Long-bearded bass player for iconic rock band ZZ Top
Dusty Hill, the quiet, bearded bass player who made up one third of ZZ Top, among the bestselling rock bands of the 1980s, has died at his home in Houston. He was 72.
His bandmates Frank Beard and Billy Gibbons announced the death Wednesday through Facebook and Instagram. They did not provide a cause or say when he died.
Starting in the early 1970s, ZZ Top racked up dozens of hit records and packed hundreds of arenas a year with their powerful blend of boogie, Southern rock and blues. But the band really took off in the 1980s, when Gibbons, the lead singer and guitarist, and Hill grew their signature 20-inch beards and the band released a series of albums that added New Wave synthesizers — often played by Hill — to their hard-driving guitars, producing MTV-friendly hits like “Legs” and “SharpDressed Man.”
The band paired their grungy sound and innuendo-filled lyrics with a knowing, sometimes comic stage act — Hill and Gibbons, in matching sunglasses and Stetson hats, would swing their hips in unison, spinning their instruments on mounts attached to their belts. (Despite his name, Beard, the drummer, sported just a mustache.) Their stage sets might include crushed cars and even livestock.
Though in public Hill and Gibbons were often mistaken as twins, their musical styles differed — Gibbons a showy virtuoso, Hill a grinding, precise musical mechanic.
Hill rarely gave interviews, preferring to let Gibbons speak for the band. And he gladly accepted his supporting role for his bandmate’s masterful lead guitar playing.
“Sometimes you don’t even notice the bass,” he said in 2016. “I hate that in a way, but I love that in a way. That’s a compliment. That means you’ve filled in everything and it’s right for the song.”
Joseph Michael Hill was born in Dallas on May 19, 1949. He started his musical career singing and playing cello, but he switched instruments at 13, when his brother, Rocky, who played guitar, said his band needed a bassist. One day Dusty came home to find a bass on his bed; that night, he joined Rocky onstage at a Dallas beer joint.
In 1969, Dusty was living in Houston and working with the blues singer Lightnin’ Hopkins when Beard, a friend from high school, suggested that he audition for an open spot in a trio, called ZZ Top, recently founded by Gibbons. They played their first show together in 1970.
The band’s humor was evident from the start: The group named its first album “ZZ Top’s First Album.” Real success came in 1973 with the band’s third release, “Tres Hombres,” which cracked the Billboard top 10. That same year ZZ Top opened for the Rolling Stones in Hawaii.
The band achieved superstar status in 1983 with “Eliminator,” which included singles “Legs,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Give Me All Your Lovin.’ ”
In 1984, Hill made headlines when he accidentally shot himself in the stomach. As a girlfriend was taking off his boot, a .38 Derringer slipped out, hit the floor and went off.
ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
Hill married his longtime girlfriend, Charleen McCrory, an actress, in 2002. He also had a daughter.
In 2014 he injured his hip after a fall on his tour bus. He required surgery, and part of the tour had to be canceled. On July 23, he left their latest tour, citing problems with his hip.