The band played Austin more than 20 times during its career, dating back to a 1969 performance at Gregory Gym on the University of Texas campus.
When I first saw them, I thought, ‘I hope these guys are not on the run, because that disguise is not going to work.’”
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Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards inducted the trio. “These cats are steeped in the blues, so am I," Richards said in his induction speech. "These cats know their blues and they know how to dress it up.
ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. No cause of death was cited for Hill, who played bass for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers from Texas for more than 50 years. RELATED: Longtime ZZ Top manager Bill Ham dies at 79 NEW YORK, July 29 Dusty Hill the long-serving bassist of American rock-blues band ZZ Top has died at the age of 72, his fellow band members announced on Facebook yesterday. ZZ Top's three members portrayed Old West musicians in the 1990 blockbuster "Back to the Future Part III." A 2007 episode of the animated comedy "King of the Hill" was titled "Hank Gets Dusted" the plot revolved around lead character Hank Hill being Dusty Hill's (fictional) cousin. Hill occasionally made cameo film and television appearances. Gibbons and Hill both sported long beards, a look that became ZZ Top’s visual trademark. They became superstars in the 1980s with the multiplatinum albums “Eliminator” and “Afterburner,” their success driven in part by the new MTV era and videos that played up the band’s carefully shaped image. The power-trio lineup lasted for more than five decades, becoming rock radio mainstays in the 1970s with gold records such as “Tres Hombres” and “Fandango!” Hill replaced Billy Ethridge, who had a brief tenure succeeding original bassist Lanier Greig. In 1969, Hill and Beard joined Gibbons in the new band. More: ZZ Top at 50: Billy Gibbons takes us back to the beginning In 1968, Dusty and Beard moved to Houston, where Moving Sidewalks guitarist Billy Gibbons was forming a new band called ZZ Top.
One of ZZ Top's defining characteristics is that the band had retained the same three members for more than five decades.īorn Joseph Michael Hill in Dallas on May 19, 1949, Hill began playing in Metroplex bands as a teenager with his brother, Rocky Hill, and drummer Frank Beard. Rocker Jeff Scott Soto was one of the first to pay tribute to Hill on Wednesday, tweeting: “I hate that my social media has become more of an obituary but such is life, young or old, we are but mere mortals when our time comes.No announcement has been made yet as to whether some of those tour dates might still happen without Hill. On Friday, Beard and Gibbons played their first ZZ Top show without Dusty, revealing he was on “a short detour back to Texas, to address a hip issue”. Hill had suffered a number of health scares in recent years – in 2000, ZZ Top cancelled a European tour after he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. The trio celebrated its 50th anniversary at a San Antonio, Texas concert in February, 2020.Īs a member of ZZ Top, Hill appeared on hits like Tush, La Grange, Sharp Dressed Man, Gimme All Your Lovin’, Legs, I Gotsta Get Paid, Got Me Under Pressure, and Rough Boy. Hill and Beard formed a band in the late 1960s and moved to Houston, where they eventually joined Gibbons’ ZZ Top.