ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard dies days after withdrawing from tour

Frank Beard, the drummer who helped define ZZ Top’s sound over more than half a century, has died at the age of 77.

The musician had been performing on ZZ Top’s The Big One Tour earlier in August before withdrawing as he dealt with serious health issues.

Beard reportedly died on Monday following a period in hospice care. No specific cause of death has been made public.

ZZ Top’s guitarist Billy Gibbons shared an emotional tribute to the man who had been beside him on stage and in the studio for decades.

“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.”

Beard joined ZZ Top in 1969, completing the trio that would become the band’s most famous lineup alongside Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill.

His drumming featured on each of the group’s 15 studio records and helped shape songs including La Grange, Tush, Sharp Dressed Man, Legs and Gimme All Your Lovin’.

The lineup remained together for more than five decades before Hill died in 2021 at the age of 72.

Longtime guitar technician Elwood Francis subsequently moved into the bass role, allowing the band to continue performing.

Beard’s death means Gibbons is now the only surviving member of the original three-piece lineup.

ZZ Top cancelled performances scheduled for August 18 and 19 in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs following the news.

The tour is expected to continue with two shows at Austin City Limits on August 22 and 23.

The band described it as one of Beard’s favourite venues, located in a city that had become “something of a second home for him”.

ZZ Top have been regular visitors to Australia since the late 1980s and most recently returned to headline the second series of the Red Hot Summer Tour in 2025.