William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, producer and actor, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist of the American rock band
ZZ Top. He began his career in the
Moving Sidewalks, who recorded
Flash (1968) and opened four dates for the
Jimi Hendrix Experience. Gibbons formed ZZ Top in late 1969 and released
ZZ Top's First Album in 1971. The albums that followed,
Rio Grande Mud (1972) and
Tres Hombres (1973), along with extensive touring, solidified the group's reputation as a hard-rocking power trio.