The Zombies

Welcome to thezombies.net! The dedicated fan page of The Zombies. Here you will be able to find all the information about the legendary band! The formation, band members, albums and pretty much everything else about the rock icons.

So, let’s start from the beginning and how The Zombies came to be, following the stories of each individual founding member of the band.

Rod Argent

The keyboard player, songwriter and co-founder of The Zombies, Rodney Terence Argent, or Rod Argent, was born on June 14, 1945, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. Argent came from a working-class family, with his father being an aeronautical engineer and also the leader of two semi-professional dance bands.

He was growing with many relatives, like aunts, uncles and cousins in town, as his mother was born as one among eight children. He did not learn music from his father, but he used to hear him play the piano in their home.

It is astonishing that with only two years of piano lessons and his singing as a chorister as a child in the St. Albans Cathedral Choir, and without other classical training, he’s been a brilliant keyboard player ever since his teenage years. At an early age, he admired rock ‘n’ roll music, and he knew he had to make his own band one day.

In addition, Jim Rodford, Rod’s cousin, was in a band called the Bluetones. By his mid-teen years, his musical tastes had expanded, and he was also influenced by other genres. Rod met with the other two founding members of The Zombies, Paul Atkinson and Hugh Grundy, while they were studying at the independent school in the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire. They first jammed together on Easter 1961 in St Albans.

Paul Atkinson

The guitarist, former member and one of the founders of the band, Paul Ashley Warren Atkinson, was born on March 19, 1946, in the town of Cuffley, Hertfordshire, and his family moved to St Albans when he was nine years old.

His father – a stockbroker’s accountant, who worked in London up until then. His mother – a teacher of English, languages and secretarial skills courses at a technical college. Paul Atkinson considered going to Diplomatic Service, as his relatives did, or to study anthropology.

He did enrol at Newcastle University but did not continue with his studies due to the musical success The Zombies had met.

Following the break-up of The Zombies at the end of 1967, he became an artist and repertoire executive, being responsible for the scouting of talents and the development of recording artists and songwriters. He did that at the Beatles’ publishing company, Dick James Music, which developed into a production company.

He signed artists like Elton John, Judas Priest, Bruce Hornsby and ABBA and was awarded the President’s Merit Award in January 2004 at a benefit concert from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, where The Zombies reunited for the event. Paul Atkinson died in a hospital in Santa Monica due to liver and kidney disease on April 1, 2004, at the age of 58.

Hugh Grundy

The drummer and co-founder of The Zombies, Hugh Birch Grundy, was born on March 6, 1945, in Winchester, Hampshire, England.

His family moved to Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where his father, apart from being an amateur violinist, worked as an aircraft inspector. His mother worked at a police headquarters as a secretary.

Grundy’s father created his first drum outside of working hours at the De Havilland factory, where he was employed. After the formation of The Zombies, his parents were supportive of his involvement in the band as a hobby but encouraged him to pursue banking and only after they saw the first stages of success of the band, they acknowledged the chance of a prosperous career for him in music.

An interesting fact is that it was actually his mother, Aileen Grundy, who helped to create and ran the fan club of the band. After the band broke up, Grundy started working for Columbia Records as an artist and repertoire, or A&R.

Colin Blunstone

The lead singer of the band, Colin Edward Michael Blunstone, was born on June 24, 1945. His birthplace – Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.

His father was an aeronautical engineer, and his mother – a housewife and a former dancer. He studied at the St Albans County Grammar School for Boys. He joined the band while they were all still at school.

After the band’s break up in 1967, he worked in the insurance business as a clerk for a while before he returned to music. He initially used a false name and released three singles in 1969, by the pseudonym of Neil MacArthur.

His solo career became successful in 1972 when his song “Say You Don’t Mind” became number 15 in the UK chart and with “I Don’t Believe in Miracles”, reaching number 31.

Chris White and Rod Argent were producers of his debut album, One Year (1971). Later on, he released three studio albums under Elton John’s record label, The Rocket Record Company.

So far, he has rehearsed ten studio albums and one live album. In addition, Blunstone’s been known for his participation in various albums.

Paul Arnold

Paul Arnold joined the band together with Colin Blunstone, but he left it, as he wasn’t interested in making his name on the music stage, and he eventually became a doctor.

Chris White

The bass guitarist and songwriter of The Zombies, Christopher Taylor White, was born on March 7, 1943, in Barnet, Hertfordshire. The son of a bus inspector for London Transport, Harold White and his wife, Nan. His family moved to Markyate, Hertfordshire and owned a general store in the village, where they sold groceries, paint, furniture and so on.

His father gave him his first lesson guitar lesson, as he also played bass as a hobby and was playing the music of Glenn Miller and more swing bands. Chris White attended the same school Colin Blunstone did, St Albans County Grammar School, and they met each other there. After the initial bass guitar player, Paul Arnold, left the band, Chris White was the one to replace him and eventually became one of the two main songwriters of The Zombies, alongside Paul Argent.

Following the break-up of the band in 1967, among other things, he also produced and contributed songwriting to Colin Blunstone in his solo career and to the band of Rod Argent, called Argent.

The Zombies’ History

Following the first jam of the initial three band members, Rod Argent, Paul Atkinson and Hugh Grundy, in 1961 in St Albans, Argent wanted to form a band.

He asked his cousin, Jim Rodford, to join them as a bass player, but as he already was in another band that was doing good at that time, he declined. Despite that, he offered his help, and he eventually joined the band when they regrouped in 2004.

Paul Arnold and Colin Blunstone joined the other three in April 1962, and they held their original rehearsals at the Pioneer Club in Hatfield Road. They were using a borrowed equipment from the Bluetones, the band whose member was Jim Rodford.

Their first gained reputation was from playing the Old Verulamians Rugby Club in St Albans. The first name of the band was The Mustangs, but as they found out that it was already used by others, they renamed themselves The Zombies. As band members had said, The Zombies name was Paul Arnold’s idea.

Later on, Arnold left them to become a physician, and Chris White took his place. They participated and won a beat-group competition and were signed with Decca. This was when they recorded their first hit song, “She’s Not There”, released in the middle of 1964 and reached number 12 in the UK chart, but it became number 2 in the United States. The song sold over one million copies!

After their hit single, they started touring in the United States, where they had days playing seven performances. In their first in-person TV appearance in the US, they were cheered by screaming teenage girl fans in the audience, where they performed “She’s Not There” and their newer song “Tell Her No”. It is unknown why their music was not so well received in the UK at the time as it did in the US.

They had more songs released and were met with great success in Scandinavia and the Philippines too. This led to many concerts in 1967. Their first UK album was called Begin Here and was released in 1965. The band continued recording songs throughout 1965 and 1966, but most of them were not released at the time due to lack of chart success.

In 1967 The Zombies were unhappy with the lack of success and moved from Decca to sign with CBS Records. Their album Odessey and Oracle was recorded at EMI’s world-famous Abbey Road studios. The released singles were not received in the desired way, and their gig requests were declining, leading to the break-up of the band in the middle of December 1967.

The album was nevertheless released in the United States, as the musician, Al Kooper persuaded his label that the album was worth it. The song from the album “Time of the Season”, which was written by Argent, was released as a single in 1968.

It took it a while, but by 1969 the song became a huge hit, peaking in the Hot 100. CBS approached Rod Argent and Chris White for a new album of The Zombies. Some new tracks were made by Argent, Hugh Grundy, Rodford on bass and Rick Birkett on guitar and were also combined with old material from Decca.

Only a few songs were released as the album, which was initially planned for release in 1969, got cancelled. Some of the unreleased material saw the light on various compilation albums in the years to come.

The original line-up was asked to tour in the United States after the success of “Time of the Season”, but the band members declined. This led to impersonators falsely touring and pretending to be The Zombies at concerts. This was organized by an agency that was also organizing fake tours of The Animals and The Archies. In 1969 two fake line-ups of The Zombies were touring in the US.

Each of the original band members reunited again at The Jazz Club in London in 1997 and played live together for the first time in many years. After few years, Argent and Blunstone began touring together, and promoters were billing them The Zombies, despite that they used their real names.

The Zombies had been through lots of ups and downs in their music career, and after many, many years had passed from the smashing hit “Time of the Season”, fifty years to be precise, they were finally immortalized into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. It was about time for them to get the credit deserved and long overdue! And let’s not forget the numerous Zombies slots games they inspired along the way, too.

The current members of the band are Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Steve Rodford on drums, Tom Toomey on guitar and Søren Koch on bass guitar.

Studio Albums

• Begin Here (UK) / The Zombies (US) from 1965
• Odessey and Oracle from 1968
• The Return of the Zombies from 1990/New World from 1991
• R.I.P. from 2000, recorded in 1968
• As Far as I Can See… from 2004
• Breathe Out, Breathe In from 2011
• Still Got That Hunger from 2015

Live Albums

• Live at the BBC from 2003
• Live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London from 2005
• Odessey and Oracle: 40th Anniversary Live Concert from 2008
• Live In Concert At Metropolis Studios from 2012
• Live in the UK from 2013