Posted on 09/18/2006 7:47:29 PM PDT by Senator Goldwater
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Texas rock trio ZZ Top has parted ways with the manager who helped form the band in 1969, according to a statement issued on Sunday.
In addition to splitting with Bill Ham, the band has also ended its tenure at RCA Records, 14 years after signing a five-album contract reportedly worth $30 million.
ZZ Top's most recent album, "Mescalero," spent just three weeks on the Billboard 200 in 2003. Its stint at RCA, beginning with 1994's "Antenna," failed to match its run at Warner Bros. Records, where it recorded the biggest hit of its career, 1983's "Eliminator."
ZZ Top -- comprised of singer/guitarist Billy Gibbons, singer/bass player Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard -- last toured in 2005, ending a trek dominated by casinos and state fairs at New York's Beacon Theater in November.
"Upcoming plans for the band will be announced in the near future," the statement said. The band is due to receive an honor from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences in November, a spokesman said.
Ham, the president of Austin, Texas-based Lone Wolf Management, first partnered with Gibbons in the late 1960s. The former record promoter helped Gibbons put together ZZ Top, which settled on its current lineup in late 1969.
According to former roadie David Blayney's 1994 memoir "Sharp Dressed Men," Ham "coupled a Col. Tom Parker managerial savvy with a Rambo approach to life and a Marquis de Sade style of doing business, which would soon make him famous in the music industry."
Specializing in Texas blues boogie, the band issued its debut release, "ZZ Top's First Album," in 1970. Amid constant touring, it broke through with 1973's "Tres Hombres," featuring the classic-rock radio staple "La Grange."
Pop success beckoned with "Eliminator," which sold millions and propelled the band to stadium status, thanks to slick videos for tunes like "Gimme All Your Lovin"' and "Legs," featuring pretty women and souped-up cars.
"For nearly four decades we have made music history together," Ham said in a statement. "Lone Wolf will always be grateful for the overwhelming loyalty and support from fans around the world, the labels, the promoters, the agencies, the vendors, the media, and so many others who helped make this possible. We wish the band all the best for continued success."
Aack, now I remember why I don't remember, lol. None of those are the brother I was talking about. None of their names are even familiar to me.
I was not into psychedelic anything at that time in my life and knew nothing about drugs or druggies. I did, much later, but not then - and had nothing to do with the people who did. In fact, they scared me. Billy did not look like that then, BTW - but I still heard stories that would curl your hair.
Don't know why the guy I'm thinking of said he played with them. He gave me, or tried to give me, bumper stickers and posters, all the time of his group - but it meant nothing to me at all because I thought they were all so strange. I found him in google and he's an artist elsewhere.
I have another friend who can refresh my memory about it, if I ever think to ask him about it. He sat in a lot with some of the people mentioned - Neal Ford and the Fanatics. Dean Scott, Roy Head, the Traits. Lol, some of them lived with my BF back then. I just wasn't into any of that and pretty much ignored them.
Another later BF had a recording studio and I met a lot of locals, many of whom I've run into over the years - one couple lives down the street from me now. *Oh well - "just not my scene, man."* My musical tastes are 30s and 40s.
Haha! Actually, we lost track of him soon after we entered the store and, by the time we checked out, had forgotten about him. Now that you mention it, I'd like to know what he was buying, too.
Billy is second from the left in that publicity shot.
They had a minor "hit" with "99th Floor", on which Billy sang and flashed a little bit of string.
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