How old is the band zz top

Born in Houston, Texas in , Gibbons was the son of a musician who encouraged his passion for music; when he initially showed interest in playing percussion instruments, his father arranged for him to take lessons with Latin music icon Tito Puente. However, witnessing a recording session with B. King had a greater impact on the young Gibbons , and for his 13th birthday, Billy was given an electric guitar and an amp.

He started playing in rock bands when he was living in California with his family, but it wasn't until he returned to Texas that he formed his first band of note, the Moving Sidewalks , a psychedelic outfit who cut a local hit called "99th Floor" a nod to the 13th Floor Elevators , who Gibbons acknowledged as a key influence and an album called Flash.

Not long after Flash was released, the Moving Sidewalks broke up after two of Gibbons ' bandmates were drafted into the Army, and he chose to form a more blues-oriented group. Hill , and Top as a play on King, as in B. Etheridge was unhappy with the terms of the contract and chose not to sign, quitting the group.

In need of a bass player, Beard suggested they bring in Dusty Hill also born in , in this case in Dallas , who had been his bandmate in American Blues. This lineup would soon go into the studio and cut 's ZZ Top's First Album , and would work together for the next 50 years. It also turned up the boogie in their approach, gave Gibbons more room for his dirty guitar attack, and sounded tighter and more confident than the debut.

Their real breakthrough came with their third album, 's Tres Hombres ; it marked the point where their trademark sound coalesced for the first time, and it spawned the single "La Grange," a celebration of a notorious Texas brothel, that earned major airplay on rock radio and just missed making the Top The band became a major touring attraction, and their next long-player, 's Fandango , featured one side recorded at a sold-out show, while the flipside was recorded in the studio and featured "Tush," which hit the singles chart at number 20, making it their first entry into the Top The trio next hit the road with an elaborate stage show they called the Worldwide Texas Tour, which included extravagant painted backdrops, a stage in the shape of the Lone Star State, and a variety of local flora and fauna, including cactus and yucca plants, a steer, a buffalo, and several rattlesnakes.

As the Worldwide Texas Tour crossed the country in and , ZZ Top brought out 's Tejas , which was the last album under their contract with London. After the grueling Texas Tour finally came to an end, the group went on a vacation that ended up lasting almost three years.

During that time, Gibbons traveled to Europe and Jamaica as he explored new sounds, Hill pacified his mind working at an airport in Dallas, and Beard went into rehab to shake an addiction to drugs. Records, and brought along their London catalog as part of the deal. Eliminator became the biggest album of ZZ Top 's career, and they followed a similar approach on 's Afterburner and 's Recycler , both of which were major chart successes through they didn't match the sales of Eliminator.

However, the albums were presented in new mixes designed to make them resemble the sound the band introduced on Eliminator , making the release controversial among their older fans. The three-musician lineup remained the same for more than half a century as ZZ Top progressed from heavy blues to its experimental synthesizer sound of the s. The trio became recognizable worldwide for their distinctive look: long beards, sunglasses and Stetson hats.

ZZ Top has released 15 studio albums, the most recent coming in The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Daily newsletter Receive essential international news every morning.

Take international news everywhere with you! We will forever be connected to that 'Blues Shuffle in C. The cause of death has not been announced. After a month break because of the coronavirus pandemic, ZZ Top had resumed touring in mid-July. The band was scheduled to perform in South Carolina on Wednesday night and had more dates across the U.

The new dates followed a ZZ Top 50th-anniversary tour that brought the group to Austin for a May concert at the amphitheater at Circuit of the Americas. No announcement has been made yet as to whether some of those tour dates might still happen without Hill. One of ZZ Top's defining characteristics is that the band had retained the same three members for more than five decades.

In , Hill and Beard joined Gibbons in the new band.