Frank Beard, the drummer whose unmistakable shuffle anchored ZZ Top for more than five decades, has died at 77.
The band’s official website says Beard died Aug. 17 while in hospice care at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, with family members at his side. The date was also his 77th birthday. No cause of death has been disclosed.
Billy Gibbons remembered his longtime bandmate as both a close friend and one of rock’s most naturally innovative drummers. He also made clear that Beard’s death does not mark the end of ZZ Top, saying the group will “keep on keeping on” because that was what Beard wanted.
Beard’s death followed a difficult period in which health problems repeatedly kept him off the road. Most recently, he stepped away from ZZ Top’s The Big One! tour because of illness, with Michael Monahan filling in behind the drums.
Frank Beard’s Final Months Marked by Health Battles
In March 2025, he temporarily left the road for what the band described at the time as a health procedure. He later said he had been dealing with foot and ankle problems. Beard returned, then missed another stretch of shows later in 2025 because of an undisclosed medical issue.
ZZ Top had abruptly canceled its Aug. 5 Hollywood Bowl performance, initially citing personnel issues. Days later, the band confirmed Beard was dealing with health problems and that Monahan would substitute for him. PEOPLE reported that Beard remained away from the tour before his death.
Billy Gibbons Says ZZ Top Will Continue Without Him
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“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,” Gibbons said, referring to current bassist Elwood Francis. He singled out the rhythmic feel that had helped distinguish ZZ Top from other blues-rock bands.
“His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top,” Gibbons said. Then came the answer to the immediate question surrounding the band’s future. “The band of which he was part for six decades is going to keep on keeping on as he had wished,” Gibbons said. ZZ Top canceled its Aug. 18 show in Salt Lake City and an Aug. 19 performance in Colorado Springs following Beard’s death.
The band plans to return to the stage Aug. 22 and 23 with two performances at Austin City Limits in Austin. ZZ Top described the venue as one of Beard’s favorites and Austin as a city that had become something of a second home to him. The current The Big One! tour is then scheduled to continue with dates in the United States and abroad.
Beard Helped Create ZZ Top’s Classic Lineup
Beard joined ZZ Top during the band’s formative period in 1969, shortly after Gibbons started the group. He already knew Dusty Hill from the Texas music scene. The two had played together in bands including American Blues before becoming part of the lineup that would make ZZ Top famous.
Gibbons, Beard and Hill began performing together in 1970 and remained intact for more than half a century, an exceptionally long run for the core lineup of a major rock band.
Beard’s drumming was central to the combination of blues, boogie and hard rock that powered recordings including “La Grange,” “Tush” and “Cheap Sunglasses.” The band’s profile expanded dramatically in the 1980s with Eliminator and its run of MTV staples, including “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs.”
The Associated Press reported that ZZ Top sold more than 50 million records and scored six No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart. The trio was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
At the ceremony, Beard summed up his career with characteristic understatement. “All I have to say is that most of my life has been a pleasant surprise, and so is this,” he said. “Thank you.”
Dusty Hill’s Death Ended a Remarkably Stable Trio
For decades, ZZ Top became almost as recognizable visually as musically. Gibbons and Hill grew the enormous facial hair that became part of the band’s image, while Beard despite his surname was typically the member without the long beard.
Behind the joke was one of rock’s most stable working partnerships. The Gibbons-Beard-Hill lineup lasted until Hill died at 72 in July 2021. Before his death, Hill had indicated that longtime guitar technician Elwood Francis should take his place on bass.
ZZ Top followed that wish and continued touring, with Gibbons, Beard and Francis carrying the band forward. Beard’s death leaves Gibbons as the sole surviving member of the classic trio.
Fellow Drummers Remembered Beard’s Famous Shuffle
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Tributes from fellow musicians quickly focused on the feel of Beard’s playing rather than flash or technical showmanship. Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk recalled seeing ZZ Top during the Eliminator tour when he was still in high school.
“My mind was BLOWN!” Wilk wrote. What stayed with him was watching Beard execute the two-handed shuffle that became such an identifiable part of ZZ Top’s groove. “Watching his two hand shuffle live was immense,” Wilk wrote.
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum also paid tribute, describing Beard as “the backbone of ZZ Top” and praising what he called “the best shuffle known to man.”
Beard Spent 56 Years Behind the Kit for ZZ Top
Beard played on all 15 of ZZ Top’s studio albums during a career that extended from the band’s earliest recordings through its later decades as one of rock’s most durable touring acts.
His life away from the stage included difficult periods he later discussed publicly. Beard struggled with substance abuse during ZZ Top’s early success and eventually became sober during the band’s extended hiatus in the late 1970s. The group’s next phase eventually produced its biggest commercial success, culminating with 1983’s Eliminator.
Beard married Debbie Meredith in 1982. According to PEOPLE, the couple had twin sons, Rory and Nico, and also raised Beard’s daughter from a previous marriage. He is survived by his wife and three children.