Colin Blunstone admits he had no ambitions to sing in public when the The Zombies started out
He's the lead singer of The Zombies
Lead singer of The Zombies, Colin Blunstone, joined Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio to talk about the band's brand new tour, and how he didn't have ambitions to be a singer. He also revealed how the band formed back in 1961, as a group of teenagers, who weren't even old enough to go inside the pub they met outside!
Colin, who has been a member of the band since it started in 1961, explained how all of the founding members were just young teenagers when the band was formed.
"We were 15 (when we met), it was 1961 and the common denominator for the original Zombies is we all went to school in a place called St Albans," Colin explained.
"We just met one Saturday morning, there's now a blue plaque outside the pub where we met. 'The Zombies first met here in 1961', the Blacksmith Arms in St Albans. We just got together, we had no equipment, no real ideas."
The singer went on to explain how the band members' roles could have been very different: "I must say that Rod (Argent) even then was an incredible keyboard player, but it was his intention he would be the lead singer, that's how he envisioned it...
"I was going to be the rhythm guitarist, but it all changed at our first rehearsal. I just realised what a great keyboard player he was, and as the rehearsal was finishing, he just heard me sing a Ricky Nelson song 'It's Late', and he said, 'I tell you what, if you'll be the lead singer...'
"I was just packing the guitar away and singing to myself, and he said, 'if you'll be the lead singer, I'll play keyboards', and essentially that was The Zombies."
Colin went on to reveal how they went on to become well known after their first meeting: "We were 15 or 16 years old and we just built up a local following, won a big rock competition, got a contract with Decca (record label) and off we went."
Colin is the lead singer for the band best know for their songs 'She's Not There' and 'Time of the Season', so Ken asked if he had any ambitions to sing, surprisingly he admitted: "No! At the time, not at all. I was speaking to one of my old neighbours a few years ago, remembering this is going back to the early 60s.
"They admitted, before they knew my name, they used to call me the 'boy who sings', which I thought was quite nice, and I can remember why, because I used to sing all the time. As I was walking along the road, I would be singing, but I didn't have any idea I would sing in public, it was just something I liked doing."
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Take a look through some of Ken's interviews:
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Colin Blunstone admits he had no ambitions to sing in public when the The Zombies started out
Lead singer of The Zombies, Colin Blunstone, joined Ken Bruce to talk about the band's brand new tour, and how he didn't have ambitions to be a singer.
He also revealed how the band formed back in 1961, as a group of teenagers, who weren't even old enough to go inside the pub they met outside!
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