Frank Beard, drummer for ZZ Top who played with the band for more than 50 years, has died. A representative confirmed that Beard died in hospice care in Richmond, Texas, surrounded by family members. The exact cause of death has not been disclosed. He was 77.
"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," Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top said in a statement. "His distinctive pulse was key to keeping ZZ at the top".
Born Frank Lee Beard in 1949 in Frankston, Texas, Beard learned to play drums as a teenager. He met future ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill in Dallas, and both began performing with blues and country singer Lightnin' Hopkins in folk venues. In 1969, Beard joined ZZ Top shortly after the group was formed, and he quickly suggested to Gibbons that Hill also join. The trio played their first concert in 1970 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Beaumont, Texas. They went on to record 11 gold albums, blending blues, boogie and rock. Their most commercially successful release, 1983's Eliminator, sold more than 10 million copies.
Beard's mastery of the Texas shuffle was the foundation of ZZ Top hits such as "La Grange" and "Tush". In 1976, Beard took a three-year break from the band due to substance abuse problems, but returned for Degüello in 1979. "In the back of my mind I knew I needed to leave the heroin, I needed to stop using cocaine," he said in the 2019 documentary ZZ Top: That Little Ol' Band From Texas, adding "I attended a 12-step program; I just wanted to recover". ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and Beard continued performing with the group even as his health deteriorated in recent years.
ZZ Top is currently in the middle of a tour of the United States but has cancelled upcoming concerts in Salt Lake City (18 August) and Colorado Springs (19 August). They will resume the tour with two dates at Austin City Limits in October, which Gibbons called "one of Frank's favourite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home to him".
