ZZ Top legend dies at 77

Frank Beard, the longtime drummer for ZZ Top and a member of the legendary Texas rock band for more than five decades, has died at the age of 77.

Beard was in hospice care at the time of his death and passed away at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, with family members by his side.

Beard joined guitarist Billy Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill in ZZ Top in 1969, beginning one of the longest-running lineups in rock history. The trio remained intact until Hill’s death in 2021. Elwood Francis subsequently joined Gibbons and Beard, with ZZ Top continuing to tour throughout North America, Europe and South America.

Beard played a pivotal role in bringing ZZ Top’s classic lineup together. In late 1969, Gibbons was searching for a rhythm section when Beard suggested auditioning Hill. Beard and Hill had previously played together in the Dallas-based American Blues, as well as The Warlocks, Hustlers and Cellar Dwellers.

The three musicians met at Gibbons’ Houston home and jammed for approximately three hours.

“It was a blues in D, a shuffle,” recalls Gibbons, “and we just didn’t want to stop . . . and we didn’t for the next five or six decades.”

ZZ Top played its first show for a paying audience at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Beaumont, Texas, on February 10, 1970. The band went on to become one of the most successful American rock groups of its era, earning 11 gold albums, seven of which were certified platinum. The band’s 1983 album Eliminator achieved Diamond certification for sales of more than 10 million copies.

Frank Lee Beard was born June 11, 1949, in Frankston, Texas, and grew up in Irving, Texas, where he attended Irving High School. Inspired initially by The Beatles and later by blues music, Beard began playing drums as a teenager and eventually met Hill.

“When I was about fifteen I started to play [drums] and then I discovered all the blues joints in Dallas where you could hear a lot of great players like Freddie King,” Beard told Rock’s Backpages.

Beard and Hill also backed Texas blues musician Lightnin’ Hopkins at folk venues during their early years, further establishing Beard’s connection to the blues that would remain a central part of ZZ Top’s sound.

Beard struggled with addiction and substance abuse during the early part of his professional career. Following ZZ Top’s extended hiatus in the 1970s, he returned to the band sober. Beard married Debbie Meredith in 1982, and the couple had twin sons, Rory and Nico, in 1985.

Following Beard’s death, Gibbons reflected on his longtime bandmate’s contributions to ZZ Top.

“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. The band of which he was part for six decades is going to keep on keeping on as he had wished.”

Despite his last name, Beard was the one member of ZZ Top’s classic lineup who typically did not sport the long facial hair that became synonymous with Gibbons and Hill. Gibbons once joked, “Frank’s beard is on his driver’s license.”

Beard also had a characteristically understated explanation for the longevity of ZZ Top’s classic three-man lineup.

“First and foremost, I guess it’s because there’s only three of us, so there’s only two other guys to argue with,” Beard told Kerrang! journalist Sylvie Simmons.

His drumming became an essential element of a ZZ Top sound that remained immediately recognizable even as the band incorporated blues, rock, country, soul and electronic elements over the decades.

“If we played a soul song or a country song, whatever song we played, it would sound like ZZ Top. We’ve tried playing songs that don’t sound like ZZ Top,” Beard said.

During the 1980s, ZZ Top reached a new level of mainstream popularity through a series of music videos that became staples of MTV. Beard said those videos reflected the personalities and interests of the musicians behind the band.

“I always thought that the videos gave the public a glimpse into ZZ Top, a true insight into what the band was about: which is just three guys that have very guy interests — we like cars, we like girls and we like music.”

Beard spent more than 50 years behind the drum kit for ZZ Top, providing the steady backbeat behind a catalog that helped establish the band as one of the defining acts in blues rock and American rock and roll.