On This Day, July 28, 2021: ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill dies at age 72

July 28, 2025

On This Day, July 28, 2021…

Dusty Hill, longtime bassist for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band ZZ Top, passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, Texas. He was 72.

Born Joe Michael Hill in Dallas, Texas, Dusty and drummer Frank Beard joined guitarist Billy F Gibbons in ZZ Top shortly after they were formed in 1968, with the band releasing their debut album, ZZ Top’s First Album, in 1971.

The band went on to release 15 albums over the course of their career, selling an estimated 50 million records.

ZZ Top’s most commercially successful album is 1984’s Eliminator, which peaked at #9 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold over 11 million copies in the U.S. The album included four hit singles: “Legs,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharped Dressed Man” and “TV Dinners.”

Hill was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with ZZ Top in 2015.

Written by: sn4zcreativ3

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