18 August 2026

RIP Frank Beard - Drummer for ZZ Top

Frank Beard. 11 June 1949 to 17 August 2026

The Feral Irishman brings us bad news. R.I.P. Frank Beard

Click thru for one video that contains the songs "La Grange" from the 1973 album Tres Hombres, "Gimme All Your Lovin'" from the 1983 album Eliminator, "Sharp Dressed Man," also from Eliminator, "Tush" from Fandango (1975), and "Legs" from Eliminator. And a couple of great photos.

Rolling Stone, which I have mostly abandoned in recent years, has Frank Beard, ZZ Top’s Hard-Shuffling Drummer, Dead at 77

The tireless drummer anchored the Texas band on hits like “La Grange,” “Tush,” and “Cheap Sunglasses” during its five-decade run

And an interesting headline from Newsweek (by way of MSN). Frank Beard had the most ironic name in rock. Now ZZ Top's drummer is gone.

Frank Beard, the ZZ Top drummer whose name became one of rock’s enduring ironies as the band’s only member usually without a beard, has died at 77.

4 comments:

  1. I was saddened to hear about Frank Beard, although I hardly knew his name and couldn't have picked him out in a lineup. Billy Gibbons is now the only survivor of the original ZZ Top. I gotta wonder if he'll put together some studio musicians like the early Steely Dan, who barely toured in those days, or hang it up. Dang, I feel old.

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    Replies
    1. Growing old is better than the alternative. (We missed our chance to die young and leave a good-looking corpse)

      My dad used to say that people claim they don't want to live to be 90, but none of the are 89.

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    2. And Billy Gibbons is touring this summer. He isn't using the ZZ Top name, and I have no idea what kind of sets he is performing, but he has a fairly aggressive tour schedule.

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  2. Thanks for the heads-up on that. "Billy F Gibbons with the BFG band" I guess that gives him lots of leeway for picking other musicians whose initials aren't B, F, or G. Or a totally different name.

    ReplyDelete

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