GREAT WHITE Founder And Guitarist MARK KENDALL Announces 'Soul Of A Man' Memoir Deal With DIVERSION BOOKS

Mark Kendall, founding member and lead guitarist of the multi-platinum and Grammy-nominated rock band GREAT WHITE, has announced that he has signed a book deal with Diversion Books for his forthcoming memoir, "Soul Of A Man: My Life In Great White, From The Stage And Beyond", with publication scheduled for fall 2027. The deal was negotiated by Jeffrey Mangus, founder and principal literary agent of Mangus Literary Group (MLG). Represented by Mangus, Kendall will share the deeply personal story behind the music and the man the world has known for over four decades.

Written in his own candid voice, "Soul Of A Man"
traces Mark's rise from the Southern California club scene to international stardom with GREAT WHITE, and moves beyond the mythology of the Sunset Strip era into the addiction, recovery, devastating loss, lasting love, faith, and second chances that have defined his life since the music stopped.

"This isn't only a story about rock 'n' roll," said Kendall. "It's the story of everything that happened when the music stopped — the mistakes, the miracles, the people I've loved and lost, and the grace that allowed me to keep going. I wanted to write the truth, not the highlight reel. I've lived a life I never could have imagined, and I'm finally ready to tell the whole story."

As GREAT WHITE's founder and signature guitarist, Kendall helped bring such enduring rock classics as "Rock Me", "Save Your Love", "House Of Broken Love" and the Grammy-nominated worldwide hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy". Behind the platinum records, sold-out arenas, and decades on the road lies a deeply human story of survival and redemption — one Kendall is now ready to tell in full.

Keith Wallman, editor-in-chief of Diversion Books, led the acquisition. Diversion's list includes acclaimed narrative nonfiction in music, biography, and pop culture.

"Mark's story sits at the intersection of rock history and genuine human transformation," said Wallman. "'Soul Of A Man' is the rare music memoir that earns its redemption arc rather than assuming it."

"Mark approached this book with a level of honesty that's rare in the genre," said Jeffrey Mangus. "He didn't set out to write a rock memoir; he set out to tell the truth about his life, with the music and the meteoric rise to the top as the backdrop. Placing this project with Keith and the team at Diversion Books was exactly the right fit."

"Soul Of A Man" also takes readers inside Kendall's journey through sobriety, the profound partnership he shares with his wife, Bridget, and his current fight against Stage IV cancer — all while he continues to make music and live with gratitude, purpose, and faith.

Publication details and a release date will be announced by Diversion Books at a later date.

In an April 2026 interview with I Ask No One With Kevin Re LoVullo, Kendall stated about his upcoming autobiography: "We're 14 chapters in. I was trying to think of a title [for] it, and I'm calling it 'Soul Of A Man' because I'm pretty much baring my soul in this thing. I'm going all the way back to childhood, telling every story you can imagine, and with the guitar in there.

"What happened was this Canadian company approached me about doing a book, and I started writing it on my own," he explained. "And they said, 'There's too many stories. We just want you to talk about the guitar.' I'm going, like, me being a fan myself, I like to hear what Billy Gibbons [ZZ TOP] is doing on the weekends, part time, when he is not on stage. So I would figure that fans would wanna get to know me better. And so I didn't do it. I just stopped it right there. I go, 'I really don't wanna do that type of book.' It could be maybe called an autobiography, but it's really gonna be a biography. 'cause I'm letting the cat outta the bag here. You're gonna get to know Mark Kendall here. So, out of the blue, some other guy approaches me. His name's Jeffrey Mangus, and he's written 38 books. He just finished Al Di Meola's book and all this. He approaches me… So I go, 'Man, yeah. I'm really into it.' So we've been working for about two and a half months, maybe three months. And we just get together, and I'm just going through the years. And the timeline's right. We're going album to album, telling stories, lacing in stories in between. And I'm trying not to make it a real dirt book, but I'm telling the truth, so some feelings could get hurt. I don't know. But I'm not gonna hold back anything. I'm just gonna be truthful about everything and just call it the way I've seen it."

Mark went on to say that "a lot of emotions" have been stirred up through the process of him writing his autobiography. "And also Jeff asked me a lot of questions, which brings up even more memories," he explained. "So the back-and-forth, it is kind of a good way to write a book with a ghostwriter because, for one thing, I'm no writer. He's writing it like a writer would, but getting my story told. So, yeah, it's interesting. A lot of things are coming up, childhood stuff. And God, man. It's gonna be a trip to see my whole life laid out in a book, man."

Born into a musically gifted family, Kendall grew up in Huntington Beach, California. His father played jazz trumpet; his mother sang her heart out to jazz tunes before adoring audiences. His grandfather, too, was a virtuoso on the piano. Citing Jimi Hendrix, CREAM and THE DOORS as early influences, Kendall's passion and natural abilities got him hooked on guitar.

"The thing I love about the guitar is it's an instrument that allows me to express myself in how I'm feeling at any given time," Kendall said. "All the musicians that made me want to play guitar, played straight from their heart with a lot of feeling in their playing. They pour their very soul into every note. My feeling is no matter what instrument you play, do it with passion and feeling. When music is delivered in that way it creates emotions, which can even make a person cry at times. That, to me, is real music with a human feel that no machine could ever duplicate."

Kendall's band DANTE FOX had two singers before settling with Jack Russell. The band's 1982 performance at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood caught the eye of record executive Alan Niven. Niven suggested the band change it's name to reflect upon the striking color of Kendall's blonde hair — GREAT WHITE.

Since 1982, the GREAT WHITE sound has captivated audiences worldwide with crushing blues-based guitar riffs and swagger that invokes an emotional high for anyone that listens. The band's core writing team of Kendall and Michael Lardie (keys, guitar) forged numerous hits over the years, and when Audie Desbrow joined in '85, the grooves hooked an amazing stride.

Best known for their Grammy-nominated "Best Hard Rock Performance" hit, the gold selling "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", GREAT WHITE has sold over 10 million albums worldwide, has six Top 100 Billboard hits, nine Top 200 Billboard albums, two multi-platinum albums, five gold records and clocked the top of MTV video four times.

Mark has been married for more than two decades years to his wife Bridget and has four children: Jonathan, Taylor, Shane and Ashley.

Mangus Literary Group (MLG) is a boutique literary agency representing nonfiction authors — primarily memoir, celebrity memoir, and authority nonfiction. MLG is led by founder and principal literary agent Jeffrey Mangus, whose own background spans cardiovascular perfusion, the Sunset Strip rock scene, and more than a decade as a ghostwriter with dozens of produced titles.

Diversion Books is an independent publisher known for narrative nonfiction spanning music, biography and popular culture.