Every Little Step: My Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

as you stride through the world. I’d always felt like I was the alpha in any room, but the boxing experience just multiplied that feeling. It’s like that movie Fight Club, starring Brad Pitt. These dudes from all walks of life confront some of their greatest fears by engaging in bare-knuckle brawling. That’s because every dude knows once you’ve been hit in the face, even if you don’t win the fight, you’re not really scared of anything. You’ve encountered one of your greatest nightmares and you’ve lived to tell the tale. You walk around with a different attitude. If you bring it to me, I’m going to whup your ass—or even if I don’t, I’m not going to be scared. It was an important lesson that I always carried with me after my Golden Gloves training.
    After my adventure in the ring, I ventured off to do solo performances at talent shows around Roxbury, singing and dancing. I came in second place at one of the shows, singing the Delfonics song “La La Means I Love You.” Naturally I was upset I didn’t win, but after the show I got approached by the man who had sponsored the talent show, Maurice Starr. His actual name was Larry Johnson, and he was a local artist who had recorded a couple of R & B albums a few years earlier to little success. Now he was looking to put together some type of group. He told me I should go find some guys to sing background and dance behind me.
    The first person I approached of course was Michael Bivins. I already knew he could dance because we had been in Transitions together. I knew Ralph Tresvant and Ricky Bell, two other local guys who had had a duet group together, so I asked them if they wanted to join us. They said yes. In that moment, New Edition was born—though we didn’t know it yet. We initially had another member, Travis Pettis, but he had to go down south the summer when this was all coming together and the ship sailed without him.
    We only had one chance at a rehearsal before we were going on the stage together at the Hi-Hat. When we started that rehearsal, I thought I sounded a lot like Michael Jackson. This was 1982, and even though his Thriller album hadn’t come out yet, in the minds of little black boys inRoxbury he was already the king. His album Off the Wall was still in constant rotation, with all those hits. Everybody wanted to sound like Michael, to dance like Michael, to move like Michael. I was just thirteen, so my voice still had a high enough register that I could close my eyes and imagine I sounded like Michael. But then Ralph Tresvant started singing. I was floored. He sounded exactly like Michael. He had that high Michael tone, with all the sweetness and energy Michael possessed, and that drew in listeners from the first note. Ralph had it all. I thought to myself, This is really gonna work.
    There was no doubt about Ralph being the lead. I was cool with being on the side because I knew I had a lot to bring to the table, particularly when it came to dance and movement. We all had different types of voices, different styles. That’s what makes a successful group—bringing all these different sounds together to form a beautiful whole.
    I had a vast mind for music. I tried to listen to everything—from Buddy Holly and the Beatles to Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, who were also my role models in addition to Michael. I just loved music and I knew there was nothing else in the world I wanted to do with my life. When we got the guys together to form a group, I think we all could sense that maybe this could turn into something special.
    For our first gig we decided to sing “Holding On (When Love Is Gone),” the LTD song featuring Jeffrey Osborne inthe lead that had been a big hit a few years earlier. We came up with the choreography, calling out the steps—“Kick ball . . . cross step . . .” We ran through the entire song maybe two or three times during the rehearsal.
    We tried to wear matching outfits, but it didn’t quite work out that