Frank Beard, the longtime, hard-shuffling drummer for Texas rock greats ZZ Top, died on Monday. Bob Merlis, the band’s representative, confirmed the news, saying Beard died while in hospice care, surrounded by family, at his ranch in Richmond, Texas. An exact cause of death was not given.
ZZ Top also announced that it would cancel its scheduled show tonight (Aug. 18) in Salt Lake City and its gig on Wednesday (Aug. 19) in Colorado Springs. The band’s current tour will resume this weekend in Austin. Beard had faced several serious health issues over the years.
In 2002, he missed some shows after undergoing an emergency appendectomy, while in 2025 he “temporarily” stepped away due to unspecified health issues. Earlier this month, ZZ Top abruptly canceled a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, citing “insurmountable obstacles”; it was later revealed that Beard’s health was the cause, though again no specifics were given. Though not technically a founding member, Beard was ZZ Top’s longtime and definitive drummer.
He linked up with guitarist-singer Billy Gibbons after ZZ Top released their debut single, “Salt Lick” (featuring drummer Dan Mitchell), and was responsible for bringing in bassist Dusty Hill. While so much of ZZ Top’s aura centered on their hooks, their riffs, and their facial hair, the beard-less Beard was the band’s indispensable anchor. He was a master of the Texas shuffle, an inch-perfect, steady rocking drum groove that held down ZZ Top’s signature blues rock boogie on classic hits like “Tush” and “La Grange.” Beard’s playing was precise and tireless.
In the 2019 documentary, ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas, he recalled the first time he and Gibbons played together: “I was jacked up on speed,” Beard cracked, “so I made him jam for about eight hours ’til his tongue just fell out.” Gibbons added of the experience: “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. He played with determination.” Beard was born June 11, 1949 in the small town of Frankston, Texas. He got his start playing in bands in high school and eventually became a fixture in the Dallas music scene, where he met Hill.
The two played together in several groups during the Sixties, including the Warlocks, American Blues, and even the infamous fake version of the Zombies that toured after the actual English psych rock group disbanded. Beard’s career nearly stalled out after he got his girlfriend pregnant; the couple got married, began to raise their child, and spent some time living with Beard’s parents. But after moving his family to Houston, Beard was introduced to Gibbons, then playing in a group called the Moving Sidewalks.
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