ZZ Top have confirmed that they were offered millions by Gillette to share off their beards, but ultimately turned it down.
The band have become famed for their elaborate facial hair over the years, with all of the members – ironically barring drummer Frank Beard – sporting extremely long beards.
For years now, there has been an ongoing rumour that frontman Billy Gibbons and co. turned down a hefty sum of money to shave off their distinctive beards, and in a new interview, the singer has confirmed that it’s true.
Speaking during a recent appearance on the Mohr Stories podcast, Gibbons shared that each bandmember was offered $1million (£740,00) back in the 1980s by razor company Gilette, and in exchange, they had to get rid of the facial hair on television.
“They deny it,” the ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ singer said of Gillette. “[But] it was a million dollars per man”.
He also said that he called up his publicist, Bob Merlis, after hearing about the offer, who gave a witty response in return. “‘The money’s good, you might as well consider doing it… but I’m not so sure any of you guys know what’s under there’,” Gibbons said.
As highlighted by Loudwire, the staple look of ZZ Top goes back to their early days, when they started the band at the end of the ‘60s, and toured extensively up until the mid-’70s.
When asked last year why they first grew out the beards, Gibbons told The Big Interview that it was because of “one word: lazy”.
“We started ZZ Top in 1969. We carried on non-stop until the bicentennial year of ’76,” he said. “And at that time, we were looking at an invitation to join the ranks of the Warner Bros. Group.”
He then added that he and bassist Dusty Hill began growing out the beards “as a disguise” initially, but then realised it had “turned into a trademark”.
Last year, ZZ Top continued their run of live shows and took to the stage alongside huge names like Hozier, LCD Soundsystem, Blink-182 and Lenny Kravitz for New Jersey’s 2025 edition of the Sea.Hear.Now festival.
Ahead of the summer festival season, the band issued a statement to say that Frank Beard would “temporarily” be stepping away from live shows as he had to “attend to a health issue requiring his focus in the near term.” ZZ Top’s longtime tech member John Douglas stepped in to perform at the shows in his place.
The band’s most recent LP was the live album ‘Raw’ in 2022, which followed the death of Dusty Hill the previous year. That same title was also given to the 11-track album recorded for their 2019 Netflix documentary, That Little Ol’ Band From Texas.
The trio will be performing live again later this year, with a huge run of US live shows scheduled between March and May, and a run of live shows and festival appearances planned for Europe later in the summer.
The latter includes slots in Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden and more. Visit here for tickets.