Zom·bie also zom·bi (z¼m"b) n., pl. zom·bies also zom·bis. 1. A snake god of voodoo cults in West Africa, Haiti, and the southern United States. 2.a. A supernatural power or spell that according to voodoo belief can enter into and reanimate a corpse. b. A corpse revived in this way. 3. One who looks or behaves like an automaton. 4. A tall mixed drink made of various rums, liqueur, and fruit juice.

(American Heritage Dictionary)

Zombis are dead bodies with no souls, created by the black magic of voodoo sorcerers. Voodoo is a religion which originated in Haiti where West African slaves could not practice their religion openly and were forced to adopt in public the practices of the French Catholic settlers. Voodoo is still a popular religion in Haiti and in cities where Haitians have immigrated, such as New Orleans. Vodu is an African word meaning spirit or god. The black magic of voodoo sorcerers allegedly consists of various poisons which immobilize a person for days, as well as hallucinogens administered upon revival. The result is a brain damaged creature used by the sorcerers as slaves, viz., the zombis. The zombi is not to be confused with the zombi astral, whose soul (ti-bon-ange) is controlled by the sorcerer.

Robert Todd Carroll (http://dcn.davis.ca.us/~btcarrol/skeptic/zombies.html)

The Band Rod Argent, guitarist Paul Atkinson, and drummer Hugh Grundy met at St. Albans school in 1961 and began experimenting musically. They brought on bassist Paul Arnold, who introduced the others to the talented singer Colin Blunstone, a top student and athlete who was headed for a secure job in an insurance firm before a more glamorous destiny beckoned. The nascent group began their live gigging in local venues doing the 50s rock and soul standards common to bands everywhere at the time. Paul Arnold was replaced by Chris White on bass. The band began playing shows around St. Albans in 1962, building up a loyal following over the course of the next year The Zombies turned professional. In 1964, the group began recording. Decca staff producer Ken Jones became infatuated with Argent's She's Not There and pushed for it to be released as the first single . The single was a worldwide smash in 1964 and The Zombies were on a euphoric high. Everything was going right. She's Not There even made it onto the popular TV show Jukebox Jury, which happened to feature George Harrison on the panel that week - and he loved the song. The tune made number 1 in America. The next single, White's Leave Me Be, went over well in performance, but failed to shake up the charts. The third single, Tell Her No was a minor hit in Britain, and a Top 10 record in America. The band came to America and did a package tour with artists like Patti LaBelle and the Bluebells and Chuck Jackson. Riding the British Invasion craze, they got a taste of the Beatlemania experience. The band stayed alive, recording single after single that failed to break through with the success of She's Not There or Tell Her No. She's Coming Home and I Want You Back were unsuccessful in the U.K., but both were minor hits in the U.S. in 1965. The band also contributed songs to the soundtrack of the film Bunny Lake is Missing and appeared briefly in it as well. Another musically outstanding single, Whenever You're Ready also failed in Britain as did its three successors. Disillusionment set in, with Rod and Chris acting as cheerleaders to keep the enthusiasm going. They decided to break up, but not before recording a final album, Odessey and Oracle, which was self-produced with the intention of being more representive of the band's real sound, and was completed at Abbey Road Studios late in 1967. According to interviews at the time, the misspelling of "Odyssey" was deliberate and had all sorts of deep, meaningful significance. Rod Argent has since admitted the more prosaic reason: the cover artist misspelled "odyssey" and there wasn't time to change it before the artwork was due at the printer, so they let it go and made up a cover story likening the songs to Shakespearian odes. (This anecdote courtesy of Andrew.) CBS/Columbia was unwilling to release an album by a band that had folded, but staff producer Al Kooper fought to get it issued, and it finally came out in July, 1968. The first Odessy single, the marvellous Care of Cell 44 failed to sell. So did the next single and yet another. Almost as an afterthought, Time of the Season was finally released as a single - a last gasp. It did nothing, but one radio station in America fell in love with it and kept playing. Ever so slowly, it caught on, and then, overnight, it broke all over the country - becaming a Top 5 smash in late 1968 and early 1969. CBS clamored for more product, promoters began offering huge sums of money for the band to re-group, but it had already been a year since the break-up, and The Zombies declined. Rod Argent and Chris had already begun work on the band Argent, and Colin Blunstone had begun a solo career The Zombies' three biggest hits are now rock standards, and She's Not There has been covered by other artists such as Vanilla Fudge, Santana, The UK Subs, and Colin Blunstone himself during his solo career). The Zombies reunited in 1991 for an album called New World that wasn't released in the U.S. Despite The Zombies powerful influence on bands such as The Kinks, The Left Banke, Procol Harum and countless others, they have gone down as among the most underrated groups in rock history.

SOURCES: http://members.aol.com/bocad/zom.htm