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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- One of the original members of ZZ Top has died suddenly. 

Band members announced on social media Wednesday that bass player Dusty Hill died in his sleep at his home in Houston, Texas. He was 72. The post is signed by Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard.

"We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX. 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.

Frank & Billy

One of the band's final performances was in Louisville's Iroquois Amphitheater on July 18. Local singer/songwriter J.D. Shelburne opened for them at the show. He posted on Facebook after hearing the news. 

"I’m saddened by this breaking news! Dusty from the iconic ZZ Top has passed! I performed with them on their last show as a band at Iroquois Amphitheater last week - a memory I will never forget. Prayers up to Billy, Frank and the rest of the family. 🙏 - JD"

A July 21 post on the band’s website said Hill was “on a short detour back to Texas, to address a hip issue.”

At that time, the band said its longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, would fill in on bass, slide guitar and harmonica.

Born Joe Michael Hill in Dallas, he, Gibbons and Beard formed ZZ Top in Houston in 1969. The band released its first album, titled “ZZ Top’s First Album,” in 1970. Three years later it scored its breakthrough hit, “La Grange,” which is an ode to the Chicken Ranch, a notorious brothel outside of a Texas town by that name.

The band went on to chart the hits “Tush” in 1975, “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’” in 1983, and “Rough Boy” and “Sleeping Bag” in 1985.

The band’s 1976 “Worldwide Texas Tour,” with its iconic Texas-shaped stage festooned with cactuses, snakes and longhorn cattle, was one of the decade’s most successful rock tours.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Said Rolling Stones lead guitarist Keith Richards in introducing the band to the Hall: “These cats are steeped in the blues, so am I. These cats know their blues and they know how to dress it up. When I first saw them, I thought, ‘I hope these guys are not on the run, because that disguise is not going to work.’”

That look — with all three members wearing dark sunglasses and the two frontmen sporting long, wispy beards — became so iconic as to be the subject of a New Yorker cartoon and a joke on “The Simpsons.”

Tributes from around the globe are being posted on social media. 

Kiss frontman Paul Stanley writes on Twitter, "WOW! Dusty Hill. What an icon. @ZZTop ’s bassist forever. So unique. Always a gentleman from the days of us opening for them through the recent days of them opening for us. I don’t know what to say but “Thank you” and “Rest however you damn well choose!”

Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne sent his condolences to the band writing on Twitter, " Rest In Peace #DustyHill of @ZZTop . My thoughts go out to @BillyfGibbons and Frank Beard and all the #ZZTop fans around the world."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted on his Twitter account calling Dusty Hill a "Great friend and remarkable Texan. "  

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