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document.writeln('<CENTER><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><FONT face="Arial Black">Rod Argent: A Short  ');
document.writeln('History</FONT> </FONT></CENTER>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT size=2><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Rod was born in 1945 in St. Albans. His early ');
document.writeln('musical education consisted of a couple of years piano lessons and several  years ');
document.writeln('as a member of St.Albans Cathedral Choir. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In 1956, he heard Elvis sing \'Hound Dog\', and in that moment ');
document.writeln('fell in love with rock \'n\' roll. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><IMG src="http://www.rodargent.com/rodyoung.jpg" ');
document.writeln('align=right> He soon went to his first live gig - featuring his older cousin Jim ');
document.writeln('Rodford (later to play bass with \'Argent\', and now playing with \'The Kinks\') on ');
document.writeln('tea chest bass. Starstruck, he knew that he somehow had to be part of what  was ');
document.writeln('going on, and immediately vowed that one day he would have his own group. Three ');
document.writeln('years later, at the age of 16, he formed \'The Zombies\'. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">During the whole of this period, however, although he was ');
document.writeln('totally immersed in the rock \'n\' roll and pop music explosion of the \'50\'s  and ');
document.writeln('early \'60\'s, he was still avidly drinking in all the other great music he could ');
document.writeln('find, particularly exploring areas of jazz typified by the Mile Davis/Bill  Evans ');
document.writeln('groups of the period, along with the whole landscape of European classical  music ');
document.writeln('- his especial enthusiasms in this area being Bach, Stravinsky, Ravel and  ');
document.writeln('Bartok. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><IMG src="http://www.rodargent.com/cashbox.jpg" align=left> ');
document.writeln('Between 1961 and 1963, \'The Zombies\' quickly built a reputation as one of the ');
document.writeln('best groups in and around St.Albans, and in a 1963 they secured a record deal ');
document.writeln('with Decca after winning the \'Herts Beat\' contest. Rod wrote \'She\'s Not There\' ');
document.writeln('especially for the first recording session (only his second ever song), and the ');
document.writeln('subsequent record was a hit all over the world, going to Number 1 in the US ');
document.writeln('\'Cash Box\' charts (No 3 in \'Billboard\'). </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Rod was to write all the other major hits for \'The Zombies\', ');
document.writeln('including \'Time Of The Season\', (also a US number 1) and \'Tell Her No\'. \'The ');
document.writeln('Zombies\' were only together professionally for three years, and although much ');
document.writeln('acclaimed now, only had one hit in the UK - in spite of enjoying much more  ');
document.writeln('considerable success in the rest of the world. The lack of success contributed ');
document.writeln('to their breaking up in 1967, although not before recording and producing a ');
document.writeln('final album - \'Odessey and Oracle\' which has come to be regarded as one of  the ');
document.writeln('finest albums of the \'60\'s (see Reviews page). </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">After \'The Zombies\', Rod formed his second band, \'Argent\', ');
document.writeln('which between 1970 and 1975 also gained worldwide success, both in live ');
document.writeln('performance and with such records as \'Hold Your Head Up\' (Top 5 in US and UK), ');
document.writeln('while Rod continued to enjoy a reputation as one of the finest keyboard players ');
document.writeln('of the genre. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><IMG src="http://www.rodargent.com/argent.jpg" align=right> ');
document.writeln('After \'Argent\' split, Rod appeared as a keyboard player on countless records, ');
document.writeln('with artists as diverse as \'The who\', John Dankworth, Cleo Laine, Colin ');
document.writeln('Blunstone, Gary Moore and Andrew Lloyd Webber. This was a time during which he ');
document.writeln('deliberately was trying to broaden his base musically, and as well as continuing ');
document.writeln('to record and play his own music, became involved in writing in other areas. In ');
document.writeln('1977, he was commissioned to write music for the Royal Academy\'s Laser ');
document.writeln('Exhibition 9Light Fantastic\' and in 1981, he wrote the musical \'Masquerade\', ');
document.writeln('which was produced at \'The Young Vic\' in 1982 under the direction of Frank  ');
document.writeln('Dunlop. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><IMG src="http://www.rodargent.com/movhome.jpg" ');
document.writeln('align=left><BR><FONT size=1>\'Moving Home\' album cover</FONT><BR>In 1978, Rod\'s ');
document.writeln('album \'Moving Home\' was recorded, with Phil Collins on drums and Alphonso  ');
document.writeln('Johnson on bass, and it\'s release coincided with some live concerts in London ');
document.writeln('and St.Albans with a fantastic band - Alfonso on bass, Chester Thompson on  ');
document.writeln('drums, Peter Robinson and Robin Lumley on second and third keyboards, a horn ');
document.writeln('section featuring Gary Barnacle, John Goodsall on guitar and Morris Pert on ');
document.writeln('percussion. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Since 1982, Rod has been involved in many areas of music. He ');
document.writeln('has written many themes and scores for UK television - including two ITV soccer ');
document.writeln('world cup themes (one a Top 50 record). The 10 years from 1987 to 1997 have seen ');
document.writeln('him (with his colleague Peter Van Hooke) produce and perform on several highly ');
document.writeln('successful albums for other artists. Tanita Tikaram\'s \'Ancient Heart\' and \'The ');
document.writeln('Sweetkeeper\' and Joshua Kadison\'s \'Painted Desert Serenade\' have all acheived ');
document.writeln('multi million sales, while Nanci Griffith\'s \'Late Nite Grande Hotel\' was the ');
document.writeln('first of her albums to make the UK Top 50. Rod\'s most recent production \'On ');
document.writeln('Nights Like This\', the debut album of Colombian born singer \'Soraya\' is now ');
document.writeln('approaching world wide sales of 1 million. </FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><IMG src="http://www.rodargent.com/rodnow.jpg" align=right> ');
document.writeln('The last two years have also seen Rod seriously applying himself to his love of ');
document.writeln('the piano and exploration of the classical repertoire, and while his album<FONT ');
document.writeln('face="Arial Black"> \'Rod Argent --- Classically Speaking\'</FONT> includes three ');
document.writeln('of his own compositions, in the main, it is a balance of solo piano music that ');
document.writeln('he particularly loves, covering compositions by Chopin, Bach, Ravel, Elgar  and ');
document.writeln('Greig. </FONT></FONT>');
document.writeln('<P><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV>');