Z.Z. Hill
Influenced by church music, Z. Z. Hill became a singer, imitating Sam Cooke and
Bobby Bland. One of his first ballads, "You Were Wrong", in 1963, was a hit in
his native Texas and led to his signing with the Kent label in California. Hill
appeared sporadically on the charts, but he was above all a favorite on the
small bar circuit with its black working-class clientele in the South. A soul
singer first and foremost, with a greasy voice and macho posture, he scored the
biggest hit of his career in 1981 with a blues, "Down Home Blues".
