Colin Blunstone

Colin Blunstone's otherworldly voice (which sounds quiet and breathy even when projecting loudly) is one of the reasons that Zombies hits such as "She's Not There"and "Time of the Season" have never faded from the airwaves. "Season" broke through too late for the struggling Zombies to benefit from and they broke up in spite of its success, but Blunstone remained on good terms with bandmate Rod Argent and they collaborated on his first of his two solo albums. One Year, his near perfect 1971 debut, is one of those rare albums that sounds chillingly out-of-time no matter the era you listen to it in. His excellent follow-up Ennismore, downplayed the vaporous string ballads and upped the rock quotient more than a touch and still remains almost as lovely as its predecessor. Ignored in the United States, Blunstone continued recording solo sides for the rest of the 1970s, but was most widely heard here as a guest vocalist on select Alan Parsons Project tracks. The stature of the Zombies and interest in Colin Blunstone's back catalogue has only continued to grow over the years, resulting in the singer and old friend Rod Argent reuniting to record and tour together again in 2002.