Bill Ham | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Billy Mack Ham |
| Born | (1937-02-04)February 4, 1937 Waxahachie, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | June 20, 2016(2016-06-20) (aged 79) Austin, Texas, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1960–2016 |
| Spouse | Cecile Ham (died 1991) |
Billy Mack Ham (February 4, 1937 – June 20, 2016)[1] was an American music impresario, best known as the manager, producer, and image-maker for the blues-rock bandZZ Top.[2] Ham also gained prominence in the country music world by discovering and managing multi-platinum singer-songwriterClint Black.
Ham began his career as a singer, releasing a single, "Wanderer," onDot Records in 1960.Cash Box called the song a "bright rocker" with a "sensational backbeat."[3]
In 1968, Ham was working as a record promoter for Bud Daily Distributing when he saw theMoving Sidewalks, the band that would become ZZ Top, perform at aDoors concert inHouston, and went backstage to compliment them.[4] When the Moving Sidewalks decided to fire their manager, they recruited Ham to replace him. Ham was instrumental to ZZ Top's success, co-writing songs, constructing their image, and producing every one of the group's albums fromtheir debut through 1996'sRhythmeen.[2] Ham and ZZ Top parted ways in 2006.[5]
Ham also saw success in management and publishing outside of ZZ Top. His Lone Wolf Management produced such artists asClint Black andPoint Blank,[5] and songwriters signed to his Hamstein Music publishing company scored 100 Top 10 country singles, including 60 number ones.[4]
On July 2, 1991, Ham's wife, 48-year-old Cecile Ham, was in a drugstore parking lot in Houston when she was kidnapped and murdered by 22-year-old Spencer Corey Goodman, a recently paroled repeat offender.[6] Goodman was apprehended five weeks later following a high-speed chase where he crashed Cecile's stolen car.[7] He was convicted of murder, sentenced to death, and executed bylethal injection on January 18, 2000. Ham witnessed the execution.[8]
Ham died on June 20, 2016, at his home inAustin, Texas, aged 79.[5]
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