Frank Beard, the founding drummer who kept ZZ Top's boogie-rock engine running for more than five decades, died at age 77 at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, ending one of the longest unbroken partnerships in rock history.
Beard died while in hospice care with family members at his side, the Fort Bend County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed to Fox News Digital. His publicist separately confirmed the death to The Associated Press. Circumstances surrounding his death were not immediately available.
The drummer had been battling serious health issues for more than a year. In March 2025, ZZ Top's management at Shelter Music Group announced Beard had "temporarily stepped away from the current tour to attend a health issue requiring his focus in the near term." AP News reported the initial problem involved foot and ankle trouble. His condition worsened in the weeks before his death, and the band canceled an August 5 concert at the Hollywood Bowl along with upcoming dates in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs.
Frontman Billy F. Gibbons posted a tribute on Instagram shortly after the news broke. His words captured the weight of a partnership that stretched back to 1969:
"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 added, per Breitbart, that "the band of which he was part for six decades is going to keep on keeping on as he had wished." ZZ Top announced its current Big One! Tour would resume with two dates at Austin City Limits, a venue the band called "one of Frank's favorite" in a city that "had been something of a second home for him."
Drummer Michael Monahan had already been filling in for Beard at recent performances during his absence from the tour.
Beard, Gibbons, and bassist Dusty Hill formed ZZ Top in Houston in 1969. The trio never swapped a member, a feat almost unheard of in rock music. Together they sold more than 50 million records, landed six singles at No. 1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, and placed seven albums in the Billboard 200's Top 10. The band earned three Grammy Award nominations along the way.
For all ZZ Top's visual flash, the long beards, the hot rods, the MTV-era spectacle, Beard was the quiet backbone. He was, ironically, the only member of the famously bearded band who kept a clean-shaven face for most of his career. But his playing was anything but understated. Gibbons called his drumming "naturally innovative," and the tight, no-frills grooves Beard laid down on tracks like "La Grange," "Tush," and "Sharp Dressed Man" became as recognizable as the guitar riffs riding on top of them.
In the 2019 documentary "ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band from Texas," Beard reflected on what the partnership meant to him:
"I've found the people I was meant to play with. I never wanted to quit, and never wanted to get fired."
He got his wish. He never quit, and he was never replaced.
Beard spent his final days at his ranch in Richmond, a small city southwest of Houston in Fort Bend County. Just The News reported he was surrounded by family when he passed. No cause of death has been disclosed, and the band has not elaborated on the specific health issues that forced him into hospice care.
The cancellation of the Hollywood Bowl date on August 5 signaled the severity of Beard's condition. Two more scheduled stops, Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, were also scrapped. But the band made clear it would not stop. The Big One! Tour is set to pick back up at Austin City Limits, honoring what Gibbons described as Beard's own desire for the music to continue.
Seventy-seven years old, more than fifty years with the same two bandmates, and a seat behind the kit until his body wouldn't let him take it anymore. Frank Beard didn't need a long beard or a flashy persona. He just played, and that was enough.
