Beard traveled the world, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and claimed a Guinness World Record with the beloved rock band.

Frank Beard, ZZ Top drummer for more than 50 years, dies at 77

Beard traveled the world, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and claimed a Guinness World Record with the beloved rock band.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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August 18, 2026 4:05 p.m. ET

Frank Beard in New York in 2012. Credit:

Matthew Eisman/WireImage

- Frank Beard, the longtime drummer for the rock band ZZ Top, has died at 77.

- Beard died in hospice care while surrounded by family at his Richmond, Tex., ranch, according to a representative for ZZ Top.

- The beloved musician joined the band three years after it formed as the Moving Sidewalks in 1966, drumming on every major release and entering the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Frank Beard, the longtime drummer for the iconic American rock band ZZ Top, has died at 77.

Beard died Monday in hospice care while surrounded by family at his Richmond, Tex., ranch, the band’s representative Bob Merli confirmed to **. A prolonged period of illness had recently forced Beard to step back from several ZZ Top shows.

Due to Beard’s passing, ZZ Top tour dates with special guest Cheap Trick scheduled for Tuesday in Salt Lake City and Wednesday in Colorado Springs have been canceled. The band will resume its tour this weekend with at Austin City Limits, described in Merlis’ statement as a “second home” to Beard.

Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard in Los Angeles in 2009.

John Shearer/WireImage

“Today, [ZZ Top guitar tech and bassist Elwood Francis] 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,” band founder Billy Gibbons said in a statement released Monday. “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.”

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Born in Frankston, Tex., on June 11, 1949, Beard got his start making rock music before he was even old enough to drink. He drummed for a number of bands before getting the call from ZZ Top’s own head beard in charge — the notably hirsute vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons.

Beard played with an unauthorized Zombies mimic band, and later joined the Cellar Dwellers, the Hustlers, the Warlocks, and the American Blues — the band that he was poached from to join ZZ Top.

Gibbons originally formed ZZ Top as a band called Moving Sidewalks in 1966 with keyboardist Tom Moore and bassist Don Summers. Several lineup rotations and a name change later, the band landed on the winning combination of Gibbons, Beard, and bassist Dusty Hill, whom Beard played with in the American Blues. The trio formed the core of the band, and would remain its only consistent members for the next five decades.

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It took the band three albums to make an impact, but fortunately, they were quick. ZZ Top released their debut, *ZZ Top’s First Album*, in 1971; their sophomore effort, *Rio Grande Mud*, in 1972; and *Tres Hombres *in 1973. That album reached the eighth spot on the *Billboard* 200 charts the following year. Though it failed to chart, lead single “La Grange” contained one of the band’s most enduringly popular guitar riffs.

1975’s “Tush” became their first song to crack the top 20, and they’d reach peak hitmaking form once they hit the ’80s. Songs like “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Legs,” and “Sleeping Bag,” all powered by Beard’s thumping drums, turned the band into fan favorites and commercial darlings.

Frank Beard performing in Salina, Kansas in 2025.

Gary Miller/Getty

Beard went on to travel the world with ZZ Top, sell more than 50 million albums worldwide, join his fellow bandmates in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, and become in 2018 the Guinness world record as the longest-running band with no lineup changes.

Still, the drummer faced challenges, battling a serious drug addiction for years that even led to a three-year hiatus from the group. He was married to Catherine Alexander from 1978 to 1981, then married Debbie Meredith in 1982. They had three children together.

Beard’s death follows Hill’s death at 72 in 2021. Hill and Beard’s history predated their joining ZZ Top. The pair played drums and bass for the band the Outlaws before that act split apart and they went their separate ways. They reunited in the American Blues and then again in ZZ Top, remaining close friends and bandmates for the better part of both their lifetimes.

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