Boston frontman Brad Delp dies at 55 - *Suicide*

[Concord]

Boston frontman Brad Delp dies at 55

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17543043/

Police call death ‘untimely’; band's '70s hits included ‘More Than a Feeling’

ATKINSON, N.H. - Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, was found dead Friday in his home in southern New Hampshire. He was 55.

Atkinson police responded to a call for help at 1:20 p.m. and found Delp dead. Police Lt. William Baldwin said in a statement the death was “untimely” and that there was no indication of foul play.

Delp apparently was alone at the time of his death, Baldwin said.

The cause of his death remained under investigation by the Atkinson police and the New Hampshire Medical Examiner’s office. Police said an incident report would not be available until Monday.

Delp sang vocals on Boston’s 1976 hits “More than a Feeling” and “Longtime.” He also sang on Boston’s most recent album, “Corporate America,” released in 2002.

He joined the band in the early 1970s after meeting Tom Scholz, an MIT student interested in experimental methods of recording music, according to the group’s official Web site. The band enjoyed its greatest success and influence during its first decade.

The band’s last appearance was in November 2006 at Boston’s Symphony Hall.

On Friday night, the Web site was taken down and replaced with the statement: “We just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll.”

A call to the Swampscott, Mass., home of Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau was not immediately returned Friday night.


© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[AbeBeta]

God. Boston really sucked.

 

[jem88]

God. Boston really sucked.

I'm going to have to play the guilty pleasure card here....

Reminds me of growing up.

 

[Crown Royal]

Boston is one of the better concerts I have been to.

Boston>Abersonc. :squint:

 

[NickZepp]

Boston was a great band, just wish they could have released more. They only had 4 albums.

 

[jksmith269]

God. Boston really sucked.

A man dies and this is what you have to say? now that is sad....


I for one loved Boston I grew up listening to them and like the other poster I wish they had put out more music.

RIP Brad

 

[Yeagermeister]

A man dies and this is what you have to say? now that is sad....


I for one loved Boston I grew up listening to them and like the other poster I wish they had put out more music.

RIP Brad

:signmast:

 

[cj7]

Sad and tragic! One of the greatest, and most distinct voices of rock.

R.I.P. Brad Delp

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Boston did NOT suck and for someone to say it in a thread about the guys death shows real class.

 

[theebs]

there second singer is from where I am from.

They did not suck.

Todays society hates anything that isnt new. Its sad and sorry.

 

[Khartun]

A man dies and this is what you have to say? now that is sad....


I for one loved Boston I grew up listening to them and like the other poster I wish they had put out more music.

RIP Brad

agreed.

RIP Brad.

 

[Rocky]

Has anybody heard of the speculation of Delp dying of carbon monoxide poisoning? Supposed to have been reported on a local tv news outlet. I find no confirming link.

 

[Hostile]

Boston did NOT suck and for someone to say it in a thread about the guys death shows real class.

:signmast:

Did not see this until a few minutes ago. I can't believe anyone is stupid enough to post something like that. It will be a while before I can show much respect for that poster.

 

[trickblue]

My favorite singer in my favorite band...

This is crappy news...

"Used to Bad News"...

 

[Rocky]

Here's an updated article on Delp. Thought I'd just add to this thread, instead of creating a new one. BTW, it was announced over the wkend that they would release the cause of death, but looks like it won't happen today. Also, I've heard that they haven't done an autopsy which I found odd. Toxicology tests underway.

There aren't many rock stars whose band's debut album sells nearly 20 million copies thanks to eight tracks that continue to get played on rock radio more than 30 years later. And there are even fewer who are so anonymous they could slip by most people unnoticed at the mall or even at one of their own concerts.

But that's the story of Boston singer Brad Delp, who on Friday died at age 55 of undisclosed causes after leading one of the most understated rock and roll lifestyles of all time. Delp was the man who lent a muscular voice to Boston's 1976 self-titled debut, a tour de force that went platinum in three months on its way to becoming the fastest-selling debut album by any American group in history. The LP spawned such rock-radio staples as "More Than a Feeling," "Peace of Mind," "Foreplay/ Long Time" and "Rock and Roll Band."

But despite Delp's signature bombastic vocals, it was the band's founder, perfectionist musical mastermind Tom Scholz who became the group's star and media focal point in the ensuing years. Delp, who was working at a factory that made heating coils for Mr. Coffee machines and playing in Boston rock clubs in the early '70s before joining the band of the same name, was, by all accounts, an unassuming nice guy who lacked the splattering excess associated with many rock godheads of the past.

And despite the group's stunning success, Delp never became the kind of household name or recognizable pinup face as other 1970s rock sensations such as Peter Frampton or Queen's Freddie Mercury — or even the more anonymous REO Speedwagon and Styx. The latter at least had the benefit of the burgeoning video revolution of the early 1980s to get some belated face time with America.

Part of that superstar anonymity was simply a matter of timing, according to Geoff Mayfield, director of charts and senior analyst at Billboard magazine. "They were not unlike a lot of other bands that came up after them, at a time when the record companies became focused on selling albums rather than primarily singles," he said. "Boston was also one of the first beneficiaries of radio consulting, when rock stations began getting programmed by outside companies and that album tested really well."

And, whereas outrageous behavior was the key ingredient to the personality of many rock bands of the '60s and early '70s, Mayfield said Boston were harbingers of an era when that was less important.

Another part of Delp's anonymity might have had to do with Boston's erratic career. Due to Scholz's notorious meticulousness in the studio, the band didn't release a follow-up to its smash debut until 1978 (an eternity at that time), and following a tour for Don't Look Back, the band went into hiatus during a prolonged battle with its record company.

By the time Boston's third album, Third Stage, came out in 1986, rock's musical landscape had completely changed and new wave had taken over from the studio-overkill rock sound of the '70s. The album — with Delp and Scholz as the only original remaining members — was a lesser hit and Delp eventually quit when it was clear a follow-up would be years in the making.

Delp bided his time working on albums with former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau in the side project RTZ, then rejoined Boston in 1994 for the tour in support of the band's poorly received fourth effort, Walk On, which was the first not to feature Delp's vocals. He was back at the helm for 2002's Corporate America, which was another dud on arrival. Though the band was rumored to be working on a new album with Delp on vocals as well as a summer tour, Delp had been gigging in between as the lead singer of a Boston Beatles tribute band called Beatlejuice.

Another reason Delp may not have reached instant face or name recognition was the simple fact that he was never featured on the cover of one of the group's albums. Artist Roger Huyssen, who painted the iconic image of a laser blasting alien-spaceship guitars on the band's debut album — a motif that would continue on subsequent albums, though not by Huyssen's hand — said the band simply didn't have the name recognition to appear on the cover at first. "The cover became an icon for their music and there was never any talk of putting them on the cover because they were new and they had no say," said Huyssen, who only met the group briefly before turning in his cover idea.

Huyssen, who has designed hundreds of album covers, as well as posters for "Saturday Night Fever" and "Star Trek," said he still gets calls in the middle of the night from fans "of a certain age" who consider Boston to be rock gods — even if the most prevalent image in their head is of giant glowing guitars and not the bearded Delp.

Some of those super-fans would come out to see Delp play in Beatlejuice, which must have been one of the most low-key side gigs ever from a guy who toured the world and sold more than 30 million records. For the past decade, the group would play the Somerville, Massachusetts, bar Jimmy D's every few months. In fact, Beatlejuice were slated to perform last weekend and had already set up their equipment when bar manager Eric Pierce got the call Friday afternoon about Delp's death.

"Some people knew he was in the band [Boston] and some didn't, but the first thing anyone ever said about him was he was one of the nicest people you'd ever meet, a sweet, quiet guy," Pierce said. Even when playing Johnny D's, which holds a few hundred patrons — not the thousands or tens of thousands he once commanded with Boston — Pierce said Delp wouldn't talk up his Boston connection and could often go unrecognized by many of the bar's patrons.

"He was definitely kind of anonymous," he said.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1554450/20070312/boston_1.jhtml

 

[Crown Royal]

One of the best concerts I ever went to was 3-4 years ago on my birthday, Boston was in town. They still sounded great, and the 50+ year old stoners in the crowd didn't even bother me.

They had also added some lady to the band, and she wasn't bad to look at.

I'm disappointed that I'll never have an opportunity to relive that concert now.

 

[cj7]

He just proposed to his girlfriend over the Christmas holiday, and Boston was going to tour this summer and work on a new album. That just makes this even that much tougher to take...so sad.

 

[trickblue]

One of the best concerts I ever went to was 3-4 years ago on my birthday, Boston was in town. They still sounded great, and the 50+ year old stoners in the crowd didn't even bother me.

They had also added some lady to the band, and she wasn't bad to look at.

I'm disappointed that I'll never have an opportunity to relive that concert now.

I saw them on their world tour in 1978... it was like a religious experience...

 

[Crown Royal]

I saw them on their world tour in 1978... it was like a religious experience...

See - I am only 23. The fact that I like them means that I am a better fan. I had to FIND them. You were inundated with them.

 

[trickblue]

See - I am only 23. The fact that I like them means that I am a better fan. I had to FIND them. You were inundated with them.

I cleaned pools one summer and I saved up and bought a portable 8-track...

I owned one 8-track for the longest... the first Boston album...

When I branched out and was able to afford more, I had the second album "Don't Look Back", Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" and Kansas' "Leftoverture"

Good times...