ZZ Top’s drummer Frank Beard stepping away from tour due to “health issue”

16 March, 2025

ZZ Top have shared that their drummer, Frank Beard, will be taking time off of their tour to undergo a “health procedure”.

The band issued a statement yesterday (March 14) to say that Beard would “temporarily” be stepping away during the ongoing string of gigs, which kicked off on March 5, “to attend to a health issue requiring his focus in the near term.”

Beard will be replaced by “fellow Texan and longtime tech member, percussionist and drummer” John Douglas, who they say has a “close relationship” with the group and previously filled in when Beard underwent an emergency appendectomy in Paris in 2002.

“He is looking forward to a speedy recovery,” the statement concluded.

Beard has served as ZZ Top’s drummer for over 55 years, after taking over from founding drummer Dan Mitchell who played on the band’s first single ‘Salt Lick’.

Since then, Beard helmed their debut album – the aptly named ‘ZZ Top’s First Album’ – in 1971 through to 2012’s ‘La Futura’, and has co-written songs such as ‘Legs’, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’, ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’’, and ‘Tush’.

The band’s most recent LP was the live album ‘Raw’ in 2022, which followed the death of ZZ Top bassist, Dusty Hill the previous year. ‘Raw’ was an 11-track LP recorded for the trio’s 2019 Netflix documentary, That Little Ol’ Band From Texas.

The Sam Dunn-directed film sees ZZ Top’s original line-up – guitarist Billy Gibbons, Beard and Hill – perform an intimate career-spanning set at the historic Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, Texas.

The show’s setlist included the hits ‘La Grange’, ‘Tush’, and ‘Gimme All Your Lovin”, and deep cuts such as ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Certified Blues’.

In 2021, the band also sold all their publishing rights and back catalogue for an undisclosed fee. The group have sold both to BMG and investment firm KKR. While financial details for the deal were not disclosed, it’s expected to have attracted a multi-million dollar deal with the group having sold over 50 million albums.

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