ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard dies aged 77

ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard has died at the age of 77. The band’s longtime members Billy Gibbons and the late Dusty Hill, who passed in 2021, were joined in recent years by bassist Elwood Francis following Hill’s death. Gibbons offered this statement: “Today, Elwood and I mislaid a large person and collaborator, and the satellite mislaid 1 of the astir people innovative drummers and a large and existent lad of Texas,” Gibbons said. He added: “His signature backbeat was cardinal to keeping ZZ connected top. The set of which helium was portion for six decades is going to support connected keeping connected as helium had wished,” he said. ZZ Top, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, has continued to tour across North America, Europe and South America. Shows scheduled for Monday in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Wednesday in Colorado Springs, Colorado, were canceled after Beard’s passing. The group said it intends to resume its ongoing The Big One! Tour this weekend, with two performances at Austin City Limits—a venue Beard cited as a favorite and described as “a second home” for him.