Everybody's Brother

August 19, 2013
Pop star Cee Lo calls himself “a sensitive and magical child” feeling “lost and terribly alone in the wilderness” in his outrageous new memoir, assisted by his longtime pal Big Gipp and writer David Wild. Born to a hardworking nurse in Atlanta, Thomas DeCarlo Burton (aka Cee Lo) remembers both the hard knocks of his early life, the death of his father when Cee Lo was two years old, and hearing the mysterious sounds of “a visitation from the Good God of the Holy Groove” in his grandmother’s living room. He was always a fancy dresser, a self-described “half-angel-half-devil,” who dropped acid, smoked grass, and shoplifted as a young tough. Influenced by the likes of James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Bill Withers, Tupac, and Prince, he created an outsized, flamboyant persona, which, along with his soulful voice, enthralled audiences. He eventually became a judge on the hit TV show The Voice. Brassy, often snarky, and totally madcap, Cee Lo mouths off in this ribald tell-all, to the enjoyment of his fans and newbies everywhere.