DUsty Hill, bassist of the rock band ZZ Top, has passed away. “We are saddened by today’s news that our friend Dusty Hill passed away in his sleep at his home in Houston, Texas,” other members of the cult band, Billy, shared with Gibbons and Frank Beard, on the ZZ Top website on Wednesday. Hill is 72 years old. “Together with many top ZZ fans around the world, we will miss your firm presence, your kindness and your permanent commitment,” it said.
At first there was no further information about the cause of death. However, Variety magazine reported that in the past few weeks, Gibbons and Beard performed without Hill for the first time in half a century of the band’s history. As a result, Hill officially missed hip treatment and was replaced by Elwood Francis.
ZZ Top was established in Houston, Texas in the summer of 1969. On the 50th anniversary of the birth of the old blues rock master in 2019, the long beards of Hills and Gibbons have long been trademarks of cult musicians—just like the band’s unique guitar improvisation. “Some people wear fake beards to disguise, unfortunately we can’t,” Hill once joked in an interview. “Where I went, I immediately attracted a large group of people.”
A little old band from Texas is conquering the blues world
The commercial breakthrough appeared in “Tres Hombres” in 1973. The third studio album is now considered a classic. Gibbons, Hill and Beard released six albums in the 70s alone. At that time, they had several performances in Germany. In the United States, they completed the large-scale “Texas Global Tour” with nearly 100 concerts from 1976 to 1977.
The biggest turning point in their careers came in the 1980s, when Gibbons first tried the then brand-new Fairlight synthesizer. After conducting the first electronic experiment on the only moderately successful “El Loco” (1981), ZZ Top achieved a milestone two years later-but not everyone liked it.
Through synthesizers, drum computers and sequencers, they updated the sound of rock music, reinvented themselves, and released the powerful and rhythmic “Eliminator” in 1983. Hardcore blues fans accused the group of treason. But the sales figures prove that they are correct. “Eliminator” is the most commercially successful album of “Little Old Band from Texas” (Little Old Band from Texas) to date.
