About The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band formed in St Albans in 1961. Led by keyboardist/vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone, the group had their first British and American hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the US, two further singles—"Tell Her No" in 1965 and "Time of the Season" in 1968—were also successful.
Their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle was ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone's 2012 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and number 243 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list. The Zombies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Three members of the band, Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson and Hugh Grundy, first came together to jam in 1961 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. Argent wanted to form a band and initially asked his elder cousin Jim Rodford to join as a bassist. Rodford was in a successful local band, the Bluetones, at the time and so declined, but he offered to help Argent. Rodford would later join in 2004 when the band reformed. Colin Blunstone and Paul Arnold joined the other three to form the band in 1961, while all five members were at school.
Some sources state that Argent, Atkinson, and Grundy were at St Albans School, while Blunstone and Arnold were students at St Albans Boys' Grammar School. However, both Blunstone and Grundy came from Hatfield and both sang in the choir there at St Etheldreda's Church. Argent was a boy chorister in St Albans Cathedral Choir. They held their original rehearsals at the Pioneer Club, then situated on Hatfield Road, using equipment lent to them by the Bluetones. They met outside the Blacksmiths Arms pub in St Albans before their first rehearsal and gained their initial reputation playing the Old Verulamians Rugby Club there.
Argent said "We met outside a pub. We were too young to walk in the pub”. Blunstone added "I was literally in a corner singing to myself, doing a Ricky Nelson song, and Rod came over and said, 'That’s really good. I’ll tell you what. If you’ll be the lead singer, I’ll play keyboards'".
Originally named the "Mustangs", the band soon realised that there were other groups with that name. According to Blunstone, "Every young band wants an original name. We were just in our teens. We tried the Mustangs. To be honest, I didn’t really know what a zombie was". "It was Arnold who came up with "the Zombies". Argent said "Well, we chose that name in 1961 and, I mean, I knew vaguely that they were: sort of, you know, the Walking Dead from Haiti and Colin didn't even really know what they were". "It was Paul that came up with the name. I don't know where he got it from. He very soon left the band after that". Arnold explained the name, saying "I thought this was a name that no one else is going to have. And I just liked the whole idea of it. Colin was wary, I'm sure, at the beginning, I know, but I always, always really, really liked it".
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