ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill dies at 72

July 28 (UPI) — ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill has died at his home in Houston, the Texas-based rock band announced Wednesday. He was 72.

His fellow band members, Frank Beard and Billy Gibbons, didn’t reveal the cause of his death, which took place Tuesday.

“We are saddened by the news today that our compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX,” Beard and Gibbons wrote in a post on the band’s website. “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 ‘Top’. We will forever be connected to that ‘Blues Shuffle in C.’

“You will be missed greatly, amigo.”

Hill joined the band in 1970 — replacing previous bassists Billy Ethridge and Lanier Greig — shortly after the band’s formation in 1969. The Dallas native also sang lead and backing vocals and played keyboards.

His death comes less than a week after the band announced he was leaving their current tour “to address a hip issue.”

ZZ Top is perhaps best known for hits from its 1983 album Eliminator — “Gimme All Your Lovin,'” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs” and “Got Me Under Pressure. They won a number of MTV Video Music Awards during the 1980s, but their popularity declined through the 1990s.

They continued to put out music — 15 studio albums in total — and tour through this summer. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, alongside Prince, Bob Seger, George Harrison, the Dells, Jackson Browne and Traffic.