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ZZ Top’s drummer Frank Beard stepping away from tour due to “health issue”
ZZ Top have shared that their drummer, Frank Beard, will be taking time off of their tour to undergo a “health procedure”.The band issued a statement yesterday (March 14) to say that Beard would “temporarily” be stepping away during the ongoing string of gigs, which kicked off on March 5, “to attend to a health issue requiring his focus in the near term.”Beard will be replaced by “fellow Texan and longtime tech member, percussionist and drummer” John Douglas, who they say has a “close relationship” with the group and previously filled in when Beard underwent an emergency appendectomy in Paris in 2002.“He is looking forward to a speedy recovery,” the statement concluded.A post shared by ZZ Top (@zztop)Beard has served as ZZ Top’s drummer for over 55 years, after taking over from founding drummer Dan Mitchell who played on the band’s first single ‘Salt Lick’.Since then, Beard helmed their debut album – the aptly named ‘ZZ Top’s First Album’ – in 1971 through to 2012’s ‘La Futura’, and has co-written songs such as ‘Legs’, ‘Sharp Dressed Man’, ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’’, and ‘Tush’.The band’s most recent LP was the live album ‘Raw’ in 2022, which followed the death of ZZ Top bassist, Dusty Hill the previous year.