[17][18][19][20] 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.

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.

[25] 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".

[26] In 1964, the band won a £250 cash prize in a beat-group competition organised by the Watford Borough Council and sponsored by the London Evening News.

Among their early US gigs were Murray the K's Christmas shows at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre, where the band played seven performances a day.

On 12 January 1965, the band made their first in-person appearance on US television on the first episode of NBC's Hullabaloo and played "She's Not There" and their new single "Tell Her No" to a screaming, hysterical audience full of teenage girls.

Subsequent singles - "She's Coming Home", "I Want You Back Again", "Whenever You're Ready", "Is This the Dream", "Just Out of Reach" (recorded for the soundtrack of the film Bunny Lake is Missing), "Indication" and "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself" - failed to achieve the success of the previous two singles (although the Zombies had continued success in Scandinavia and the Philippines, which led to a series of concerts in 1967).

[13] A song by the Zombies released only as a B-side (to "Whenever You're Ready") in both the US and UK in 1965, "I Love You", subsequently became a sizeable hit for the group People!

The Zombies' first UK album, Begin Here (1965), was a mixture of original songs and rhythm and blues cover versions.

It might have been shorter, had not their recording manager and producer Ken Jones added the sounds of footsteps and a coin dropping, which contributed to the feeling of alienation that the song projected.

[37] In April 1968, Argent explained the reason for the band breaking up, saying "We don't want to end up playing for £20 a night in third-class ballrooms.

It was only released in the US because musician Al Kooper, then signed to Columbia Records, convinced the label of the album's merits.

[39] The Texas group featured bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard, soon to be members of ZZ Top.

Blunstone started a solo career after a brief period outside the music business, including working in the burglary claims section of the Sun Alliance insurance company.

[13] The compilation contains all the band's Decca/Parrot recordings (in mono), the entire Odessey And Oracle LP (in stereo), the material that would have made up the unissued R.I.P.

Argent spotted Blunstone in the audience while performing at a charity concert for jazz musician John Dankworth and invited him onstage for an impromptu reunion.

[13] In January 2004, guitarist Paul Atkinson received the President's Merit Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at a benefit concert at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, California.

To mark the 40th anniversary of Odessey and Oracle, the four surviving original members of the Zombies participated in a three-night series of concerts at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire Theatre between 7 and 9 March 2008.

In 2012, band members participated in the unveiling of a commemorative plaque at the Blacksmith's Arms, a St Albans pub where the Zombies met for their first rehearsal.

The next year, the band announced they would embark on a 2015 American tour of the Odessey and Oracle album with White and Grundy returning.

[59][60] On 11 July 2024, shortly after celebrating his 79th birthday and 52nd wedding anniversary in London, the band announced on social media that Rod Argent had suffered a stroke.

[17][18][19][20] In 2017, the four surviving original members (Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White and Hugh Grundy) re-united for a North American tour marking the 50th anniversary of the recording of Odessey and Oracle.

[61] The first stop on this tour was a first-time performance in Jamaica, as the featured artist on the Flower Power Cruise on the Celebrity Summit while in port in Falmouth.

[63] Commenting on the album's half-century of popularity, Argent said, “At the time we made it, we would have thought it was complete craziness that the songs would resonate 50 years later".

[24] On 16 October 2013, the Zombies were announced as nominees for inclusion to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,[64] the first nomination for the band since coming into eligibility in 1990.

This tour would also feature the four surviving original members (Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White and Hugh Grundy) in addition to the band's current line-up.

[66] In late 2021, the band announced they would be undertaking extensive tours of Britain, the US, Canada, and Europe between February and September 2022.

Keyboard musician Danny Mattin took up the baton for Rod Argent at the Saturday night headline concert at the Eric Morecombe centre.