When 14-year-old Billy Gibbons got his first Gibson Melody Maker guitar for his birthday, a new chapter of music history began. Already a student of the uniquely American form of music, Gibbons wailed his way through high school in a number of bands including the Saints, the Coachmen, and the Moving Sidewalks.
Still in high school, Gibbons, along with the Moving Sidewalks, recorded his first record,99th Floor, which became a hit on local radio stations.
His eventual band mate, Dusty Hill, spent the 60’s hanging out in blues clubs where he met and befriended guitar great, Freddie King. Shortly thereafter, Hill and his older brother, Rocky, joined an East Dallas band called the Deadbeats and started rocking the city’s clubs.
The third member of ZZ Top, Frank Beard, after marrying his high school sweetheart at a shotgun wedding when he was fifteen, turned his energies to playing the drums.
Beard and the Hills joined forces when the brothers quit the Deadbeats and formed a new band, the Warlocks. Within a year, the Warlocks changed their name to American Blues and recorded two blues-based albums.
Gibbons’ band kept busy playing regular gigs throughout Texas and Louisiana, opening for such legends as Jimi Hendrix and The Doors.
Eventually, the two bands broke up, and in 1969, Gibbons auditioned members for a new southern-boogie rock band. Luck, and a couple of friends, sent him fellow Texas musicians Dusty Hill and Frank Beard. They agreed to form what turned out to be one of Rock’s most venerable bands, ZZ Top. But at first, they couldn’t decide on a name.
The crisis was solved when Gibbons passed by a barn and saw the “Z” beams on a pair of open hay-loft doors. This was the name and logo that has stayed with the band for more than thirty years.
After adding super manager and promotion whiz Bill Ham to the team, the band was on its way.
For two years, the band earned its stripes playing in bars and blues clubs throughout Texas. Then in 1971, the trio lit off to Tennessee to play at the Memphis Blues Festival where their strong blues roots won them a loyal following of fans.
They started recording but it wasn’t until their third album, Tres Hombres, that ZZ Top gained national attention with the hit "La Grange," based on famed bluesman John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen."
Their success skyrocketed through the '70s and exploded with a year-and-a-half-long concert roadshow dubbed the Worldwide Texas Tour. Taking the Lonestar State theme on the road meant onstage appearances by a buffalo, a Texas Longhorn, a wolf, five buzzards and a nest of snakes.
Exhausted from the overwhelming touring schedule, the band decided to take an extended break. Beard visited the Caribbean and backpacked around the world. Hill went sailing in the Pacific and scuba-diving in Mexico. Gibbons took off on a quest to Europe and beyond, eventually joining a Buddhist prayer group in Tibet. Their extended hiatus prompted rumors of a split up.
Emerging three years later from its self-imposed exile, ZZ Top switched recording labels and delivered a series of high-energy albums, proving they hadn’t lost a beat. They produced a string of hits, like “Cheap Sunglasses,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” that secured their rock legend status.
Now sporting the signature long beards, hats, and wild suits, they helped define the emerging video age with a trilogy of memorable videos that soared into heavy rotation on MTV. All these videos showcased customized cars and short-skirted, stocking clad girls, a formula Gibbons defended by saying, “Is there anything beyond cars and girls in rock and roll?” These images forever fused ZZ Top with a fun-loving, hot rod image.
The entire band’s fascination with cars continues today and extends off-stage. Gibbons is probably the most hardcore car lover. He is one the leading advocates for creating uniquely styled, four-wheeled creations that have become famous in hot rod circles. To some, he’s an automotive genius. It’s rumored that Gibbons holds several automotive-related patents. Whatever the case, it’s clear his passion for cars is almost unsurpassed, except maybe by music or African art. He is a noted art connoisseur and has amassed one of the most extensive collections in the country. Even his trademark hat is an antique African piece.
As musicians with genuine roots, ZZ Top has few peers. Gibbons is considered by many to be one of America's finest blues guitarists, while Hill and Beard provide the band’s backbone as the ultimate rhythm section.
Even though they’ve become famous, they haven’t lost touch with the heritage that inspires their music. Their favorite cause is the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Their efforts have raised money and brought added prestige and exposure to the museum. One project was a tremendous success. They took a piece of wood from Muddy Waters's Clarksdale cabin, turned it into a guitar, dubbed it the "Muddywood," and donated it to the museum. The news media went crazy writing articles that appeared all over the country. The result: blues fans flocked to the museum to see Muddywood.
While their interests are varied, it all comes back to the music. ZZ Top, the only rock & roll band still playing with all its original members aboard after three decades, continues to pack concert halls and sell CDs.
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