However, witnessing a recording session with B.B. Born in Houston, Texas in 1949, 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. ZZ Top was formed in 1969 by guitarist and songwriter Billy Gibbons. 1973's Tres Hombres was their first major success and the point where their trademark sound found itself, 1983's Eliminator introduced the streamlined, new wave-influenced approach that brought them their greatest success, and 2012's La Futura, the final studio album from the original trio, was a return to form that delivered Lone Star guitar raunch with flashes of electronic sheen. Their stardom faded a bit in the mid-'90s as their albums stopped topping the charts, but they remained a popular live act that could reliably fill large venues and give fans a great show more than 50 years after the act debuted. At their core, ZZ Top's songs never changed that much, taking standard blues figures, filtering them through Gibbons' precisely raunchy guitar, marrying them to the simple but funky groove of Hill and drummer Frank Beard, and adding lyrics steeped in surreal wit as they dealt with sex, booze, the blues, and the glorious idiosyncrasies of life in Texas. This gambit made them one of the only groups of their era to not only survive in the new arena of pop, but to become more popular than ever, gaining a new audience without sacrificing the old one.
In the '80s, they cannily reinvented themselves, hot-wiring their sound with sequencers and synthesizers and becoming unlikely MTV heroes with a series of clever videos that turned bearded frontmen Billy Gibbons (guitar) and Dusty Hill (bass) into an eccentric visual signature. They started as a trio putting their own spin on blues & boogie rock, and became arena rock stars in the 1970s.
(administered by BMG Rights Management Canada), Cranky Cat Music, LLC and DJ DMD MusicĬourtesy of Universal Republic Records under license from Universal Music Canada Inc.Known to the world as "That Lil' Ol' Band from Texas," ZZ Top had a thoroughly unique career. Published by Across 110th Street Publishing/EMI April Music Inc., Muster Mark Music/Sony/ATV Melody (administered in Canada by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada), Billy G's Hollywood Productions, Inc.
Sure! (as Albert Brown III), Dorie Dorsey, Billy Gibbons, Joe Hardy, Gary Moon and Kyle West
c/o Concord Music PublishingĬourtesy of Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc.īy Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing Published by Figs D Music obo Stormking Music Inc. Written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson Written by Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons, Bill Ham and Dusty Hill Published by Steve Ames and Billy G's Hollywood ProductionsĪn Original International Artists Recording, Licensed from ApS, Courtesy of Charly Acquisitions Limitedīy arrrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing Written by Rocky Hill and Phillip Vickery Written by Dusty Hill, Rocky Hill, Kean McClalland and Phillip Vickery Written and performed by Paul Kehayas, James Scott and Lucas Gadke Records, by arrrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing, and Eagle Rock Entertainment Published by BMG Rights Management Canady obo Music Of Stage ThreeĬourtesy of Warner Bros. Written by Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV LicensingĬourtesy of Yazoo Records/Shanachie Entertainment group