Biography
Billy Gibbons ranks among rock & roll's most recognizable guitarists thanks to his incisive yet economical style steeped in blues traditions. As ZZ Top's co-founder, he explored fresh territory in 2015 by launching the solo outfit Billy Gibbons & the BFG's, which introduced an Afro-Cuban dimension to his already wide-ranging sound. Born in Houston, Texas, in 1950, Gibbons absorbed blues and rock through local radio broadcasts, receiving his first electric guitar as a Christmas gift in 1963.
He joined his initial band shortly afterward, and in 1967 he scored a regional success with "99th Floor," the garage-psych hybrid he wrote and cut with the Moving Sidewalks. That group dissolved in 1969, leading Gibbons to join forces the following year with Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, both formerly of the Dallas-based American Blues, to create ZZ Top, the blues-and-boogie ensemble that emerged as one of America's leading touring attractions by the mid-'70s. In the '80s the band layered electronic textures onto its music, and aided by a series of inventive videos the albums Eliminator (1983) and Afterburner (1985) delivered their greatest commercial triumphs. Though ZZ Top refined its studio approach, the group stayed a tireless road act, and Gibbons continued his blues advocacy by backing the Delta Blues Museum in Mississippi, where he commissioned the "Muddy Wood" guitar built from planks taken from Muddy Waters' childhood cabin.
An early fascination with Latin music took root when, as a child, Gibbons met Tito Puente while his father, a jazz musician, studied with the celebrated percussionist at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. That background prompted his associate Martin Guigui to ask Gibbons to join him at the 2014 Havana Jazz Festival. Although the appearance never occurred, the invitation sparked ideas about fusing Afro-Cuban rhythms with blues-based rock. Those experiments produced Billy Gibbons & the BFG's, with Gibbons supplying vocals, guitar, keyboards, and percussion, Guigui on keyboards, Mike Flanigan on organ, Alex Garza on bass, Greg Morrow on drums, and additional percussionists from the Cubano Nationale Beat Generator. In 2015 Gibbons and producer Joe Hardy recorded the ensemble, which issued its debut album, Perfectamundo, that October. The release marked the first solo project by any ZZ Top member, and Gibbons brought the band on tour for his initial solo engagements that fall.
He joined his initial band shortly afterward, and in 1967 he scored a regional success with "99th Floor," the garage-psych hybrid he wrote and cut with the Moving Sidewalks. That group dissolved in 1969, leading Gibbons to join forces the following year with Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, both formerly of the Dallas-based American Blues, to create ZZ Top, the blues-and-boogie ensemble that emerged as one of America's leading touring attractions by the mid-'70s. In the '80s the band layered electronic textures onto its music, and aided by a series of inventive videos the albums Eliminator (1983) and Afterburner (1985) delivered their greatest commercial triumphs. Though ZZ Top refined its studio approach, the group stayed a tireless road act, and Gibbons continued his blues advocacy by backing the Delta Blues Museum in Mississippi, where he commissioned the "Muddy Wood" guitar built from planks taken from Muddy Waters' childhood cabin.
An early fascination with Latin music took root when, as a child, Gibbons met Tito Puente while his father, a jazz musician, studied with the celebrated percussionist at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. That background prompted his associate Martin Guigui to ask Gibbons to join him at the 2014 Havana Jazz Festival. Although the appearance never occurred, the invitation sparked ideas about fusing Afro-Cuban rhythms with blues-based rock. Those experiments produced Billy Gibbons & the BFG's, with Gibbons supplying vocals, guitar, keyboards, and percussion, Guigui on keyboards, Mike Flanigan on organ, Alex Garza on bass, Greg Morrow on drums, and additional percussionists from the Cubano Nationale Beat Generator. In 2015 Gibbons and producer Joe Hardy recorded the ensemble, which issued its debut album, Perfectamundo, that October. The release marked the first solo project by any ZZ Top member, and Gibbons brought the band on tour for his initial solo engagements that fall.
Albums
