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Joe 'Dusty' Hill, May 19, 1949 – July 28, 2021

Born Joseph Michael Hill on May 19, 1949 in Dallas, he died in his sleep in
Houston, the city where he and drummer Frank Beard had started the band
that would become ZZ Top before being joined by guitarist-vocalist Billy
Gibbons.

His death was announced in a joint publication by Billy Gibbons
and Frank Beard.

“We are saddened by the news today that our compadre, Dusty Hill,
has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, Texas,” surviving
members Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard said in a statement. “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 will forever
be connected to that ‘Blues Shuffle in C.’ You will be
missed greatly, amigo”.

Over the past few years, Hill has endured a hip
replacement surgery and a shoulder injury. The group was
forced to cancel a few shows, and they played with a
replacement bass man earlier this month when Hill was forced
to head back to Texas to deal with a hip issue.

They released their first record as ZZ Top in 1971, presciently

called “First Album”. The band started to find world wide
recognition on the release of 1973’s “Tres Hombres”, which
included the single ‘La Grange’, which was certified Gold
and reached No. 8 on U.S. Charts. The follow-up
albums weren’t as successful and the band took a
three-year break following the release of 1976’s
“Tejas”, during which Hill took a job at Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport. “I just wanted to feel
normal,” Hill said in 2019. “I did not want other

people to think that I thought I was full of myself,
but the main thing is that I didn’t want to start feeling full of myself. So I did it to ground myself.”

During the downtime, Hill and Gibbons grew long beards. And when they re-emerged in 1979 with
“Degüello”, they scored a massive hit with ‘Cheap Sunglasses.’ But it was 1983’s “Eliminator” that
turned ZZ Top into MTV superstars. Singles taken from the album, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’, ‘Gimme All
Your Lovin’, and ‘Legs’ were ubiquitous and remain classic.

Each of their next eight albums would be certified Gold, Platinum or Diamond, including “Degüello”,
1983’s “Eliminator” and 1985’s “Afterburner”. ZZ Top last released a studio album, “La Futura”, in
2012.

Ian K McKenzie

Constructed from various sources