Frank Beard, longtime ZZ Top drummer, dead at 77...
Headlines from ABC News Live
August 18, 2026, 3:21 PM
Frank Beard, longtime drummer for the legendary blues rock trio ZZ Top, has died at age 77.
"It was announced today that Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s drummer for the past 56 years, has died. He was in hospice care when he passed away at his ranch in Richmond, TX with family members at his side," according to a statement Tuesday from the band's publicist. No cause of death was given.
A message posted on the band's official X account in March 2025 announced that Beard had "temporarily stepped away" from the band's then-current tour to attend to an unspecified health issue, and that Beard was "looking forward to a speedy recovery."
“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," front man Billy Gibbons posted online.
Elwood Francis has been the band's bassist since founding bassist Dusty Hill died in 2021 at age 72. With Beard's passing, Gibbons is now the sole remaining member of the original trio.
ZZ Top's breakout third album, 1973's "Tres Hombres," that put them on the map, largely on the strength of the album's lead single, the blues rock boogie "La Grange."
Featuring Beard's signature snare-rim-tapping triplets intro beneath Gibbons' sly, growling vocals, then dropping into a hard-pounding shuffle groove two dozen bars in, "La Grange" helped propel "Tres Hombres" into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart on the way to becoming RIAA-certified gold for sales of more than 500,000 units.
With a lineup unchanged for over half a century, the "Little 'Ol Band from Texas" released 15 studio albums during Beard's tenure, the latest being 2012's "La Futura," with nine of them reaching RIAA gold or platinum status. Of those, however, the biggest-selling remains 1983's "Eliminator," which sold more than 10 million units in the U.S. alone and includes the hits "Sharp-Dressed Man" and "Gimme All Your Lovin'" – both propelled by Beard's hammering, driving backbeat – and "Legs." The latter, the band's highest-charting single, featured neither Beard nor Hill, though they were credited.
August 18, 2026, 3:21 PM
Frank Beard, longtime drummer for the legendary blues rock trio ZZ Top, has died at age 77.
"It was announced today that Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s drummer for the past 56 years, has died. He was in hospice care when he passed away at his ranch in Richmond, TX with family members at his side," according to a statement Tuesday from the band's publicist. No cause of death was given.
A message posted on the band's official X account in March 2025 announced that Beard had "temporarily stepped away" from the band's then-current tour to attend to an unspecified health issue, and that Beard was "looking forward to a speedy recovery."
“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," front man Billy Gibbons posted online.
Elwood Francis has been the band's bassist since founding bassist Dusty Hill died in 2021 at age 72. With Beard's passing, Gibbons is now the sole remaining member of the original trio.
ZZ Top's breakout third album, 1973's "Tres Hombres," that put them on the map, largely on the strength of the album's lead single, the blues rock boogie "La Grange."
Featuring Beard's signature snare-rim-tapping triplets intro beneath Gibbons' sly, growling vocals, then dropping into a hard-pounding shuffle groove two dozen bars in, "La Grange" helped propel "Tres Hombres" into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart on the way to becoming RIAA-certified gold for sales of more than 500,000 units.
With a lineup unchanged for over half a century, the "Little 'Ol Band from Texas" released 15 studio albums during Beard's tenure, the latest being 2012's "La Futura," with nine of them reaching RIAA gold or platinum status. Of those, however, the biggest-selling remains 1983's "Eliminator," which sold more than 10 million units in the U.S. alone and includes the hits "Sharp-Dressed Man" and "Gimme All Your Lovin'" – both propelled by Beard's hammering, driving backbeat – and "Legs." The latter, the band's highest-charting single, featured neither Beard nor Hill, though they were credited.
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