The Zombies

The Zombies originally had one of the shortest careers of the British Invasion, but it became one of the more influential over time. Hertfordshire school friends Rod Argent (keyboards), Paul Atkinson (guitar) and Hugh Grundy (drums) formed the first lineup in 1962, over the next year they completed the classic lineup with bassist Chris White and singer Colin Blunstone, whose breathy voice became a group trademark. Originally drawn to R&B, they also had sophisticated pop and jazz leanings, with Argent's piano or organ usually the lead instrument. The first song Argent ever wrote, "She's Not There" became a US and UK hit in August 1964; Chris White provided the followup hit "Tell Her No" in December. And that ended the story, for a time. Over the next three years the Zombies released a mostly-excellent run of singles, all of which flopped. Their last effort was an album, Odessey & Oracle that evinced their musical growth; the songs bridged '60s pop- and psychedelia with the coming decade's progressive rock (the album's title was misspelled due to the cover artist's error). Released in mid-1968 it also flopped, not least because their US label Columbia chose the dark antiwar "Butcher's Tale" as the single. It took a few months before Columbia artist and A&R man Al Kooper pointed out that they'd overlooked an obvious single in the album's closing track, "Time of the Season." This went Number One and became one of the quintessential "summer of love" songs, despite its not hitting until late summer 1968. By now the band had broken up. Blunstone began a solo career, often working with the other Zombies; and Argent formed the progressive rock band Argent with White as writer and producer (White wrote their hit, "Hold Your Head Up"). Meanwhile Odessey & Oracle grew into cult-classic status, particularly after the release of a boxed set, Zombie Heaven, in 1997. Argent and Blunstone began collaborating again, releasing a new album Out of the Shadows in 2004; soon after they began touring with a new version of the Zombies (including bassist Jim Rodford, who'd been part of the early groupings and later joined the Kinks). 2008 brought the 40th anniversary of Odessey & Oracle, for which original members Argent, Blunstone, White and Grundy performed the album live for the first time in England (Atkinson, who'd gone into the business end of music, died in 2004). They brought this tour to America in 2015 and again in 2017, honoring the album's upcoming 50th. Argent and Blunstone continued to lead the new Zombies between the original lineup's reunions; Jim Rodford died in 2018 but his son Steve remained on drums. In 2019 the Zombies made the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with both lineups appearing at the ceremony. True to their name, the Zombies thrived in the afterlife.