Frank Beard

Who is Frank Beard?

Frank Lee Beard is the drummer in the American rock band ZZ Top. Beard was formerly with the bands The Cellar Dwellars, who originally were a three-piece band, The Hustlers, The Warlocks, and American Blues before starting to play and record with Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill as ZZ Top.

Beard was born in Frankston, Texas and attended Irving High School in Irving, Texas. In late 1969, he joined The Moving Sidewalks guitarist and vocalist Gibbons' ZZ Top. Beard also introduced Gibbons to bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill, with whom Beard had played in the bands American Blues, the Warlocks, and the Cellar Dwellers. After honing their trademark "Texas boogie-blues-rock" style, they released their aptly titled "ZZ Top's First Album" on London Records in January, 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, their second album. After Tres Hombres, he was credited as "Frank Beard" on all the band's albums.

Despite his name, Beard is the only member of ZZ Top who does not wear a beard. He wears only a mustache, although he did go through a phase in the 1990s where he wore a tidy beard.