The Zombies, one of the pioneer bands of the “British Invasion” during the ’60s, has acquired the rights to their classic 1960s recording catalog, including hits like “She’s Not There” and “Time of the Season.”
Psychedelic pop-rock legends and 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, The Zombies, have acquired the rights to their classic recording catalog of the 1960s. The deal includes their hits like “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “Time of the Season,” as well as their 1968 album Odessey & Oracle — an oft-featured entry in publications’ “best albums of all-time” lists, including Rolling Stone.
With a new partnership between the four surviving original members of the Zombies, singer Colin Blunstone, keyboardist Rod Argent, bassist Chris White, and drummer Hugh Grundy, along with Helen Atkinson, the widow and estate trustee of late guitarist Paul Atkinson, the band secured their catalog rights from Marquis Enterprises, the independent UK production company with whom they signed as teenagers in 1964.
Zombies Partners LLP will house the band’s shared interests in their recordings, merchandise, and life rights, to be overseen by Chris Tuthill and Cindy da Silva of The Rocks Management in New Jersey, which has managed the group for the past decade.
“It is so gratifying to feel that 60 years later, our music still has relevance, and we are now in the position to own our own recordings,” said keyboardist Argent.
The band’s first incarnation enjoyed only a short period of recorded content before parting ways in 1967 due to a “perceived lack of success.” Public interest in their harmony-laden recordings increased over the following decades, boosted by prominent film, television, and advertising placements. These have included a global Chanel campaign starring Keira Knightly (“She’s Not There”), Disney’s movie “Cruella” (“Time of the Season”), and the final scene in the series finale of “Schitt’s Creek” (“This Will Be Our Year”).
The Zombies boast well over 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and more than 3.5 million people have used their Shazam app to identify “Time of the Season” alone. Physical reissues of their music regularly appear on vinyl sales charts.
The announcement comes on the heels of the film festival premiere of Hung Up On a Dream at Austin, TX’s SXSW in March. The new Zombies documentary is slated for public release later this year, following the band’s unusual six-decade journey to becoming part of the 2019 Class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside Janet Jackson and Radiohead. The film is directed by musician and filmmaker Robert Schwartzman and co-produced by Schwartzman’s Utopia Films, The Ranch Productions, and Tom Hanks’ Playtone.
Also at SXSW, the recording lineup of The Zombies debuted their latest album, Different Game, followed by a five-week UK tour in the spring and a North American leg on sale for October.
