It took Bill Odum’s daughter a while to realize he was more than just a musical genius.
“One time I needed help with my homework, and because I considered myself to be a really smart student, I actually thought he probably couldn’t help me,” said Odum’s daughter Maria Odum-Hinmon.
Odum said he’d help his daughter with her English essay. “So he went away and wrote something, and he came back with the most brilliantly written English essay I had ever seen in my life,” said Odum-Hinmon.
It was so good she had to rewrite the essay, because no one would have believed she wrote it.
“That was the day I realized that he was not just my dad the musical genius. I thought of him as my dad the genius,” said Odum-Hinmon.
William Odum II, a native of Atlanta, died July 29 of unknown causes. He was 77. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. today at Warren Memorial United Methodist Church. Interment will follow at Lincoln Cemetery. Murray Brothers Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Odum could play almost any instrument, but his specialties were piano and violin. His wife of 50 years, Mary Ellis Odum, said he could play Rhapsody in Blue in its entirety on violin at age 12.
Odum graduated from Morehouse College and earned a master’s degree in music education from Columbia University.
While in college, he played at the Royal Peacock Club, accompanying stars like Aretha Franklin, Chubby Checker, Joe Tex and Brooke Benton.
He had the chance to go on tour with Gladys Knight, but Odum decided to stay in Atlanta and teach music at Atlanta Public Schools. He taught in APS for 40 years.
“He said he was a family man and we had two children, and he didn’t want to leave,” said Mary Ellis Odum.
In the 1960s Odum formed his own band, the Bill Odum Combo. Langston George, who used to be the fourth Pip in Gladys Knight’s band, sang in the Bill Odum Combo.
“I didn’t believe he chose to play with my dad’s band instead of going off with Gladys Knight,” said Odum-Hinmon. But one day she saw an old picture of Knight with four Pips, and George was one of them.
“I had extra respect for him as an intelligent person not just musically, but in general,” said Odum-Hinmon. “He was someone I could always go to for advice, and he always had a lot of really good advice to give.”
In addition to his wife and daughter, both of Atlanta, Odum is survived by son William “Billy” Odum III of Atlanta, sister Jane Sayles Ratcliff of College Park, brother James Theodore Odum Jr. of Washington, D.C. and one granddaughter.
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