His mother was a talented singer and a devotee of blues artists such as Bessie Smith, while his older brother Rocky was a guitar player and blues fan. Photograph: Chris Delmas/AFP/Getty Imagesĭusty was born Joseph Hill in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in the Lakewood district. Hill, left, with Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard. Afterburner (1985) was another multiplatinum smash, and gave them one of their most successful singles with Sleeping Bag, which reached No 8 in the US. Gibbons’s red 1933 Ford hot-rod became a video star in its own right.īy now Hill and Gibbons had adopted the chest-length beards, stetsons and sunglasses that gave ZZ Top a new cartoon-like image, with Beard confining himself to a moustache. It also found ZZ Top embracing the latest digital recording and video technology, generating a streak of sleek chartbusting hits including Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man and Legs, whose videos became heavy-rotation staples on MTV. (Asked why it didn’t follow the ZZ Top tradition of Spanish-language titles, Gibbons deadpanned that its real name was El Iminator). El Loco (1981) reached the US Top 20, but they hit the real big time with Eliminator (1983), which charted all over the world and has sold 10 million copies in the US alone. Degüello (1979) went Top 30 and brought them two of their best-known hits with I Thank You and Cheap Sunglasses. When they reassembled in 1979, their manager Bill Ham had secured them a new record deal with Warner Bros, which would result in new levels of success. “We tried to bring it over to Europe but we had a problem with the quarantine on the animals.”Īfter this, the group, who had been gigging and recording solidly for seven years, took a two-year break, during which Hill spent some time working at Dallas/Fort Worth airport. “It took a full day to set things up and a full day to take them down, so we only actually played one day in three,” Hill recollected. This came after their Worldwide Texas tour, an extraordinary multimedia event that featured a stage in the shape of Texas with Texan wildlife including steers, buzzards and snakes. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, into which ZZ Top was inducted in 2004, Hill already was a touring musician by age 15, and at 20 was working as a sideman with Texas country-blues icon Lightnin' Hopkins.Their next album, Fandango! (1975), reached the US Top 10 and gave them a Top 20 single with Tush, but the follow-up, Tejas (1976), was less well received, despite a Top 20 chart placing. Hill - whose given names were Joseph Michael - was born in Dallas on May 19, 1949. We will forever be connected to that 'Blues Shuffle in C.' You will be missed greatly, amigo." "We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the 'Top'.
"We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, Tex.," they wrote. Gibbons and Beard said that Hill had died in his sleep at his home, but did not provide a date. The trio's other members, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard, announced Hill's death in a Facebook post. Hill has died at age 72.ĭusty Hill, bassist for the enduring Texas blues rock band ZZ Top for over half a century, has died at age 72. Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, performing in Austin, Tex.
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