Overnight Celebrity

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Overnight Celebrity is the second single from Twista’s 2004 album Kamikaze. Contrary to his lyrics and what the media portrays, success is far from an overnight occurrence. Every year some 500,000 companies (and by some accounts 10x that) are formed in the US, but since 2006, only about 20 reached the coveted billion dollar club. While the likes of Twitter and Tesla, Salesforce and Snapchat, Google and Groupon dominate headlines, few took notice of these starlets before they were stars. So what’s it like to taste the sour before the sweet?

 

 

John sold Christmas cards and newspapers to help support his family before he turned 10. Bouncing in and out of foster homes, he spent most of his youth as a gang member in LA. His math teacher told him he would never succeed at anything in life. After a series of janitorial and sales gigs, he once again found himself homeless on the streets. He slept in his car for weeks at a time. At 27, John entered the world of hair care as an employee of Redken and four years later he was fired. In 1980, he formed John Paul Mitchell Systems with a loan for $700 after his lead investor reneged on the $500,000 he promised. For the first two years John lived hand to mouth, still living out of his car. Today, John Paul Mitchell brings in nearly $1 billion in annual sales. John Paul DeJoria is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist best known as founder of Paul Mitchell hair products, Patron Tequila, and the House of Blues nightclub chain. John is worth some $4 billion.

 

Gail was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage, single mother. Molested by her cousin, uncle, and family friend, she was raped at nine, pregnant at 14, and witness to her son’s death shortly after his birth. She was so poor that she wore dresses made of potato sacks. Her poverty was constantly rubbed in her face. Her mother sent her to live with her father and refused to take her back. Under her father’s care, she prospered. She became an honors student, joined the speech club, won a beauty pageant, secured a scholarship, and eventually anchored the news for her local radio station. In a field dominated by white males, she was both the youngest and the first black female anchor at the station. Five years later, she moved to Chicago and took over a low-rated morning talk show. Within months, the show went from last place in ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest rated talk show in Chicago. The rest is history. Forbes listed Oprah Gail Winfrey as the first black woman billionaire in world history. Winfrey overtook former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America. Oprah is worth some $2.7 billion.

 

Joanne got divorced and was living on welfare with a child. Over the next few years her life took a nose-dive. Her mother died after ten years of suffering from multiple sclerosis. She was poor, depressed, and lived in a mouse-infested flat. She struggled to raise her daughter on a welfare check of 70 pounds a week. Unable to heat her flat, she sat in cafés nursing drinks for hours while walking around with her sleeping baby daughter. She was as poor as possible without being homeless. She described herself as the “biggest failure she knew.” She was diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide. Ironically, it was this feeling which brought her the idea of Dementors, soul-sucking creatures she later introduced in her book. She found solace in writing. Seven years later, she submitted her first manuscript to twelve publishing houses, all of which rejected it. A year later, she found an editor that took a chance and gave her a 1500 pound advance, but strongly advised her to get a day job since she would most likely fail at children’s books. In 1997, J. K. Rowling finished her first novel and Harry Potter was born. The franchise is the best-selling book series, selling more than 400 million copies, and the highest-grossing film series in history, grossing $8 billion. Joanne is worth some $1 billion.

 

 

Beyond the glitz and glamour, roses and riches, fame and fortune, there lies a burgeoning star. Since few shed light on his struggle, he toils in agony, silent, and destitute, yet driven by his dreams. Ironically, if and when he emerges from the darkness, he’s almost instantaneously thrust into the spotlight and heralded as a star. He’s gone from zero to hero seemingly overnight. My have the tables turned. And so, to the untrained eye, to those unaware of his journey through hell, the myth of the overnight celebrity continues.

 

 

Image: Yew Wei Tan on Flickr

Edits: Steve Dinelli