ZZ Top’s Frank Beard to take break from group due to health issue
ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard has announced he will be absent from the group’s upcoming tour plans due to a health issue.
The band announced the news on March 15th, confirming Beard would be missing from the group’s Elevation tour while also confirming that Beard needs to undergo an unspecified health procedure.
A social media post from ZZ Top read: “Shelter Music Group, ZZ Top’s management, has announced the band’s drummer, Mr. Frank Beard, has temporarily stepped away from the current tour to attend a health issue requiring his focus in the near term.”
The statement continued: “Beard, along with fellow ZZ Top members Billy F Gibbons and Elwood Francis, presently on the Elevation tour since March 5, have engaged fellow Texan and longtime tech member, percussionist and drummer, John Douglas, for the interim.”
John Douglas has been recruited for short-term purposes before, sitting in for Beard during a Paris performance in October 2002 when he underwent an emergency appendectomy.
The band began their Elevation tour in October last year and toured across the US until November. It then resumed on March 5th for its Australia and New Zealand leg, which is scheduled to take place until April. Upon their return, further US dates will be scheduled; however, it is unknown whether Beard will be present for those shows.
Beard has been part of ZZ Top since 1969 after replacing the band’s founder, Dan Mitchell, on the drums. At that point, Beard was joining the original line up of Mitchell, Billy Gibbons and Lanier Greig. Despite several changes on bass, the line-up for the band has remained unchanged for 51 years, with the band making an effort to play live regularly throughout that time.
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