Died On This Date (April 27, 1984) Z.Z. Hill / Texas Soul Great
themusicsover Arziel “Z.Z.” Hill
September 30, 1935 – April 27, 1984
ZZ Hill was a Texas blues singer whose soulful style was also sometimes referred to as Southern Fried Soul. Hill began his career singing gospel in the late ’50s and moved to California in the early ’60s to begin making R&B records for Kent Records. His career continued to grow through the ’60s, ’70s but by the ’80s it began to sputter. And then in 1982, he released Down Home, which not only sparked new life into his career, but into the entire soul-blues genre. It remained on the soul charts for almost two years and spawned a couple of singles, “Down Home Blues,” and “Somebody Else Is Steppin’ In,” which are considered to be blues standards. But success was short-lived and Hill suffered a fatal heart attack on April 27, 1984.
What You Should Own
Johnnie Johnson was a jazz and blues pianist who joined forces with Chuck Berry with whom he spent over twenty years collaborating on such rock ‘n’ roll classics as “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” and “Nadine,” even though he never received song-writing credits or royalties. It has been reported that “Johnnie B. Goode” was actually inspired by Johnson. After his run with Berry, Johnson was all but retired from music and working as a bus driver in St. Louis until he heard the praise being given him by the likes of Keith Richards. That motivated him to get back into music and record his first album in 1987 which lead to him sharing the stage with such luminaries as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Bo 
Rocky Hill was by all accounts, a killer guitar player, as well as the older brother of Dusty Hill, bassist for Texas rock band, ZZ Top. The Hill brothers began playing together in their early teens eventually forming a trio called American Blues with future ZZ Topper, Frank Beard on drums. The band broke up in 1969 when the Hills moved from Dallas to Houston. Dusty and Beard soon joined up with Billy Gibbons to form ZZ Top. Rocky, who was more of a blues loyalist continued on alone, at times playing with the great