One of rock\u2019s most iconic trios has lost a member.
\nDusty Hill, the bass player for ZZ Top for more than 50 years, died on Wednesday. \u2026<\/b>
\nOne of rock\u2019s most iconic trios has lost a member. Dusty Hill, the bass player for ZZ Top for more than 50 years, died on Wednesday. He was 72. Hill\u2019s bandmates Frank Beard and Billy Gibbons confirmed the news Wednesday in a statement that read, \u201cWe are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX. We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the \u2018Top’. We will forever be connected to that \u2018Blues Shuffle in C.\u2019 You will be missed greatly, amigo.\u201d No cause of death was given, but Hill has struggled with hip issues since falling on the band\u2019s tour bus in August 2014, followed by surgery and extensive physical rehab. Last weekend, the band announced that Hill would miss some scheduled shows due to a \u201chip issue\u201d and replaced him onstage with their longtime guitar tech. Hill battled health issues throughout the years. In 2000 he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C and shortly before his initial hip injury in 2014, he required surgery to remove kidney stones. A native of Dallas, the musician born Joe Michael Hill started his career. In 2016, he told For Bass Players Only magazine that he started singing for money at the age of 8, but by the time he turned 13, his brother\u2019s band needed a bass player and he was recruited. \u201cI wasn\u2019t very good, but I kind of learned how to play on stage and whatnot, and embarrassment is a great motivator,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t play well, standing up there with lights on it really stands out, so it behooves you to get your (expletive) up pretty quick.\u201d Hill\u2019s career with, as they were affectionately known, \u201cThat Lil Ol\u2019 Band from Texas,\u201d started with their humorously named \u201cZZ Top\u2019s First Album\u201d in 1971 and encompassed 15 studio albums, the most recent \u201cLa Futura\u201d in 2012. Though the band\u2019s roots are a combination of grimy boogie blues and rock \u2013 exemplified in rock radio favorites \u201cLa Grange\u201d and \u201cTush\u00a0\u00bb – ZZ Top became unlikely heroes of the MTV era. In the 1980s, albums \u201cEliminator,\u201d \u201cAfterburner\u201d and \u201cRecycler\u201d spawned cheeky videos for \u201cGimme All Your Lovin\u2019,\u201d \u201cSharp Dressed Man,\u201d \u201cLegs\u201d and \u201cSleeping Bag,\u201d among other hits, which introduced them to a younger demographic. ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.<\/p>\n