Boston Fans?

[catesta]

One of my all time favorite rock bands. I've got a lot of great memories associated with their music which sounds as fresh to me today as it did back in 76.

R.I.P, Brad.

Boston Vocalist Brad Delp Found Dead

March 10, 2007, 12:00 PM CT

Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Boston vocalist Brad Delp, who sang on classic rock staples like "More Than a Feeling," "Don't Look Back" and "Long Time," was found dead at his southern New Hampshire home yesterday (March 9), according to local police. He was 55. The artist was home alone at the time and there was no indication of foul play.

Delp powerful, high-register singing was an integral part of Boston's ascent to rock superstardom in the mid- and late 1970s. The group's self-titled 1976 album is often credited as the top selling debut in American history with 17 million copies; the 1978 follow-up, "Don't Look Back," shifted four million in its first month of release.

However, the band went long periods of time without new music, reappearing sporadically with different lineups. A 1986 hit, "Amanda," re-energized Boston, but Delp exited in 1991 to pursue music with former Boston member Barry Goudreau. Boston went on to release just two new studio albums in the ensuing two decades.

Delp returned to the band to sing on new songs recorded for a 1997 greatest hits album. Boston was said to have been working on a new release for the past several years, but no information has been revealed as to how far along the band was in the process.

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/20...ring_brad_delp/

From the bands website...

"The nicest, kindest, most caring, down to earth rock star the world has ever known.

May you rest in Peace"

[Dan Gould]

Can't say that the music has aged well to me, due to 'classic rock' radio, but way too young to go, that's for sure.

Was he the guy also in charge of production for the band? I remember hearing that part of the reason that the band didn't put out many records was because of their perfectionism in the studio, and how they wouldn't stop until the music sounded exactly the way they wanted it.

[Quincy]

Was he the guy also in charge of production for the band?

That's Tom Scholz (the things that stick in the brain... ).

The guy with the giant afro was/is the drummer Sib Hashian. The afro is a "was."

Edited March 11, 2007 by Quincy

[Rooster_Ties]

I think Boston's chief problem with not having aged well is their over-exposure over the years.

Well, over-exposure of a fairly small amount of material (what, didn't they really only have two albums 'back in the day', and like one more a good decade later). Their entire reputation rests with something less than three hours of unique material.

I'm not a particular fan of Boston, but it's really not at all half bad (for what it is) -- as long as you haven't heard it recently, like say, anytime in the last 5 or 10 years.

[Big Al]

Can't say that the music has aged well to me, due to 'classic rock' radio, but way too young to go, that's for sure.

Agree completely. Sad news indeed.

[rachel]

One of my all time favorite rock bands. I've got a lot of great memories associated with their music which sounds as fresh to me today as it did back in 76.

R.I.P, Brad.

I hear ya... Each time I hear a Boston song, especially from the first record, I can pretty much remember exactly where I was and what boy I had a crush on at that time.

My brother became acquainted with him when he and my sister-in-law lived in Danvers Mass in the early 80's. Of Brad he said simply, "he was just a genuinely nice guy who would do anything to help anybody.."

His Beatles tribute band 'Beatlejuice' kicks some serious ass, too.

Too sad for words.

[sheldonm]

...very sad..........LOVED them towards the end of my teens. Met them during a record signing party in Indy just prior to their first concert here in the late 70's. Cool guys and sad to hear of this!!!!

m~

[BruceH]

Surprising, and sad, that he went so young. Also surprising (for me) that he lived in the same town as my mother.

[Dave Garrett]

His family is now saying that he committed suicide.

Link to Boston Herald article

[Shawn]

Sad...their music always brings back some good childhood memories, I bought the first album when it came out (I was 6). Smokin' still has one of the coolest rock organ solos on record....

[7/4]

update from the Boston Hearld:

Delp’s ex says ‘No one can possibly understand’

By Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa

Friday, March 16, 2007 - Updated: 01:10 PM EST

Boston lead singer Brad Delp was driven to despair after his longtime friend Fran Cosmo was dropped from a summer tour, the last straw in a dysfunctional professional life that ultimately led to the sensitive frontman’s suicide, Delp’s ex-wife said.

“No one can possibly understand the pressures he was under,” said Micki Delp, the mother of Delp’s two kids, in an exclusive interview with the Track.

“Brad lived his life to please everyone else. He would go out of his way and hurt himself before he would hurt somebody else, and he was in such a predicament professionally that no matter what he did, a friend of his would be hurt. Rather than hurt anyone else, he would hurt himself. That’s just the kind of guy he was.”

Cosmo, who had been with Boston since the early ’90s, had been “disinvited” from the planned summer tour, Micki Delp said, “which upset Brad.”

But according to Tom Scholz, the MIT-educated engineer who founded the band back in 1976, the decision to drop Cosmo was not final and Delp was not upset about the matter. (Cosmo’s son Anthony, however, was scratched from the tour.)

“The decision to rehearse without the Cosmos was a group decision,” Scholz said in a statement through his publicist. “Brad never expressed unhappiness with that decision . . . and took an active part in arranging the vocals for five people, not seven.”

Nonetheless, according to the singer’s suicide notes released yesterday, Delp said he had “lost my desire to live.”

Police say Delp sealed himself inside his bathroom last Friday, lit two charcoal grills and committed suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning.

“Mr. Brad Delp. J’ai une ame solitaire. I am a lonely soul,” said one of the notes. “I take complete and sole responsibility for my present situation.” The note also included instructions on how to contact his fiancee, Pamela Sullivan, who found Delp’s body.

“Unfortunately she is totally unaware of what I have done,” the note said.

Yesterday Sullivan, who was planning to marry Delp this summer, said the situation was “extremely painful” for her, Delp’s children and his family.

“To the rest of the world, this is a big story,” she said. “But to Brad and Micki’s children and me, it’s very different.”

According to police reports released yesterday, Delp was found on the floor of his bathroom Friday, his head on a pillow and a note paper-clipped to the neck of his shirt. He died sometime between 11:30 p.m. March 8 and the next afternoon.

Sullivan told police that Delp “had been depressed for some time, feeling emotional (and) bad about himself,” according to the reports.

According to Micki Delp, Brad was upset over the lingering bad feelings from the ugly breakup of the band Boston over 20 years ago. Delp continued to work with Scholz and Boston but also gigged with Barry Goudreau, Fran Sheehan and Sib Hashian, former members of the band who had a fierce falling out with Scholz in the early ’80s.

As a result, he was constantly caught in the middle of the warring factions. The situation was complicated by the fact that Delp’s ex-wife, Micki, is the sister of Goudreau’s wife, Connie.

“Barry and Sib are family and the things that were said against them hurt,” Micki said. “Boston to Brad was a job, and he did what he was told to do. But it got to the point where he just couldn’t do it anymore.”

Considerate to the end, Delp left a note on the top of the stairs at his home warning rescuers that there was carbon monoxide in the house. Another note said the couple’s cat, Floppy, should be in a room that was safe from the deadly gas and asked that someone find her and make sure she was all right.

Police said Delp was so intent on ending it all that he had a backup plan if the charcoal fumes didn’t kill him. A dryer vent tube was connected to the exhaust pipe of Delp’s car. In the garage, police found a note taped to the door leading into the house.

“To whoever finds this I have hopefully committed suicide. Plan B was to asphyxiate myself in my car.”

Outside the bathroom, police found a carbon monoxide detector with the battery removed.

Delp joined Boston in the mid-1970s and sang two of its biggest hits, “More than a Feeling” and “Long Time.” A lifelong Beatles fan, Delp also played with the tribute band Beatlejuice.

Delp was cremated Wednesday, police said. A private funeral was held earlier this week.

[Uncle Skid]

Grabbed a bunch of vinyl out of the basement tonight... now spinning Boston's second record. IIRC, purchased when I was 13.

Talk about mixed emotions: if you disregard the over played "classic rock" aspect of this band, there are some good moments on the first two records. But, there are some not so good moments, too.

I hear "corporate rock" in some of this stuff, but I also hear some things that go well beyond that. RIP, Mr. Delp.

"Face it: whatever you dig at 13, you will dig for the rest of your life." -- The Bad Plus, Do The Math.

[Teasing the Korean]

Brad Delp was the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Teasing the Korean

[Uncle Skid]

Brad Delp was the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

Nice edit.

If you think he sucked, just say so.

[catesta]

Grabbed a bunch of vinyl out of the basement tonight... now spinning Boston's second record. IIRC, purchased when I was 13.

Talk about mixed emotions: if you disregard the over played "classic rock" aspect of this band, there are some good moments on the first two records. But, there are some not so good moments, too.

I hear "corporate rock" in some of this stuff, but I also hear some things that go well beyond that. RIP, Mr. Delp.

"Face it: whatever you dig at 13, you will dig for the rest of your life." -- The Bad Plus, Do The Math.

Yeah, I get all that "corporate rock" stuff.

They still get a high ranking from me for sentimental value, but that is not to say there wasn't some crap on those records.