Frank Beard, ZZ Top Drummer, Dies at 77

Frank Beard, the drummer who anchored ZZ Top’s Texas shuffle for more than fifty years, died on Aug. 17 at his ranch in Richmond, Texas. He was 77 and had been in hospice care, surrounded by family. No cause of death was given.

Beard’s death leaves Billy Gibbons as the sole surviving member of the classic trio. Bassist Dusty Hill died in 2021. ZZ Top canceled two shows this week, in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, but its current tour is expected to resume this weekend in Austin.

Beard wasn’t technically a founding member, but he quickly became essential. After ZZ Top’s debut single with drummer Dan Mitchell, Beard joined Gibbons and brought Hill into the fold. The three musicians spent the next half-century turning a lean blues-rock formula into one of the most recognizable sounds in American music. His precise, muscular backbeat drove songs like “La Grange” and “Tush,” giving them their forward motion.

Gibbons called him “one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas.” Beard was also the one member without the signature beard. That image came from a period when the band paused and scattered, and the three returned with unplanned facial hair. In a 2012 interview, Gibbons recalled the first jam lasting three hours on a simple shuffle. That platform became ZZ Top.