Odom, Gene 1948-

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Odom, Gene 1948-

PERSONAL:

Born 1948, in Jacksonville, FL.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Jacksonville, FL. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Worked in the 1970s as a security manager for the southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd.

WRITINGS:

I'll Never Forget You, self-published (Jacksonville, FL), 1983.

(With Frank Dorman) Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Creator of video tribute Jukin' with Gene: Frynds of Mine.

SIDELIGHTS:

A childhood friend of Lynyrd Skynyrd lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, Gene Odom served as a security manager for the popular 1970s rock group. He was permanently disabled in a 1977 plane crash that ultimately killed Van Zant and several other band members. Odom first wrote about his experiences with Van Zant and the band in his 1983 self-published debut, I'll Never Forget You. His second book, titled Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock, written with Frank Dorman, is a broader account of the band members' childhoods and musical influences, through Lynyrd Skynyrd's early days and rise to stardom, culminating in the deadly crash and its aftermath. The tragic accident, noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor, is "handled with tact here and easily the most disturbing and electrifying part of this tribute." Regarding Van Zant, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly remarked: "The authors effectively show both his hard-drinking, brawling side, and his softer touches." Magnet Magazine Online writer Fred Mills commented that the book "puts a human face on a band whose public image was too often portrayed along clichéd, less-than-flattering lines." Mills added that Odom is "able to extract a clear-headed, detailed and trivia-rich narrative from his memories without sacrificing his essential, stated-up-front warmth and fondness toward his subject."