Hopefully he can still have a reasonable quality of life.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/oYzarA1MFghnKVqi/?mibextid=oFDknk
Rod Argent has stroke, retires from live music
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That’s awful.
Hope he recovers sufficiently to enjoy living to a ripe old age
That’s too bad. Hope he is improving and feeling better soon. Folks often recover a lot function, so here’s hoping.
If he was discharged the next day the prognosis should be as positive as it can be.
I was always more an Argent ( the band) man rather than the Zombies, although I always liked Colin Blunstone’s voice. That said, they had been on an informal bucket list to catch, ahead they or I hit said bucket. Is it the greasepaint and acclaim, I wonder, that keeps those troupers ever onward, or striving to? Or is it their only income, as royalties diminish, as per RT’s recent comments about how his have shrunk?
Last night I saw the current version of Love, which is original guitarist, Johnny Echols, backed by Baby Lemonade, who provided a similar service for Arthur Lee, ahead his death. They were good, but Echols, 77, seemed relatively peripheral, on backing vocals and third guitar, if capable of ripping out a few well chosen flaming hot solos. The link, I guess, to give the others greater pull and credibility. (To be fair, his one lead vocal, for first encore, Signed D.C. was tremendously moving.
I guess I should have asked the same question, love or money, of the burly pensioner I ended up standing next to, a certain Robert Plant. (But I didn’t. In fact, nobody disturbed his night out with friends, in that peculiarly English way, leaving him in peace to enjoy the show.)
Argent with his songwriting royalties likely in a better overall financial position than Blunstone who may need to carry on in some fashion. Time of the Season still heard extremely regularly at least on North American radio.
One of the greatest shows I ever saw was the surviving original members doing Odessey and Oracle in full from the front row in a small Montreal theatre a few years ago. It was breathtaking and, for me, an album that I never get tired of and appreciate more with each passing year
Royalties, etc, aren’t much good to artists/songrwriters who’ve sold off their publishing.
Not thinking this pop music malarkey would last more than 18
months, many 60s icons were happy to do just that.
Hope RA was shrewd enough to hang on to his
The more middle-class and straight of musicians and bands had solicitors look at contracts (famously, Genesis), but for a long time it was infra-dig to do such square things, and if you are not from that background, you don’t even consider it. Hence folks were exploited for decades. The amount of folk you’d think are loaded but were almost bankrupt in the 70s was amazing. There was a degree of, er, “taking back control” later as folk found they needed to fight back with their own lawyers and accountants. It probably started when the Stones got a Rothchild to run their finances in 1971, and others saw how well it worked. I suspect that for quite a few folks, having reasonably regular gigs is now vital to keep the cash flow, as they rue the private planes, extra trucks of lights, and expensive habits that squandered money they could have had in a pension.
Wasn’t Allen Klein also something of a Rottweiler when it came to getting deals for his acts? Problem with AK being that he also took a fairly hefty percentage (not all of it totally above board) for his doing so.
Having apparently learned at the feet of Don Arden, Peter Grant’s aggressive negotiating style with promoters achieved similar results for his acts when they were out on tour
Definitely. Once the talent had managers semi-fighting for them, it improved a bit. Till they found the managers could also be a problem. I expect this is where contracts again come in. Mick Jagger is supposed to be sharp as a knife about the band’s finances. Down to no premium biscuits in the support act’s rider. You could call him “a beast of bourbon”.
That kind of attention to detail is positively crackers
Very good!
Unable to digest I’ve put this to one side for consideration later.,
ISWYDT….
If he hasn’t sold his publishing now could be the right time. I would hope he would get at least a few million for it in those times.
They’ve only just got them back, and not without a struggle it seems
https://www.beat-magazine.co.uk/2023/zombies-finally-get-their-masters-back-after-five-decades/
One of RA’s finest moments (even if the song was written by RB)
Eels did a splendid cover of it as their final song/encore on their last European tour
They did indeed @Jaygee – we were at sane gig.
I saw the Zombies I think the year before lockdown and they were really good. They played some Argent stuff and there was a lot of warmth between Rod and Colin.
Bluntstones voice was still very impressive – unusual for a man of his age to still reach those high notes with the ease that he could.
Indeed we were.
Fabulous band, fabulous venue, fabulous night
Sending good wishes to Rod.
Not too many music legends come from my home city, but Mr Argent is one.
St. Albans salutes you, Rod!