ZZ Top Drummer Frank Beard Steps Away From Tour: Health Issue

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ZZ Top’s Frank Beard on drums, with Elwood Francis and Billy F Gibbons, Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, Sarasota, Fla., March 13 2025.

ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard has stepped away from the band’s current tour to attend to a health issue requiring his focus in the near term. The announcement was made today (March 15, 2025). Beard, along with fellow ZZ Top members Billy F Gibbons and Elwood Francis, have been on the Elevation tour since March 5. They have engaged fellow Texan and longtime tech member, percussionist and drummer, John Douglas, for the interim. Beard’s most recent performance was March 13 in Sarasota, Fla. He missed Friday night’s concert in St. Augustine, Fla., with Douglas sitting in. Watch them perform “Sharp Dressed Man” that evening at The Amp.

Douglas has maintained a close relationship with Beard and the band, having served with the group in the past. He actually filled in when Beard underwent an emergency appendectomy in Paris, back in 2002. Beard turned 75 on June 11, 2024.

Watch Beard perform with the band on March 13, 2025

The announcement noted that Beard is looking forward to a speedy recovery. ZZ Top’s next date is scheduled for March 18 in Hiawassee, Ga. Their U.S. tour continues through April 12. After a two-week break, they begin a 12-date tour of Australia and New Zealand. That will be followed by an extensive run of dates through Canada and the U.S. from June 1 to late August.

Tickets for their tour are available here and here. The band’s recordings are available here.