By this point a lot of people might think they know the story of Kelly Khumalo. Certainly any avid tabloid reader could not escape the remaining years of the previous decade, when Kelly apparently featured on a near-weekly basis – be it her sultry looks, strange comments, highly public court battles, even more public romances or eventual downward spiral into drugs.

With this book, and the help of renowned author and recovering addict Melinda Ferguson, Kelly aims to set the record straight. Or rather, she comes clean about a lot of stuff. It all starts at the beginning, telling about a young Kelly growing up in an impoverished Northern Kwazulu-Natal village. Here she learned that she’d have to fight for what she wanted. She also encountered the beginnings of her tumultuous relationship with men, partly through a brief period when her runaway-father lived with them and at times beat his family so badly that Kelly “couldn’t go to school; I had bruises, purple eyes, the works.”

Soon we are swept to her first stab at becoming a star by auditioning for a gospel talent show and consequently meeting Sarah Setlaelo. The two women would change each other’s lives forever and not always in good ways. Along the way the book reveals a lot, telling both Kelly and Sarah’s stories. It clears up the whole ‘no underwear’ saga – Kelly cries foul, saying it’s a Photoshop trick and “that bush was not my nookie!” – and reveals the star’s anxiety over her poor education. As Kelly puts it: “I was so scared that someone would notice that I couldn’t speak English that well.”

It also gives some perspective on Kelly’s love affairs – at one point a former manager says she “changes them like underwear.” But yet for all the whirlwind romances, most lovers hardly get a mention at all. The bulk of the attention nearly goes to Prosper Makwaiwa, instrumental in Kelly’s legal woes and who she describes as “never actually made or created anything”.

But it’s hip hop star Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye who features in an entire section of the book. Cynics might suggest it’s because he’s on trial for fatally hitting several school children in a drag racing accident – with a Mini that Kelly bought for him. But the two have a lot of history and share a child. They also disappeared in a cloud of drugs and terrible fights, which Kelly concedes both were at fault at.

“The highness made us so aggressive, like animals, fighting each other to kill each other.”

Kelly knows how to fight and she claims the infamous photos of her bruised and battered face at the hands of Jub Jub was an indication of how nasty their confrontations got. In a more comical moment, the songbird details how she once sorted out Khanyi Mbau, bashing “her face into my knee wrestler-style.”

It was also this downward spiral of bad drugs and badder men that practically bankrupted the star, nearly killing her career and eventually leading her looking for help. Ferguson spares few insights on Kelly’s fight with drugs and the book opens with the author’s own initial scepticism around Kelly’s intentions. Comparisons to Whitney Houston and her eventual relapse pop up frequently. It does a good job convincing the reader that Kelly’s redemption is for real, though the other topics – men, music, partying – is dealt with in far less detail.

The Kelly Khumalo Story is a comeback tale – a means to give Kelly and her manager’s sides of the story, to ask for a clean slate and to acknowledge what they all did wrong and right in the past. Readers looking for dirty details that the tabloids have revelled in will be disappointed – the book is candid, but sparing. Still, it is an incredible tale of rags-to-riches-to-disaster-to-recovery, around one of the most talented singers South Africa has ever seen. If anyone is looking to make a dramatic movie, this book would be a good option.

If you have more interest in the saga of Kelly Khumalo than simple idle gossip, be sure to pick up a copy of The Kelly Khumalo Story.

WIN! WIN! WIN!

Stand a chance to win one of three copies of The Kelly Khumalo Story by answering the following question:

Who is the author of the book?

Email your answer to [email protected] with “Kelly” in the subject line.
Competition ends Monday, 22 October 2012 at noon.
The winner will be notified via email.

By James Francis