep, honeyed professional voice coming from the shabbily dressed man.

Since then, he has done a TV commercial for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, appeared on various news shows, recorded voiceover promos for cable news and was offered an announcing job with the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team.

Although he says he has been clean for more than two years, the recovering addict has acknowledged that it has been challenging dealing with sudden fame.

"I wanted a nerve pill yesterday, to be honest with you," he told CBS on Friday.

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