ZZ Top
Biography
ZZ Top is a hard rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, it was composed of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill, until Hills death in 2021. ZZ Top had developed a signature sound based on Gibbons blues guitar playing style and Hill and Beards rhythm section. They are popular for their live performances, sly and humorous lyrics, and the matching appearances of Gibbons and Hill, who wore sunglasses, hats and long beards.
ZZ Top formed after Gibbons previous band, Moving Sidewalks, disbanded in 1969. Within a year, they signed with London Records and released ZZ Tops First Album in 1971. Subsequent releases, such as Tres Hombres (1973) and Fandango! (1975), and the singles "La Grange" and "Tush", gained extensive radio airplay. By the mid-1970s, ZZ Top had become renowned in North America for their live act, including the Worldwide Texas Tour (1976–1977), which was a critical and commercial success.
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After a hiatus, ZZ Top returned in 1979 with a new musical direction and image, with Gibbons and Hill wearing sunglasses and matching chest-length beards. With the album El Loco (1981), they began to experiment with synthesizers and drum machines. They established a more mainstream sound and rose to international stardom with Eliminator (1983) and Afterburner (1985), which integrated influences from new wave, punk, and dance-rock. The popularity of these albums music videos, including those for "Gimme All Your Lovin", "Sharp Dressed Man", and "Legs", gave them mass exposure on television channel MTV and made them prominent artists in 1980s pop culture. The Afterburner tour set records for the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour of 1986.
After gaining additional acclaim with the release of their tenth album Recycler (1990), and its accompanying tour, the groups experimentation continued with mixed success on the albums Antenna (1994), Rhythmeen (1996), XXX (1999), and Mescalero (2003). They most recently released La Futura (2012) and Goin 50 (2019), a compilation album commemorating the bands 50th anniversary. By the time of Hills death in 2021, ZZ Top had become the longest-running band with an unchanged lineup in the history of popular music. Per Hills wishes, he was replaced by their longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis on bass.
ZZ Top has released 15 studio albums and sold an estimated 50 million records worldwide. They have won three MTV Video Music Awards, and in 2004, the members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked Gibbons the 32nd greatest guitarist of all time. The band members have supported campaigns and charities including Childline, St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, and a fundraiser for the Delta Blues Museum.
Studio albums
ZZ Tops First Album (1971)
Rio Grande Mud (1972)
Tres Hombres (1973)
Fandango! (1975)
Tejas (1976)
Degüello (1979)
El Loco (1981)
Eliminator (1983)
Afterburner (1985)
Recycler (1990)
Antenna (1994)
Rhythmeen (1996)
XXX (1999)
Mescalero (2003)
La Futura (2012) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.
