Colin Blunstone

Colin Blunstone entered the world in 1945 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. While still a student he answered a call from classmates assembling a group and stepped in as lead vocalist for what became the Zombies. The outfit secured a contract with Decca in 1964 and immediately notched its debut chart success with “She’s Not There.” Although the band maintained a busy schedule for the remainder of the decade, widespread commercial breakthrough comparable to many contemporaries remained elusive, and the Zombies played their final concert together in 1967.

Blunstone’s airy yet precisely modulated singing—capable of both hushed intimacy and fervent soulfulness—had already become a hallmark of the group’s texture. After the split he stepped away from performing and took employment as an insurance agent. During this lull the Zombies’ last recorded statement, Odessey and Oracle, appeared in 1968 to little notice, only for its single “Time of the Season” to explode the following year and climb into the Top Ten. Blunstone resurfaced musically in 1969 under the alias Neil MacArthur, cutting three singles for Deram.

He resumed recording under his own name with the 1971 release One Year, a poised set of chamber pop shaped in part by former bandmates Rod Argent and Chris White that achieved modest sales and chart placement. Ennismore followed in 1972 and Journey arrived in 1974. Blunstone maintained a regular schedule of solo releases through the remainder of the 1970s while also contributing vocals to multiple Alan Parsons Project albums, among them the standout track “Old and Wise” from Eye in the Sky. Occasional projects continued through the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2004 Blunstone and Argent began writing new material in the Zombies’ vein; the partnership soon revived the band’s name for touring and fresh recordings. Parallel to that reunion activity, Blunstone issued further solo albums, including The Ghost of You and Me in 2009 and On the Air Tonight in 2013. For its fiftieth anniversary in 2021, One Year was remastered and expanded with a full disc of previously unreleased demos and studio outtakes from the original sessions.