Rock legend dead at 77 weeks after leaving tour: ‘A great true son of Texas’

Life & CultureUpdated: Aug. 18, 2026, 1:28 p.m.Published: Aug. 18, 2026, 1:27 p.m.Frank Beard of ZZ Top, here at the 2023 Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California, has died at 77. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Stagecoach/TNS, file)TNSBy Brian Linder | blinder@pennlive.comFrank Beard, the drummer for ZZ Top for more than five decades, has died.He was 77. Entertainment Weekly reported that Beard died on Monday in hospice. The site said he was surrounded by family. “Today, (ZZ Top guitar tech and bassist Elwood Francis) and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great true son of Texas,” ZZ Top founder Billy Gibbons said. “His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top. The band of which he was part for six decad