Frank Beard, ZZ Top drummer, dies at age 77
Frank Beard, longtime ZZ Top drummer, has died, the band confirmed to CBS News. He was 77.
A cause of death was not immediately provided, but the band's publicist said in a statement, "He was in hospice care when he passed away at his ranch in Richmond, TX with family members at his side." He died on Monday.
Beard, along with guitarist Billy Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill, formed ZZ Top in 1969. Hill died in 2021, and at his request, was replaced by his longtime bass tech, Elwood Francis.
"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," Gibbons said in a statement posted on social media.
The band said it has canceled its two upcoming shows in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, but that the tour would continue this weekend at Austin City Limits, "one of Frank's favorite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home for him."
Beard was born in Frankston, Texas, on June 11, 1949, and was raised in Irving, Texas, according to the band's publicist. Beard first met Hill and the two played together in several bands. Beard eventually joined the band The Moving Sidewalks with Gibbons, and "it was Frank Beard who, in the waning days of 1969, suggested to Billy Gibbons — then a frontman in search of a rhythm section — to audition Dusty Hill," the band's publicist said.
While Gibbons and Hill were known for their long, scraggly beards, Beard himself, somewhat ironically, usually went clean-shaven or only sported a mustache.
"It was a club called The Catacombs," Gibbons told "CBS Sunday Morning" in 2019 of the band's start back in 1969. "It was a day that Frank Beard, the man with no beard, he and I were gathered together to audition bass players. And about that time Dusty strolled up, strapped on the guitar, and I think we wound up playing one song for about three hours straight!"
After attaining success in the '70s, Beard ran into issues with substance abuse and the band took a three-year hiatus.
"In the late '70s, I entered rehab," Beard told CBS News' Jim Axelrod. "Somebody asked Dusty what he was gonna do. 'Hey what are y'all gonna do, you know? Frank's in rehab.' And Dusty said, 'Well, I'm goin' fishing!'"
Gibbons, when asked if he had considered replacing Beard at the time, was emphatic: "No," he said. "There is no other drummer. There's one guy!"
ZZ Top has sold over 50 million albums over the course of their more-than-50-year-long career, saw six singles go to No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, and earned three Grammy nominations, according to The Associated Press.
Eleven of their albums achieved Gold status, seven were certified platinum and the 1983 album "Eliminator," which featured the hit singles "Sharp Dressed Man," "TV Dinners," "Gimme All Your Lovin'" and "Legs," sold more than 10 million copies, giving it Diamond status, the band's publicist said.
