Zombies singer Colin Blunstone is 75 today (June 24th, 1945). Their biggest hit was “Time of the Season”, number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968. His vocal didn’t come easy. In fact, it almost didn’t happen at all. Colin Blunstone’s main memory of recording “Time of the Season” involves some friction between him and the song’s composer, Zombies keyboardist Rod Argent, who was producing him from the control room as he sang in the vocal booth. Blunstone recalls that he was having some trouble getting his vocal the way Argent wanted it, and feeling pressure because time was tight and their budget was low. He tells what happened next.
“I said to Rod, ‘Listen, if you know it so bloody well you get in here and you bloody sing it.’ And Rod said, ‘You’re the bloody lead singer, you stand there until you get it bloody right.‘ And it always makes me laugh, ‘cause, ‘It’s the time of the season for loving,’ and at the same time we’re going at one another. And I’m so glad that I did stay there and finish the song. That would have been really embarrassing if I was the lead singer in the band and Rod sang the big hit.”
