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        New Message Board Archives >> 2007 General Board Posts >> Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
        
(Message started by: mynm156 on Mar 10^th, 2007, 2:07am)

Title: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by mynm156 on Mar 10^th, 2007, 2:07am

Yep Brad Delp one of Classic Rocks Greatest Voices Dies as of yet unknown causes. I always state him as one of my vocal influences I grew up listening to Boston and got to see then in 91 or so under the stars of an Arizona summer night Let me tell you it was one of the BEST shows I have ever seen. I wish that they could have spent less time in the court room and more out on stage making music. I know that they got a bad wrap in the 70's being labeled Corporate Rock I just think that they were ahead of their time.

Share with us your Boston Memories if you have them.

REST IN PEACE BRAD DELP thanks for the AWESOME music!

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Sean_C on Mar 10^th, 2007, 10:05am

Rest in Peace.

Boston - Smokin' (http://tinyurl.com/2oagy3)

Sean..................................

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Brewcrew on Mar 10^th, 2007, 10:17am

This is totally shocking. I remember being a sophomore in high school, I had just arrived at our drummer's house for band practice and, as we usually did, we sat in his living room listening to some tunes before we got started. He threw on this new album he had just picked up - Boston - we listened to about half of the first song, and I was ready to hang it up. These guys were better than I had ever hoped to be.

Rest In Peace, Bradley. You inspired a lot of people.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by BMoneeTheMoneeMan on Mar 10^th, 2007, 11:48am

We were just another band out of Boston, on the road to try and make ends meet.

Playin out of bars, sleepin in our cars, we practiced right out in the street.

Boston is awesome

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by mynm156 on Mar 16^th, 2007, 12:34am

I heard that he killed himself today. What a drag he has such a fantastic voice! A talent that will be missed.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Lobster on Mar 16^th, 2007, 1:57am

Something about setting up a bbq grill in his bathroom.

I dunno... Boston rocks, for certain, but what is with all these douche bags killing themselves lately?

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by zwibbs/Scott on Mar 16^th, 2007, 4:50am

on 03/16/07 at 01:57:38, Lobster wrote:

Something about setting up a bbq grill in his bathroom.

I dunno... Boston rocks, for certain, but what is with all these douche bags killing themselves lately?

He sealed the room closed "air tight" and lit two charcoal grills.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Brewcrew on Mar 16^th, 2007, 7:16am

on 03/16/07 at 04:50:05, zwibbs/Scott wrote:

He sealed the room closed "air tight" and lit two charcoal grills.

Pretty odd behavior for a 30-year vegetarian.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Jonny on Mar 16^th, 2007, 9:36pm

Brad is singing lead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u70smiPLpE

Fuck you, Tom Sholtz! >:(

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Jonny on Mar 16^th, 2007, 9:47pm

The dude could sing his ass off!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxME6wzZgQ8

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by barry_sword on Mar 16^th, 2007, 9:49pm

Very, Very Sad! :'(

Will be missed big time.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Brewcrew on Mar 16^th, 2007, 9:57pm

That's not Tom Scholz's version:

As you all know by now, BOSTON'S lead singer, Brad Delp, was found dead in his home on Friday, March 9th 2007. Plans for live BOSTON performances this summer have, of course, been cancelled.

My heart goes out to his wonderful fiance Pamela, his two children and other family members, his close friends and band mates, and to the millions of people whose lives were made a little brighter by the sound of his voice. He will be dearly missed.

Tom Scholz

And then, his response to Rolling Stone:

(next post)

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Brewcrew on Mar 16^th, 2007, 9:59pm

Part I

Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene has asked me for some recollections about my experiences with Brad. An edited version of the reply I sent him appeared on rollingstone.com with questions inserted in the text. Here is the complete unedited note I sent to Andy:

Andy,

Thanks you for allowing me to answer your questions by e-mail. I haven't been in the mood to talk to people much for the last few days as you might imagine, but I appreciate you turning to me for this. Brad and I were friends and collaborators for 35 years. Both of us being vegetarians, non-drug users and more interested in music than money, put us in a very small minority in the music business; our bond ran much deeper than just BOSTON music.

In answer to your questions:

I met Brad, soft spoken and unassuming, when he auditioned in a recording studio outside of Boston one night to sing several songs I had written. Back then in the early seventies recording a song demo meant coming up with a significant amount of money, several weeks of my day job savings, to buy a few hours of 8 track time.

Having endured countless sessions with other singers, most with undeserved egos, I had only the faintest glimmer of hope that he might be good enough to squeak by as a suitable vocalist.

He didn't warm up; he just listened to the prerecorded instrument track once. Then he started to sing. I don't know if it took two seconds or three, but before he finished singing the first line I knew that some guardian angel had just delivered to me one of the best vocalists ever to step up to a microphone! Then he kept going and I realized he wasn't just one of the best, he was amazing! High notes I hadn't heard before followed by harmonies, and overdubbed exact duplicate layered tracks, all with ease, all with emotion, and yet all technically precise.

Before we left that night he had rewritten the lyrics and the melody, sung all the vocal parts, and with the magic of his voice turned my stark guitar riff into a song! From that moment on I only hoped I could write and record music worthy of his attention and interpretation.

There were soulful notes that pulled you into the song, stratospheric screams and angelic high notes, and after hitting these record breaking notes he'd go back and sing a harmony part above it! He didn't rehearse any of these parts, he could jump back and forth between harmony parts, double tracking parts, and then go back and do it again exactly the same with one tiny change, adjusting all the other singing parts to fit with bionic accuracy.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Brewcrew on Mar 16^th, 2007, 10:01pm

Part II

You'd think anyone with this super human talent would be an insufferable egomaniac. But Brad was just the opposite, and amazingly he remained honestly humble in spite of the incredible star pressure that followed BOSTON's success.

Brad and I banged our heads against the wall trying to get a break with record companies for five years. During that time he and I did a lot of basement recording; we received absolutely zero recognition locally and complete rejection submitting our demos to national record labels. I think this experience put our future success in perspective as we both realized that after so many years of insult, we were just very lucky to be able to record and play music above ground! Unlike many other individuals eventually involved with BOSTON, Brad's down to earth personality never wavered; it was his natural demeanor.

When someone asked me what Brad was like, the first words that always came to mind were "nice guy." Oddly, his incredible performing abilities seem barely worth mentioning compared to his attributes as a human being. He was soft spoken yet very quick and funny. Although I rarely remember seeing him in the throws of a good belly laugh, he could keep the people around him in stitches effortlessly, and did so on a daily basis. When he wasn't making someone laugh, or giving his time to a fan, he was a tireless worker, both in the studio and on stage.

He and I had a very strong personal connection because of our moral beliefs, yet we were drastically different kinds of people. While I am rebellious and easily provoked to an unyielding defense, Brad was passive and studiously non confrontational.

Somehow over the years I think we both grew not only to accept this in each other, but to respect it; I think this is part of the reason we were able to work together for so much of our lives. In an odd parallel we were also opposites in the studio. Once Brad would laid down a vocal track he became instantly committed to it and would dig in if challenged, whereas I would want to change everything and never be sure. We were usually at odds on how vocal arrangements should go also, which in early years caused heated debates. Later we both developed such respect for each other's abilities that the collaboration, so important to the eventual outcome of BOSTON's music, became much easier. It was largely my music, but it was Brad who brought it to life, and this struggle we both had to endure was part of what made it so many people's favorite.

I last saw Brad at rehearsal last month where we prepared several old and new songs for our upcoming summer shows. These are my fondest memories, playing music with my friend and the greatest singer in rock and roll.

Andy, Brad and I have been used and abused throughout our adult life by the music business, it continues even in his death. Please do the right thing with this. Sorry I wrote you a tome.

Tom Scholz

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Jonny on Mar 16^th, 2007, 10:33pm

Well, it seems like I cant provide the dead guys version.....cause I cant be bothered too.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Brewcrew on Mar 16^th, 2007, 10:42pm

I'm not trying to refute you, buddy. Just presenting what was on the official Boston website. I'd love to know what was happening in Brad's head and heart. He was obviously hurting beyond anything I can imagine. And I also have a tendency to believe that Tom Scholz's ego wrote that without, as you've pointed out, much regard for Brad's version of things.

If things had been just like Scholz described, I don't think we would have read about Brad's suicide.

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Jonny on Mar 16^th, 2007, 11:19pm

on 03/16/07 at 22:42:46, Brewcrew wrote:

If things had been just like Scholz described, I don't think we would have read about Brad's suicide.

So I guess we take as that, eh?

Title: Re: Boston's Lead Singer Dies @55
Post by Brewcrew on Mar 17^th, 2007, 9:47am

on 03/16/07 at 23:19:49, Jonny wrote:

So I guess we take as that, eh?

That's how I take it. Pretty arrogant for a guy like Scholz to write all that stuff about the one guy who was most responsible for bringing his music to life and not be able to strip all the ego out of the writing.

Even in a tragic situation like this, for Scholz, it's all about Scholz.

Thanks for that video link to Don't Look Back. Brad Delp was every bit as good live as he was in the studio.