ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard dies aged 77

Longtime ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard has died aged 77, the band said.

A statement on the blues-rock band's website said he died on Monday in hospice care at his ranch in Richmond, Texas, with family members at his side. His cause of death was not specified.

Beard's passing "necessitates the cancellation" of the band's tour dates this week in Utah and Colorado, the statement said.

ZZ Top was founded in 1969 and played their first live concert the following year. Together they released 15 studio and four live albums, with hit singles like Gimme All Your Lovin', Sleeping Bag, and Viva Las Vegas.

Members of the group have included founder and lead vocalist Billy Gibbons and the late Dusty Hill. When Hill died in 2021, the group carried on performing with Elwood Francis as its bassist.

"Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas," Gibbons said.

"His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top. The band of which he was part for six decades is going to keep on keeping on as he had wished," he said.

ZZ Top, which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, has continued touring throughout North America, Europe and South America.

Shows the group called off after Beard's death had been scheduled in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday and in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Wednesday.

The group said it plans to resume its current The Big One! Tour over the weekend, with two dates at Austin City Limits, which the band said was one of Beard's favourite venues in "a city that had been something of a second home for him".

Beard joined the group after ZZ Top released its first single Salt Lick and later brought on Hill as its bassist, according to Rolling Stone.

Serving as the band's rhythmic force on drums, he anchored hits such as La Grange, Tush and Cheap Sunglasses, Rolling Stone said.

He became known as The Man With No Beard - despite his surname - because he was the only member of the Houston ensemble who didn't sport the lengthy facial hair the band became known for, the band has said.

The group's famous 1984 album Eliminator featured the hits Gimme All Your Lovin, Sharp Dressed Man and Legs. It sold more than 10m copies, was certified diamond, by The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1996. The album also earned a Grammy Award nomination.

In 1987, the group received another Grammy nod from the Recording Academy for their Afterburner album. In 2021, the group was also nominated for best music film for Sam Dunn's documentary That Little Ol' Band From Texas.