Frank Beard, longtime ZZ Top drummer, dead at 77

Frank Beard, longtime drummer for the legendary blues rock trio ZZ Top, has died at age 77.

"It was announced today that Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s drummer for the past 56 years, has died. He was in hospice care when he passed away at his ranch in Richmond, TX with family members at his side," according to a statement Tuesday from the band's publicist. No cause of death was given.

A message posted on the band's official X account in March 2025 announced that Beard had "temporarily stepped away" from the band's then-current tour to attend to an unspecified health issue, and that Beard was "looking forward to a speedy recovery."

“Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas. His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top," front man Billy Gibbons posted online .

Elwood Francis has been the band's bassist since founding bassist Dusty Hill died in 2021 at age 72. With Beard's passing, Gibbons is now the sole remaining member of the original trio.

Born June 11, 1949 in Frankston, Texas, Beard joined the Houston-based band The Moving Sidewalks in 1969, which featured vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Gibbons. The band soon changed its name to ZZ Top and, following the departure of some members and the addition of Hill, the trio recorded their debut album, 1971's aptly titled "ZZ Top's First Album."

"It didn't take 30 minutes; it didn't take 30 seconds. I knew that Frank Beard had the kind of chops that I was looking for," Billy Gibbons recalled of their first meeting, in the 2019 documentary "ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas."

"He played fiercely. He played with determination," Gibbons said.

The band's follow-up, 1972's "Rio Grande Mud," featured the modest chart hit "Francine." But it was ZZ Top's breakout third album, 1973's "Tres Hombres," that put them on the map, largely on the strength of the album's lead single, the blues rock boogie "La Grange."

Featuring Beard's signature snare-rim-tapping triplets intro beneath Billy Gibbons' sly, growling vocals, then dropping into a hard-pounding shuffle groove two dozen bars in, "La Grange" helped propel "Tres Hombres" into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart on the way to becoming RIAA-certified gold for sales of more than 500,000 units.

With a lineup unchanged for over half a century, the "Little 'Ol Band from Texas" released 15 studio albums during Beard's tenure, the latest being 2012's "La Futura," with nine of them reaching RIAA gold or platinum status. Of those, however, the biggest-selling remains 1983's "Eliminator," which sold more than 10 million units in the U.S. alone and includes the hits "Sharp-Dressed Man" and "Gimme All Your Lovin'" – both propelled by Beard's hammering, driving backbeat – and "Legs." The latter, the band's highest-charting single, featured neither Beard nor bassist Hill, though they were credited.

Other signature ZZ Top songs on which Beard played include "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide," "Tush," "Tube Snake Boogie," "Jesus Just Left Chicago," "Cheap Sunglasses," "I Thank You," "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" – later covered by the legendary U.K. metal band Motörhead – "Heard It on the X" and many others.

Beard – ironically, given his name, the only band member who didn't sport Gibbons' and Hill's signature long facial hair – remained with ZZ Top for the entirety of the band's six-decade existence and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with them in 2004. He struggled with substance abuse early in the band's history before checking himself into rehab in the early 1980s, during which time the band went on hiatus, his bandmates telling Beard to take however long he needed.

"I just wanted to get sober," Hill said in "ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas." "I wanted to be like people I admired that could sit at home and watch TV and go to bed."

Beard was married twice, the second time to Debbie Meredith in 1982. She survives him, as do their three children.

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