Frank Beard, the longtime drummer for legendary rock band ZZ Top, has died ... TMZ has learned.
According to the Fort Bend County Medical Examiner Frank passed away on August 17 at his Texas ranch with family by his side after a stay in hospice. A cause of death has not been disclosed at this time.
ZZ Top founder Billy F. Gibbons released a statement on his passing saying, “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. 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.”
As TMZ previously reported ... Frank's health forced ZZ Top to cancel its August 5 concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
Frank Beard -- the longtime drummer of the rock band ZZ Top -- is dealing with serious health issues ... and it's so bad it's affecting their tour ... TMZ has learned.
The health update comes just days after ZZ Top cancelled their August 5 show at the Hollywood Bowl.
Sources tell TMZ ... Frank's health was the reason behind the cancellation.
At the time, frontman Billy Gibbons said on social media ... "Insurmountable obstacles require canceling our Hollywood Bowl performance."
ZZ Top's frontman Billy Gibbons was thrilled when he heard Dusty Hill's estate was going up for sale ... until he learned his family had nothing to do with it.
We got Billy at LAX, and he says he had some cool finds he was hoping to contribute to this weekend's estate sale, but was turned off once he found out there's a random person -- with deep pockets -- behind the event.
Billy tells us an anonymous buyer snatched up Dusty's house after he died last July ... and they went through the place, taking any cool memorabilia they could find and turning it into this weekend's big sale.
He finds the whole thing a major bummer ... he was excited to contribute his personal stuff to the estate of his comrade-in-awesome-beards -- hoping true ZZ Top fans would be interested -- but now he thinks folks should steer clear.
As for what's actually up for sale -- his guess is it's not exactly Rock and Roll Hall of Fame quality items.
The sale went on all weekend in Houston ... offering Dusty's old furniture, framed posters, artwork and other items from his former home.
Here's the last time ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill performed with the band before his death ... and you can tell something's just not right with him.
TMZ obtained this video from ZZ Top's last concert with Dusty -- July 18 at the Iroquois Amphitheater in Louisville, KY -- and he's clearly having a tough time performing in what would ultimately be his final gig.
As you can see, Dusty is playing bass as he sits down on a large speaker ... and we're told he was sitting like this for the entire show and had to be helped off the stage because he couldn't walk on his own.
A few days after this video, ZZ Top announced Dusty was heading back to Texas due to a hip issue.
A source close to Dusty tells TMZ ... things had gotten so bad recently, he had to stop touring because of a hip injury, so he went home early to recover, and that's when he died.
TMZ broke the story ... Dusty died in his sleep this week at his Texas home at the age of 72.
Though Dusty wasn't supposed to play ... the band has canceled its show that was scheduled for Wednesday night in Simpsonville, SC.
ZZ Top's longtime bassist, Dusty Hill, has died ... TMZ has learned.
Dusty passed away at his home in Houston, TX -- this according to his bandmates, Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard.
They write, "We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX. We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the 'Top'. We will forever be connected to that "Blues Shuffle in C." The boys add, "You will be missed greatly, amigo."
Unclear if Dusty's death is in any way related to another health scare he recently suffered -- namely, a hip injury that the band said he had to address in the past week or so, forcing him to bow out of a string of shows across the U.S. with his bandmates.
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ZZT addressed the setback on Facebook not too long ago, writing ... "The members of ZZ Top, Billy, and Frank, would like to share that Dusty, their fearless Bass player, is on a short detour back to Texas, to address a hip issue. They await a speedy recovery and have him back pronto." They replaced Dusty with Elwood Francis ... who's been playing in his stead.
The group has yet to speak on Dusty's passing. They have a show scheduled for Wednesday night in Simpsonville, SC -- but something tells us that'll be canceled in light of this tragic news.
Dusty is one of the original founding members of ZZ Top -- serving as their lead bass player and secondary lead vocalist since they launched the rock band in 1969. He's also one half of the two famous bearded, sunglass-wearing men who help make up the trio ... with Billy obviously being the other.
They initially started as a blues-y act, but they eventually adopted a traditional rock sound ... which they stuck with and helped them launch into the mainstream in the '70s and well into the '80s as well. ZZ Top has churned out a whopping 15 albums over their storied career ... and are well-decorated for it, too -- serving as pillars of the genre for decades.
On top of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ZZ Top has been honored and recognized by different music organizations, especially in their home state of Texas. They've had wild success commercially too ... with several of their records having gone gold, platinum, multi-platinum and even one diamond offering in 1983's iconic "Eliminator."
That one produced perhaps their biggest hit to date, "Gimme All Your Lovin'," as well as others like "Sharp Dressed Man," "Legs," "Got Me Under Pressure" and more.
Despite not having made a new album since 2012, ZZ Top -- including Dusty himself, who's taken to the stage countless times over the years -- has continued to tour and entertain audiences around the world.
We last talked to Dusty and Billy on 'TMZ Live' back in 2019, when they were fresh off of a press run promoting a documentary covering their lives and careers. Ever the humorists, the fellas were cracking jokes about what they had (or hadn't, rather) seen just yet as far as cuts.
Dusty's finals words in our clip are quite timely right now -- he told us he'd "lived it" as far as what the doc covered, so seeing an early version didn't make much of a difference for them.
A ZZ Top tribute band, called ZZ3, took the stage at the Full Throttle Saloon and filled the room with Texas blues-rock. The rally, which will draw an estimated 250,000 people, always draws big-named performers, so it's no surprise hundreds of folks showed up.
Willie Nelson and Lynyrd Skynard were also scheduled to perform at the 9-day event but canceled because of the pandemic. Other artists who performed Saturday include Molly Hatchet and the Guess Who ... Night Ranger, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, .38 Special, Quiet Riot, Smash Mouth and others are expected to perform in the coming days.
The bar was packed and there was almost no social distancing, and lots of medical folks are worried this will become a super-spreading event. That clearly was not on the minds of the saloon audience.
The people who live in this tiny town are in a pickle because a rally like this is clearly dangerous during a pandemic. That said, the annual rally rakes in $800 mil for residents in the area, and economic survival is top of mind. Nevertheless, masks and some social distancing would be nice ... especially for unsuspecting people who later encounter riders who contracted COVID.
Just when you thought they couldn't get any hairier ... ZZ Top's Dusty Hill switched things up in the band by playing a new instrument, but keeping the band's signature look.
Dusty, who's still rehabbing a dislocated shoulder, had to trade his bass guitar for a keyboard during their summer tour and since ZZ Top's hardly the grand piano types -- he enlisted Jimmy Shine's Workshop to build 2 badass custom rigs.
Jimmy says he fitted hand-polished chrome tubes and trucker-style chrome exhaust guards to hide wires and mount LED lights ... then welded the gear to the keyboard.
For the second one, he attached white Nordic Alpaca fur to match the fuzzy guitars the band played in the video "Legs." Total cost for the hairy nostalgia -- just under $15k.
