Frank Beard

Frank Lee Beard (June 11, 1949 – August 17, 2026) was an American musician who was the longtime drummer of the rock band ZZ Top. He and bassist Dusty Hill performed with American Blues before the two joined guitarist Billy Gibbons on ZZ Top. As a teenager, he met Dusty Hill when their bands played the same show at a Fort Worth club, and Hill later asked him to join the Warlocks. Other bands Beard and Hill played with early in their careers included the Cellar Dwellers, the Hustlers, the Warlocks, and American Blues.

When ZZ Top's first drummer, Dan Mitchell, left the band in 1969, he was replaced by Beard. Beard introduced Billy Gibbons, the founder of the Moving Sidewalks, to Hill. After honing their trademark "Texas boogie-blues-rock" style, with the assistance of manager Bill Ham and engineer Robin Hood Brians, the three released ZZ Top's First Album on London Records in January 1971. The music and songs reflected ZZ Top's blues influences. Following their debut album, the band released Rio Grande Mud (1972), which produced their first charting single, "Francine".

Beard (background) was the only member of ZZ Top who did not sport a long beard. Beard was initially credited under the nickname Rube Beard on ZZ Top's First Album and on Tres Hombres, but was credited under his actual name on Rio Grande Mud and on every ZZ Top album from 1975's Fandango! While Gibbons and Hill sported their trademark beards, He became known as "The Man With No Beard".

On 1973's Tres Hombres, the band developed its heavy blues style and amplified its roots in Texas music. In 2026, Billboard said, "ZZ Top became national rock stars in the mid-'70s with the release of Tres Hombres, with Beard's explosive-but-swinging drumming playing a huge part in the band's sonic identity." The 1976 album, Tejas, was certified gold, with sales in excess of 500,000. They returned with Degüello, The album also included the concert staple “Cheap Sunglasses". The album became a critical and commercial success, reaching No. 9 in the U.S. Billboard pop charts, the only ZZ Top album to be certified diamond by the RIAA for selling over 10 million copies. Engineer Terry Manning later revealed that Beard's substance abuse so badly affected his performance the drummer was eventually dismissed from the sessions. Manning handled nearly all the percussion for Eliminator, mainly by programming various drum machines, with occasional use of samples from real drums recorded live in the studio.

Despite selling fewer copies than Eliminator, Afterburner (1985) became ZZ Top's highest-charting album, reaching No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard chart, with sales of five million copies.

Beard appears with ZZ Top in a cameo in the movie Back to the Future Part III, in which they perform an acoustic version of their Recycler song "Doubleback" alongside a fiddle band. In 2004, ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

After achieving success with ZZ Top in the late 1970s, Beard spent large sums of money on drugs, including LSD, cocaine, and heroin. He later regretted the spending and said it damaged his relationships. He joined a rehabilitation program. He recalled: "I just wanted to get sober. I wanted to be like people I admired who could sit home and watch TV and go to bed and that was okay [for them]."

In the early 1990s, Beard entered sports car racing, competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring. Jeremy Clarkson claimed that Beard once said he had a Ferrari because that way "I can leave for the party later, get there first, stay longer and still be in bed with someone before anyone else."

Beard missed some shows for an emergency appendectomy in 2002. In March 2025, he temporarily left the Elevation tour due to illness, then returned, and performed until the end of 2025.

ZZ Top cancelled its August 5, 2026 show at Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, reportedly due to Beard's health. A specific cause of death was not publicly disclosed. Gibbons called Beard "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". Beard was the second member of the classic ZZ Top lineup to die, following bassist Dusty Hill in 2021. Gibbons, the sole surviving original member, continued touring with bassist Elwood Francis and drummer Michael Monahan.