 He went to college in 1983 at Arkansas State University and was taught by Al Skoog, one of the leading choral directors in the country.He was also taught voice by Mr. David Niederbrach and Ms. Julia Lansford and did opera under their teaching.After ASU, he attended the Ben Speer School of Music, where Ben took special interest in Gene, and later invited him to a Gaither Homecoming video taping in 1994, and he then became a regular member of the Homecoming "bass" section.