ZZ TOP Drummer FRANK BEARD Is Facing 'Health Issues'

According to Rolling Stone, health issues facing ZZ TOP's longtime drummer Frank Beard led to the cancelation of the band's Hollywood Bowl concert last week.

A ZZ TOP spokesperson told Rolling Stone said that guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons and bassist Elwood Francis will continue to play shows with drummer Michael Monahan filling in for Beard.

When ZZ TOP scrapped the Hollywood Bowl gig, Gibbons said in a statement: "Insurmountable obstacles require canceling our Hollywood Bowl performance. Friends, fans and followers of ZZ TOP are the best in the business and the band is counting on everyone to bear with us for this brief interruption."

Nearly a year and a half ago, Beard "temporarily stepped away" from ZZ TOP's tour due to an unspecified "health issue". Fellow Texan and longtime tech member, percussionist and drummer John Douglas filled in for Beard, a position John previously held back in 2002 when Frank underwent an emergency appendectomy.

Beard has been a member of ZZ TOP for over 55 years, having played on all of the band's albums, starting with "ZZ Top's First Album" in 1971.

When ZZ TOP started, Beard was known by the nickname "Rube" and was credited as "Rube Beard" on the first album and on "Tres Hombres", the band's third album, but is listed under his real name on "Rio Grande Mud", ZZ TOP's second album. After "Tres Hombres", he was credited as "Frank Beard" on all the band's albums. Ironically, Beard is the only member of ZZ TOP who does not have a beard, usually wearing only a mustache (though he went through a phase in the 1990s with a tidy beard).

Frank resides in Richmond, Texas, where he owns and operates the Top 40 Ranch. He is a scratch golfer, renowned locally for participation in tournaments and community events.

ZZ TOP's longtime bassist Dusty Hill died in July 2021 at age 72.

ZZ TOP was founded by Gibbons in 1969, and both Hill and Beard signed on in 1970.