Frank Beard, the longtime drummer of blues-rock band ZZ Top, has died at the age of 77, the band has announced.
The announcement
A statement on ZZ Top’s website said Beard died on Monday in hospice care at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, surrounded by family members. A cause of death was not specified.
His death led to the cancellation of the band’s tour dates this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. ZZ Top said it intends to resume its current The Big One! Tour over the weekend with two shows at Austin City Limits — a venue the band described as one of Beard’s favourites, in a city that had been “something of a second home for him.”
A tribute from his bandmate
Founding member and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons paid tribute to Beard, calling him “one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas.”
“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,” Gibbons said. “His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top. The band of which he was part for six decades is going to keep on keeping on as he had wished.”
A six-decade career
ZZ Top was founded in 1969 and played its first live show the following year. Over the decades the band released 15 studio albums and four live albums, producing hit singles including Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sleeping Bag and Viva Las Vegas.
Beard joined the band after its first single, Salt Lick, was released, and later helped bring in bassist Dusty Hill. Behind the kit, he anchored some of the group’s best-known tracks, including La Grange, Tush and Cheap Sunglasses.
He was known affectionately as “The Man With No Beard” — a nod to the fact that, despite his surname, he was the only member of the Houston trio who didn’t sport the long facial hair ZZ Top became famous for.
The band’s biggest commercial success came with 1984’s Eliminator, featuring Gimme All Your Lovin’, Sharp Dressed Man and Legs. The album sold more than 10 million copies, was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1996, and earned a Grammy nomination. The band picked up a further Grammy nod in 1987 for Afterburner, and in 2021 was nominated for best music film for the documentary That Little Ol’ Band From Texas.
Carrying on
ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and has continued to tour across North America, Europe and South America. The band’s lineup had already changed once before: when bassist Dusty Hill died in 2021, the group continued performing with Elwood Francis taking over on bass.
With Beard’s death, Gibbons remains the sole original member still touring with the band he founded 57 years ago.
Based on reporting by Nardine Saad, BBC News.
