Arzell J. Hill (September 30, 1935 – April 27, 1984),
[Dahl, Bill. "Z.Z. Hill" Allmusic.com. Retrieved 29 March 2014.] known as Z. Z. Hill, was an American
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
singer
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
best known for his
recordings
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, r ...
in the 1970s and early 1980s, including his 1982 album for
Malaco Records
Malaco Records is an American independent record label based in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, that has been the home of various major blues and gospel acts, such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Mel Waiters, Z. Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, La ...
, ''
Down Home'', which stayed on the Billboard
soul album chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
for nearly two years.
The track "Down Home Blues" has been called the best-known blues song of the 1980s.
According to the
Texas State Historical Association
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...
, Hill "devised a combination of blues and contemporary soul styling and helped to restore the blues to modern black consciousness."
["Hill, Arzell (Z.Z.)"]
Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
Early life
Hill was born in
Naples, Texas
Naples is a city in Morris County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,378 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Naples is located at (33.202983, –94.679006).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of whi ...
.
Career
Hill began his singing career in the late 1950s as part of a
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
group the Spiritual Five, touring Texas. He was influenced by
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...
,
B. B. King, and
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer.
Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was descr ...
. He began performing his own songs and others in clubs in and around
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, including stints fronting bands led by Bo Thomas and Frank Shelton. He took his stage name in emulation of B. B. King.
Encouraged by
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...
, who had seen him perform, he joined his older brother Matt Hill, a budding
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
, in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in 1963, and released his first single, "You Were Wrong", on the family's M.H.
label
A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...
. It spent one week at number 100 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1964, and Hill was quickly signed by
Kent Records
Kent Records was a Los Angeles-based record label, launched in 1958 by the Bihari brothers. It was subsidiary of Crown Records Corporation. Kent was a follow-up to Modern Records which ceased operations in 1958. The label reissued Modern's singles, ...
.
Most of the songs he recorded for Kent were written or co-written by Hill and arranged by the prominent
saxophonist
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
Maxwell Davis
Thomas Maxwell Davis, Jr. (January 14, 1916 – September 18, 1970), was an American rhythm and blues saxophonist, arranger, bandleader and record producer.
Biography
Davis was born in Independence, Kansas in 1916. In 1937, he moved to Lo ...
. None charted, but in retrospect many, such as "I Need Someone (To Love Me)", are now viewed with high regard by fans of soul music.
After leaving Kent in 1968, he recorded briefly for
Phil Walden
Phil Walden (January 11, 1940 – April 23, 2006) was a co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records, along with former Atlantic Records executive Frank Fenter.
Biography
Walden received his undergraduate degree in economics from Mac ...
's
Capricorn label, based in
Macon, Georgia
Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of Geo ...
, but after a disagreement with Walden his
recording contract
A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...
was bought by
Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams' Mankind label, where Hill fulfilled his end of the deal. He returned to California to record for his brother's label, Hill, and the song "Don't Make Me Pay for His Mistakes", produced by Matt Hill and Miles Grayson, became his biggest pop hit, reaching number 62 on the Hot 100. The Kent label reissued his 1964 recording of "I Need Someone", which also charted. Williams also recorded Hill in
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the populati ...
, in 1971, resulting in several R&B hits, including "Chokin' Kind" and "It Ain't No Use", as well as the
LP ''The Brand New Z. Z. Hill''.
With his brother's help, Hill then signed with
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
, where he was aided by
arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
s and compositions by established R&B talents including
Lamont Dozier
Lamont Herbert Dozier (; June 16, 1941 – August 8, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. He co-wrote and produced 14 US ''Billboard'' number-one hits and four number ones in the UK.
Career
Doz ...
and
Allen Toussaint
Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descri ...
, and released several singles that made the R&B chart in the mid 1970s. After his brother Matt's sudden death from a heart attack, Z. Z. Hill left United Artists and signed with
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
, recording two albums with leading arranger-producer, Bert de Coteaux in New York. Several singles taken from the albums charted, including "Love Is So Good When You're Stealing It", which spent 18 weeks on the
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
R&B chart in the summer of 1977.
In 1979, he left Columbia and returned south, signing for
Malaco Records
Malaco Records is an American independent record label based in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, that has been the home of various major blues and gospel acts, such as Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, Mel Waiters, Z. Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, La ...
, a move which, according to
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
writer Bill Dahl, "managed to resuscitate both his own semi-flagging career and the entire
lues
The first recorded outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494/1495 in Naples, Italy, during a French invasion. Because it was spread by returning French troops, the disease was known as "French disease", and it was not until 1530 that the te ...
genre at large".
His first hit for the label was his recording of "Cheating in the Next Room," written by
George Jackson, which was released in early 1982 and reached the R&B top 20, spending a total of 20 weeks on the chart. He had a number of best-selling albums for Malaco, the biggest being ''Down Home'', which stayed on the ''Billboard'' soul album chart for nearly two years. The song "Down Home Blues", also written by Jackson, was later recorded by labelmate
Denise LaSalle
Ora Denise Allen (July 16, 1934 – January 8, 2018), known by the stage name Denise LaSalle, was an American blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer who, since the death of Koko Taylor, had been recognized as the "Queen of ...
.
Hill's next album, ''The Rhythm & the Blues'', released in 1982, was also received with critical acclaim, and its success contributed to the subsequent boom in blues music, much of it recorded by the Malaco label, in Jackson, Mississippi.
[
]
Personal life and demise
While touring in February 1984, Hill was involved in a car crash. He continued performing, but he died two months later, at the age of 48, from a heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
arising from a blood clot formed after the accident.[
]
Legacy
Hill's song "That Ain't the Way You Make Love" was sampled by Madvillain
Madvillain was an American hip hop duo consisting of two MCs and producers, MF Doom and Madlib. Their only album, ''Madvillainy'', earned critical acclaim and cult popularity, widely regarded as one of the greatest rap albums of all time and ...
in their track "Fancy Clown".
Notes
Discography
Albums
* ''A Whole Lot of Soul'' (Kent, 1967)
* ''Brand New Z.Z. Hill'' (Mankind, 1971)
* ''The Bluest Blues'' (Excello, 1971)
* ''Dues Paid in Full'' (Kent, 1972)
* ''The Best Thing That's Happened to Me'' (United Artists, 1973)
* ''Z.Z. Hill'' (United Artists, 1974)
* ''Keep On Loving You'' (United Artists, 1975)
* ''Let's Make a Deal'' (Columbia, 1977)
* '' The Mark of Z.Z. Hill'' (Columbia, 1979)
* ''Z.Z. Hill'' (Malaco, 1981)
* '' Down Home'' (Malaco, 1982)
* ''The Rhythm & the Blues'' (Malaco, 1982)
* ''I'm a Blues Man'' (Malaco, 1983)
* ''Bluesmaster'' (Malaco, 1984)
* ''Thrill on the Hill'' (Rare Bullet, 1984)
* ''In Memoriam'' (Malaco, 1985)
Discography at SoulfulBluesMusic
Retrieved 28 March 2014.
Charted singles
See also
* List of electric blues musicians
*List of soul-blues musicians
The following is a list of soul blues musicians.
*Johnny Adams
* Peggy Scott-Adams
* Kip Anderson
* James Armstrong
* Reneé Austin
* L.V. Banks
*Jo Jo Benson
* Buster Benton
*Bobby Bland
*Blues Boy Willie
*Ronnie Baker Brooks
*Michael Burks
* ...
*List of blues musicians
Blues musicians are musical artists who are primarily recognized as writing, performing, and recording blues music. They come from different eras and include styles such as ragtime-vaudeville, Delta and country blues, and urban styles from Chicag ...
References
External links
Discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Z.Z.
1935 births
1984 deaths
People from Naples, Texas
20th-century African-American male singers
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
American blues singers
Texas blues musicians
Soul-blues musicians
Kent Records artists
Malaco Records artists
Alive Naturalsound Records artists
20th-century American singers
20th-century American guitarists
Guitarists from Texas
20th-century American male singers
African-American guitarists