Biographic - Sunday August 30, 2015 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

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In 1984, ZZ Top turned down a $1 million offer from Gillette to shave off their beards! It was always the ultimate rock 'n' roll irony that the only member of the hirsute trio who didn't sport the band's trademark "face furniture" was the drummer- who is actually named Frank Beard! That changed in 2013, when Frank briefly joined the club and let his whiskers grow out. ZZ Top formed in Houston in 1969. By the time the band released its debut album in 1971, the lineup was settled as guitarist and lead singer Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard. By the middle of the decade, the albums "Tres Hombres," "Fandango!" and "Tejas" had made ZZ Top a fixture in the top 20 of the album charts. The band's worldwide Texas Tour, featuring an incredibly elaborate set that included a live longhorn steer, black buffalo, two vultures, and two rattlesnakes, required a crew of 50 people and 13 vehicles to transport the 75 tons of equipment. Approximately 1.2 million tickets were sold! After seven years of constant touring, the trio needed a break... but a 90-day hiatus somehow turned into a two-year layoff, during which Gibbons and Hill grew the chest-length beards that have become the group's signature look. The 1980s brought huge worldwide success, with singles such as "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" keeping ZZ Top in heavy rotation on MTV and propelling the albums "Eliminator" and "Afterburner" to multiplatinum status! The band suffered a scare in late 1984, when Dusty Hill dropped a derringer and accidentally shot himself in the stomach! The group's sound had evolved from the blues-inspired rock of its early work to a much more commercial approach with heavy use of synthesizers. With the 1990s came a return to ZZ Top's rock and blues roots and although that saw a comparative decline in sales, the trio continued to be a huge concert draw. In 2004, ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame, with Keith Richards giving the induction speech. Following the release of the "Mescalero" album in 2003, the trio didn't release another studio album for nine years, although the multiplatinum success of 2008's "Live from Texas" DVD proved demand was still strong! They returned in 2012 wiht their 15th studio album "La Futura." Late summer sees ZZ Top on the road once more as the "Grooves & Gravy" tour hits more than 30 cities in the U.S. and Candada.

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