ZZ Top's official Facebook page said he died in his sleep today.
ZZ Top played their 1st show without him due to a hip injury a few days ago, but there was no talk of anything that serious. Sad day.
Dusty sang Tush!!
Wow. Sad to hear the news. He was a solid bass player and while not discussed much made a lot of money as a bass player. Multimillionaire!!
Sad to hear.
72. Damn. And the hits keep coming. Tush.
Wow, never really thought about how old Rusty was but he was 72.
Very sad and all my old favorite bands are slowly fading away.
He is such a part of the ZZ Top identity and brand do they continue as a band like the ABB and Gov't Mule did?
@bill_graham I don't see it happening but you never know.
Billy has been issuing solo discs for awhile, maybe he brings Frank with him there?
@bill_graham I don't see it happening but you never know.
Billy has been issuing solo discs for awhile, maybe he brings Frank with him there?
whatever dates are already scheduled will probably be completed and thats it. supposedly there is some unreleased stuff from the last few years in the can
@bill_graham I imagine they will. They are on tour now with their long time guitar tech filling in on bass. He must be good!
If it were Billy F. Gibbons, likely that would be it. Mick Jagger and no more Rolling Stones. Keith Richards, maybe.
Gov't Mule without Warren? Doubtful. Allman Brothers without Gregg? That is already settled isn't it? Didn't Warren say they can't call it the ALLMAN Brothers without Gregg? That is why it was The Brothers and not the Allman Brothers at MSG.
I was there. Did we see the Allman Brothers or did we see a new band saluting the Allman Brothers 50th anniversary with members who have Allman Brothers connections?
RIP This is a sad day. Rio Grande Mud thru Fandango is ZZ to me.
IMHO of course
Stones: No Jagger, Richards or Watts then no Stones. Maybe even Woody but there were rumours they were ready to replace him in 1981 with George Thorogood when Ronnie was struggling with drugs.
Gov't Mule: No Haynes then no Mule. Haynes is Gov't Mule.
ABB: No Gregg was pretty obvious for me. But then again they were done before Gregg passed and I don't think they ever would have reunited after that last Beacon show except maybe some special one offs . Especially after Trucks died I think that was the real end even before Gregg passed which was the final nail.
ZZ Top: who knows? Will be interesting to see if Gibbon's continues with a new bass player and if he does will the new bass player be required to grow a long beard?
@bill_graham the guitar tech who sat in for Dusty last week has the long beard. There were some videos out there because apparently it was the first time they had done a show without Dusty in 52 years.
@wareaglerk Yes Dusty joined the band a year after it formed. Here is the guitar tech on bass just a couple days ago.
@wareaglerk that settles it then. He has the beard so all he needs to do now is work on his stage outfit and stage presence.
He needs some fancier duds, a cool hat, and needs to mandscape that beard if he is going to fill Dusty's shoes.
😎
This is indeed so sad to hear. Dusty Hill RIP my friend. Your time on this earth is done. Now rest easy and now that your music and the music we so much adore will long endure!
@rusty Yeah me too. A clip on. Billy F. and Frank are very wealthy so I don't know. They may not continue Z Z Top.
I was reading this morning that Dusty couldn't make these shows but insisted the guitar tech who is a good bass player cover for him so the fans would get to go to the shows.
Supposedly he injured his hip. Apparently his death was unexpected but I'm not sure. Dusty died in his sleep at his beautiful home in Houston.
Man that sucks. He had a pretty cool sound and I really liked his singing and voice too!
@robertdee Eerily similar to Tom Petty's hip injury (fractured hip) that led to his passing. I don't know if there are any similarities. ZZ Top managed to keep (pretty much) the same line-up over their long history. I think this speaks volumes of their personal relationship and dedication to their craft. Most bands go through personnel changes, experiment with keyboards, horns etc. They figured out what worked for them early on and stayed true to the formula. As Billy Gibbons said, "farewell to the bottom of the Top".
The cause of death was not released. It is known he was diagnosed with Hep C in 2000, he was worth $60 million dollars and ZZ Top's catalogue has sold over 25 million copies combined and their biggest selling album was Eliminator in 1983 which sold over 10 MILLION COPIES!! That is more than Brothers and Sisters. And the Black Crows first album.
Eliminator accounts for almost HALF of their total album sales. It has Gimme All Your Lovin', Sharp Dressed Man, Legs and TV Dinners on it. All the songs are written by Gibbons, Hill and Beard so they all got rich just off the writing royalties on an album that sold 10 million copies.
@rusty Billy F. Gibbons just confirmed Z Z Top will continue with their guitar tech for the last 20 years, Elwood Francis, taking Dusty Hill's place. Gibbons said Francis is a fine bass player, slide guitar player and harmonica player in his own right.
The current tour began July 8th with Dusty Hill playing the July 12th date. They cancelled the next date stating Dusty had to detour back to Texas with a hip problem and looks forward to returning to the tour pronto. Again no cause given for his death.
The band was formed by Billy F. Gibbons in 1969 when his previous band Moving Sidewalks fell apart. Gibbons hired Lanier Greig on bass and organ and Dan Mitchel on drums. Billy was going to name the band Z. Z. King after Z. Z. Hill and B. B. King. But some felt Z. Z. King was too close to B.B. King so Billy said "okay maybe you're right. A King is on top so I'm going with Z. Z. Top! " Their first recording was a single called "Salt Lick" written by Billy. Next Billy decided to shake up the band and Frank Beard was soon brought in to play drums later in 1969 and Billy Ethridge who was with Stevie Ray Vaughn was brought in as the new bass player who inturn was soon replaced by Dusty Hill in 1970. These three were the the lineup until Hill died July 28th, 2021. It was Hill's wish that their guitar tech Elwood Francis replace him if he couldn't continue.
Here is an article in The Guardian with a great tribute to Dusty Hill:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/29/dusty-hill-lifted-zz-top-into-greatness
@peachlovingman Just reading Z.Z. Top once took over three years off. They were burned out and Billy needed to step away. Apparently Billy is the ring leader.
Anyway Dusty decided after a year off that this is going to last longer than he thought and he didn't want his close friends to think he could just cruise along with no job living off his success with Z Z Top so he got rid of the sunglasses, the hat ( didn't have the long beard then) and Dusty went to Dallas and got a job working a working man's blue collar job at the Dallas airport. He worked there for a couple of years as Billy F. Gibbons waited 3 1/2 years before he gave the signal they would be getting the band back together.
Dusty said during all that time working a straight gig at the airport, only two people asked him if he was with Z. Z. Top. Dusty said he lied both times and said no.
Billy F. Gibbons said Dusty had a shoulder and hip situation that was making it painful for him to play. Dusty finally said he couldn't continue and needed to go get straight. Billy said they canceled one show on their recent tour and Dusty said to let Elwood the guitar tech replace him so they did and resumed the tour. Billy F said they weren't expecting Dusty to pass away and is not sure as to the cause of death. He was told Dusty passed on in his sleep.
Billy F said they weren't expecting Dusty to pass away and is not sure as to the cause of death. He was told Dusty passed on in his sleep.
His widow posted to FB or Instagram overnight that The Dust passed away in mid conversation with her. That he woke her up and they were chatting, and then he was quiet... and he was gone. He will be laid to rest today, and she indicated noon service, I assume that is CDT zone.
Actually, posted to ZZ's official FB account:
The way I want to remember the Dust! I saw them the first time open for Alice Cooper about 1973. They were dressed like they had just been in an episode of Gunsmoke or Bonanza. No beards or sunglasses. It was Texas blues by three guys. A power trio. I remember the lead player (Billy F. ) played a beautiful sunburst Les Paul with a nice tone. It later became known as Pearly Gates.
Billy doesn't play it much now but said it's still his pride and joy ax.
