Hugh Birch Grundy (born 6 March 1945) is an English musician. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Grundy came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the drummer of the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band the Zombies. He was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

in 2019.

Early years

Hugh Grundy was born in

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, England, to Ted and Aileen Grundy. The family moved to Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where Ted worked at the De Havilland factory as an aircraft inspector and metallurgist; he was also an amateur violinist. Aileen was a secretary at the police headquarters in

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

. Grundy's middle name, Birch, was his paternal grandmother's maiden name. His first drum was made by his father at work during his off-hours. While attending St Albans School in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, he met Paul Atkinson, and Rod Argent. Argent, Atkinson and Grundy first played together at a jam on Easter 1961 in

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, Hertfordshire.

The Zombies

Argent wanted to form a band and Colin Blunstone and Paul Arnold joined in early 1961, while all five members were still at school. Grundy's parents supported his interest in the band as a pastime, but encouraged him to enter banking; he remained with Barclays for around a year, as the band's reputation grew, at which stage his parents acknowledged the viability of a career in music. His mother helped to establish, and ran, the band's fan club. Arnold left not long afterwards and was replaced by Chris White. The band started life as the Mustangs, but after discovering other bands using the name, they changed it to the Zombies. After the band won a local contest, they recorded a demo as their prize. Argent's song " She's Not There" got them a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

Later career

The Zombies had several hits and continued to record but they broke up in December 1967, reportedly over management disagreements. After the band's break-up, Grundy went to work as an A&R man for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. In the 1980s, Grundy also operated a horse-transport business in England and worked as a professional driver. In 1990, Blunstone, Grundy, and White briefly reunited as the Zombies with keyboardist and guitarist Sebastian Santa Maria to record the studio album ''

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

'' (1991). To mark the 40th anniversary of the album '' Odessey and Oracle'', the four surviving original members of the Zombies participated in a three-night series of concerts at London's

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

Empire Theatre between 7 and 9 March 2008. Together with the other three Zombies, Grundy performed a few songs when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 29 March, 2019.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grundy, Hugh 1945 births Living people British male drummers English rock drummers English record producers The Zombies members Musicians from Hertfordshire People educated at St Albans School, Hertfordshire