ZZ Top legend Frank Beard has died at 77, the band confirmed on Tuesday.
The drummer had been forced to pull out of the band’s tour earlier this month due to health issues.
“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,” said ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons.
“His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top.”
A representative for the Texas-formed band confirmed to USA Today that Frank died on Monday while in hospice.
The drummer was “with family members at his side” at his ranch in Richmond.
Frank dropped out of The Big One! Tour in early August due to health issues and had previously dropped out from touring with the band in March as he was undergoing a “health procedure.”
The band announced that their upcoming shows in Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City would be canceled.
However, the band plans to resume its current tour The Big One! this weekend, with the two shows at Austin City Limits music festival held at The Moody Theater.
The band, which formed in 1969, said the venue was “one of Frank’s favorite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home for him.”
Most read in Entertainment
Beard was born on June 11, 1949, in Frankston, Texas, and began playing in bands while still in high school.
He later became part of the Dallas music scene, where he met Dusty Hill, and the pair performed together in several 1960s groups including the Warlocks and American Blues.
In one of the stranger chapters of their early careers, Beard and Hill also played in a fake version of British rock band The Zombies that toured the US after the original group had broken up, Rolling Stone reported.
Beard has been part of ZZ Top for more than five decades and played on all 15 of the band’s studio albums.
He joined Billy Gibbons in 1969 and helped create the group’s classic lineup by introducing the guitarist to his former American Blues bandmate Dusty Hill.
The trio went on to become one of rock’s most recognizable acts, with Beard providing the beat behind hits including “La Grange,” “Tush,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” and “Legs.”
Beard, Gibbons and Hill remained together for more than 50 years until Hill’s death in July 2021 at the age of 72.
At the time, Gibbons and Beard announced that their longtime bandmate had died in his sleep at his Houston home.
“We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX,” they said.
They added, “You will be missed greatly, amigo.”
Hill’s longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis then took over bass duties and continued touring alongside Gibbons and Beard.
The Texas rockers found major success in the 1970s before exploding into the MTV era with their 1983 album Eliminator, which included “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs,” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’.”
Beard was famously the only member of the classic ZZ Top lineup who did not sport the huge beard that became part of the band’s signature look.
ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 after decades of success.
Beard had suffered previous health setbacks over the years, including pneumonia in 2019 and another unspecified health issue that forced him off the road in 2025.
His latest absence came after ZZ Top abruptly canceled its August 5 Hollywood Bowl show because of what the band called “unforeseen personnel matters.”
Michael Monahan was brought in to play drums while Beard stepped away, with Gibbons and Francis continuing the tour.
The cause of Beard’s death has not been publicly disclosed.