It was in the era of 1969 when the band “The Zombie” released a single that topped the American chart despite of the fact that the group has already broken up.  In order to meet the demand of the public, a promoter decided to take a drastic measure; and that is to hire the service of 4 American Con artists to impersonate the band.  During the early years of the music business, it was just normal to replace the member of a band and find a member that is more compliant.  But this case is different with the struggling British rock band whose single “Time of the Season” suddenly aroused the attention of the Americans.  Rather than bringing the band the band in the States, the promoter decided to <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/danielralston/the-true-story-of-the-fake-zombies-the-strangest-con-in-rock">create two fake groups that will tour America</a>.  Two of the impersonators eventually became members of ZZ Top.

<strong>A Story of Deception for Relevancy and Money</strong>

A struggling group in their turf, The Zombie decided to disband when the Odessey and Oracle fell short in gaining the attention of the public.  No one even bothered to take notice of the misspelled “Odessey” or take a look at it as a psychedelic play of word.  Two years after the band disbanded, their US label released the single Time of the Season.  The single immediately rose to number 3 on the US Billboard chart, and there is a great demand by the public of the band.

Unaware of their jobs, the “real” members of The Zombies decided to pursue other jobs.  In order to address the increasing demand, management decided to form a new Zombie band that would tour the Americas.  In fact, the demand is so great that time that there were two fake The Zombie bands touring the US.  It is interesting to note that those fake bands are managed by the same label company.  Delta Promotions reiterated that they have the rights towards all the songs by The Zombies.  This feat would be impossible to execute today due to the high presence of social media.

As it was mentioned earlier, during the early years of the music business, it is but natural for the label company to replace a member of the band.  Delta Promotion took advantage of this and decided to take extreme measures.  After 50 years, the exploitation made on The Zombie band is just a neglected part of the music history.  Most of the details concerning this story are already forgotten.  But basing it on the sheer shamelessness of a company, this is definitely hard to beat.  Delta Promotions have already been dissolved, but the myth surrounding The Zombie will stay as a ghost that will keep haunting the defunct company.