ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard dies at 77

Frank Beard, the Texas-bred drummer who anchored ZZ Top for more than five decades, has died. He was 77.

The Fort Bend County Medical Examiner confirmed Mr. Beard died Monday after a stay in hospice; a cause of death has not been disclosed. A statement from the band’s representative said he died at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, “with family members at his side.”

Mr. Beard’s health had forced ZZ Top to scrap its Aug. 5 concert at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this month. Frontman Billy Gibbons wrote on social media at the time that “insurmountable obstacles require canceling” the show, though the band did not disclose Mr. Beard’s condition. Drummer Michael Monahan filled in for him at subsequent tour stops, including a show in Saratoga, California, days before his death was announced.

ZZ Top canceled tour stops in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, according to Rolling Stone, and said it would resume the Big One Tour Aug. 22-23 at ACL Live at The Moody Theater in Austin — a venue the band called one of Mr. Beard’s favorites in a city that had been something of a second home for him.

Mr. Beard’s death leaves Mr. Gibbons, the singer-guitarist who founded ZZ Top, as the only surviving member of the band’s classic lineup. Bassist Dusty Hill died in 2021.

Mr. Beard, born June 11, 1949, in Frankston, Texas, had already played alongside Mr. Hill in several Dallas-area outfits — including American Blues, the Warlocks and the Cellar Dwellers — before Mr. Gibbons brought them both into ZZ Top shortly after its 1969 formation. Mr. Gibbons had originally formed the band with drummer Dan Mitchell following the breakup of his earlier group, the Moving Sidewalks.

In the 2019 documentary “ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas,” Mr. Beard recalled making Mr. Gibbons rehearse with him for eight hours the first time they played together, joking that he was “jacked up on speed” that day. Mr. Gibbons has said of that session that Mr. Beard “played fiercely” and “with determination.”

Mr. Beard was credited as “Rube Beard” on the band’s self-titled 1971 debut and its 1973 album “Tres Hombres,” though he had been part of the lineup from the start. He went on to play on all 15 of ZZ Top’s studio albums, providing the backbone for hits including “La Grange,” “Tush,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs.”

The trio’s mid-1980s albums “Eliminator” and “Afterburner” turned ZZ Top into an unlikely MTV staple, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Notably, Mr. Beard was the one member of the bearded, sunglasses-clad trio who didn’t grow out his facial hair, sporting a mustache and curls instead throughout most of his career.

Mr. Hill’s death in 2021 left Mr. Gibbons and Mr. Beard to carry on with longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis stepping in on bass. With Mr. Beard’s passing, Mr. Gibbons now stands as the sole remaining member of the band’s classic lineup.