ZZ Top’s Frank Beard Stepping Away From Tour Due to ‘Health Issue’

“He is looking forward to a speedy recovery,” band says of drummer’s unspecified procedure

ZZ Top have announced that longtime drummer Frank Beard has “temporarily stepped away” from the band’s current tour due to health issues.

According to the band’s management, Beard’s unspecified health procedure requires “his focus in the near term.” “He is looking forward to a speedy recovery,” they added.

The Rock Hall-inducted ZZ Top — Beard, guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons and bassist Elwood Francis, who replaced the late Dusty Hill in 2021 — embarked on their Elevation Tour earlier this month; they’re next scheduled to perform March 18 in Hiawassee, Georgia. The North American tour itself run through August 23.

The band will continue on with their remaining shows with their longtime drum tech John Douglas filling in for Beard; Douglas has been with the band’s live crew for at least over 20 years, as he previously subbed in for Beard when the drummer underwent an emergency appendectomy in 2002.

While not the band’s founding drummer — that title goes to Dan Mitchell, who played in Gibbons’ previous band Moving Sidewalks and drummed on ZZ Top’s first single “Salt Lick” — Beard has served as ZZ Top’s drummer for over 55 years, from ZZ Top’s First Album in 1971 through 2012’s La Futura, and has co-written hits like “Legs,” “Sharp Dressed Man,” “Gimme All Your Lovin’,” and “Tush.”

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