ZAGER & EVANS
Years Playing 1968 - 1974
Members:
         Denny Zager - Guitar/Vox
         Rick Evans- Guitar/Bass
Releases:
         In The Year 2525 – 1969 - Truth/RCA Records
         Food for the Mind - 1971 - Vanguard
Members came from: The Eccentrics, The DeVilles
Members went to:

From The Nebraska Hall of Fame site: In The Year 2525 (Exordium & Terminus) was released in 1968 on the Truth label and picked up the following year by RCA Records, climbing to number 1, where it remained for six weeks in the US charts and three weeks in the UK, topping acts such as The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, CCR, and Blood, Sweat, & Tears, ultimately selling a reported five million copies.

From Mojo Magazine: Once heard and never forgotten, Zager & Evans' sanctimonious "In The Year 2525" posited a future that sounded all to plausible in the Future Shock-obsessed late '60's: machines would oust people from the workplace, artificial insemination becomes the norm, God wonders if his createion has outstayed its welcome.

This cheery little number had been written in 1964 by Lincoln, Nebraska's RIck Evans, then a member of The Eccentrics, Denny Zager, another ex-Eccentric, hooked up with Evans again in 1968. Added to the duo's live act, 2525 was the standout song in an otherwise country-influenced set. They recorded it and pressed 1,000 copies on the Truth label. "We marketed it ourselve", explains Zager from his Nebraska home. "We were working at a nightclub that was buying radio time to advertise. We gave them a snippet of 2525 to use for the ad. People started calling the station, asking for the whole song. It caught on in Omaha, then the West Coast." RCA sighed the duo in early June 1969. A Month later, Zager & Evans' climb up the charts. But 2525 raised expectations to impossible levels: "The record was so hyped that when we performed, they thought we would be bigger than life, but we were just normal entertainers." Finding a striking followup was a tough call, so RCA issued Evans' Mr. Turnkey, a maudlin jail-cell ballad, that couldn't compare with 2525. It missed out on charts everywhere. "We got lucky with '25, it was the timing," said Zager, "You can only stay on top for so long. It happens and then it's gone."