Billy Gibbons

William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar known as Pearly Gates. Gibbons has a bass vocal range, spanning E♭1 to E♭5, one of the widest ranges in rock. He is noted for formerly using an old five peso Mexican coin as a guitar pick and use of pinch harmonics in his solos.

Gibbons is a familiar fixture at the Sunset Marquis Hotel, producing studio sessions in the NightBird Recording Studio with actors Billy Bob Thornton and J. P. Shellnutt, along with musicians Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Jed Leiber, Joe "Backbeat" Fazzio, and Dwight Yoakam. Gibbons is also well known for his authentic preparations of Texas-style barbecue and Mexican cuisine and is frequently a guest chef around Hollywood, California serving his famous "Renegade Guacamole."

In May 2011, it was announced that Gibbons was named as the 2012 Texas State Musician by the Texas Commission on the Arts despite Gibbon's Hollywood roots.

Gibbons was ranked thirty-second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011.
Gibbons was born to Frederick Royal (Freddie) and Lorraine Gibbons in the Tanglewood suburb of Houston, Texas. His father was an entertainer, orchestra conductor, and concert pianist who worked alongside second cousin, art director Cedric Gibbons, for Samuel Goldwyn at MGM Studios. In 1963, Gibbons received his first electric guitar following his thirteenth birthday, a sunburst Gibson Melody Maker, accompanied with a Fender Champ amplifier and was influenced by guitarists such as Jimmy Reed. While attending Warner Brothers' art school in Hollywood, California, Gibbons engaged with his first bands including The Saints, Billy G & the Blueflames, and The Coachmen. By 18, Gibbons went forward forming an artfully designed band, conceptually inspired by friend and fellow musician, Roky Erickson and The 13th Floor Elevators, naming the group the "Moving Sidewalks", penning the hit single, "99th Floor" and engaging a friendship with Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix went on to say on The Tonight Show that Gibbons would be the next hottest guitarist.

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