The man and the beard Billy Gibbons is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and even an actor.
(Photo: Jamie McCarthy)
Let's read some interesting facts about him:
1. He was born William Frederick Gibbons, in Houston Texas USA, on December 16, 1949.
2. His father was a pianist and orchestra conductor who worked at MGM Studios.
3. At the age of 5 his mother took him to an Elvis Presley show and already then he knew he wanted to be a musician.
4. At age 7 his father took advantage of his connections in the music business and took him to a recording studio here B.B. King was working on an album.
5. He got his first guitar when he was 13 years old.
6. As a teenager he was heavily influenced by the guitar playing Jimmy Reed.
7. During high school he was involved in a number of bands, including "The Saints", "Billy G & the Blueflames" and "The Coachmen".
8. At the age of 18 he formed his first serious band - "Moving Sidewalks", who played garage, psychedelic and blues rock. They released their debut album "Flash" in 1969. The band has also released a number of singles including "99th Floor".
9. One of the band's highlights was when it served as Jimi Hendrix's warm-up band, during his first US tour. Since they did not have enough material to fill an entire show, they played the song "Foxy Lady" as part of the set. Jimi Hendrix liked their version and even taught him to play his songs.
10. In 1969 he formed "ZZ Top", together with bassist and keyboardist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard the band.
11. The band's first album was released in 1971 and since then the band has released 15 studio albums.
12. The trio of Gibbons, Beard and Hill of "ZZ Top", is the most stable trio in the history of music, when during its more than 50 years of existence it has never changed its lineup.
13. The image of the band includes Gibbons and Hill with long beards when the drummer Beard appears shaved. Band members usually show up with cowboy hats and sunglasses and play a Gibson "Flying V" guitars.
14. The band's albums "Tres Hombres" from 1973 and "Eliminator" from 1983 are included in the list of the 500 greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine.
15. What's more, the album "Eliminator" was ranked 39th on Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Best Albums of the 80s, with sales earning it "Diamond" status, that is, over 10 million copies.
16. In 2005, Gibbons was featured on on the song "Willin 'For Satisfaction" of guitarist Vivian Campbell's solo album "Two Sides Of If". He also participated in the writing and taught the musicians how to play as Campbell recounts here:
17. In 2003 Gibbons was a guest on the song "Hillbilly Stomp" by "Kid Rock".
18. That same year he was also featured in singing and background vocals on the song "Burn the Witch" from the album "Lullabies to Paralyze" by "Queens of the Stone Age". Gibbons also recorded a cover version of the song "Precious and Grace" by "ZZ Top" with the band, which was included as a bonus track on the album. He also plays guitar on another bonus track called "Like a Drug".
19. Gibbons was also invited to participate in the band's next album "Era Vulgaris" from 2007, but was unavailable due to previous commitments.
20. 2005 was a year full of activity for Gibbons, he was also featured on three songs from Nickelback's "All the Right Reasons" album released that year.
21. In 2008 he sang background vocals on the song "Switch on the Light" from Sammy Hagar's "Cosmic Universal Fashion" album.
22. In 2015 he released his first solo album "Perfectamundo" and three years later the album "The Big Bad Blues". In 2021 Gibbons released his third solo album "Hardware".
23. In 2018 he started collaborating with John Fogerty, they recorded the song "Holy Grail" and went on a joint tour.
24. Gibbons has played and dubbed several TV series including "Bones", where he plays the father of the imaginary character Angela Pearly Gates Montenegro, named after his famous 1959 Gibson "Les Paul" guitar "Pearly Gates", which he purchased from the sale of his pickup truck In the same name.
25. Gibbons is ranked 32nd on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.