RIP: Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston. Dead at 55

[cartman]

They definitely had some of the signature songs of the 70s.

hxxp://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2007/03/09/boston_lead_singer_brad_delp_dies_at_55/?p1=MEWell_Pos3


Boston lead singer Brad Delp dies at 55

March 9, 2007

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.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I just heard that too.

RIP...

[hoosierdude]

Wow, there is a part of my younger years gone. RIP. I had the first 3 or 4 albums day almost they came out. :P

[Easy Mac]

Can someone help me think of a Boston song other than More than a feeling. I think Journey keeps popping up in my head.

Sad news though.

[cartman]

Can someone help me think of a Boston song other than More than a feeling. I think Journey keeps popping up in my head.

Sad news though.

Just off their first album, some other songs were "Foreplay/Long Time", and "Piece of Mind". Off their second was "Feeling Satisfied". If the titles don't ring a bell, I'm sure the songs themselves will.

[SackAttack]

I always dug "Amanda."

[path12]

Saw a concert back in high school right after the second album was released. Sad news.

[KevinNU7]

Can someone help me think of a Boston song other than More than a feeling. I think Journey keeps popping up in my head.

Sad news though.
"Peace of Mind" would be there other huge hit. Think about it and it will come back to you if the title doesn't immediately ring a bell

And for the greatest air band ever...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1lebZiBrsE

[Fonzie]

Can someone help me think of a Boston song other than More than a feeling. I think Journey keeps popping up in my head.

Sad news though.

"Don't Look Back" was another of their hits.

Very sad.

[WSUCougar]

Sorry to hear this.

I think "More than a Feeling" probably got more record play than any other song of my youth. I heard once that Brad Delp did all of the vocals on their albums (multiple tracks for harmony, etc.). Can anyone confirm that?

[Senator]

I was dating a girl named Amanda in high school when that song came out. My buddies would sing it at us when we would walk through the hall. I wonder what happened to him?

[EagleFan]

Can someone help me think of a Boston song other than More than a feeling. I think Journey keeps popping up in my head.

Sad news though.

Rock and Roll Band

[Kodos]

I always dug "Amanda."


Third Stage is one of my favorite albums. Sad to hear this.

[Bad-example]

I liked Boston back in the day and am sad to hear of his passing. :( I think almost every track on their first album got significant airplay here.

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

I am also very surprised to learn the band had its own symphony hall.

[Karlifornia]

This is not surprising to me at all. If you are ever in a huge rock band, the people who live into their 70's are the exceptions. Hell, if you're in a small time rock band, most don't live very long. When you get good enough at music to be in a successful band, it becomes easy to convince yourself that you're invicible. If that sounds glib, let me explain my thinking.

Even when you play at shitty roller rink gigs when your band is just starting, it's a maximum of 90 minutes of work a night. Now, this is 90 minutes of very, VERY strenuous work. Anyone who plays will tell you that hitting all of your notes during the inherent chaos that is a live show is quite demanding.

BUT, after that, you have at least some people worshipping you. You have free booze and drugs, and if you don't have the will power to separate yourself from that, then you have one foot in the grave. Dude partied too hard, but lived a life that most would give their right foot for.

Sometimes, life is a trade, and you have to give up that hot prospect for a cleanup hitter. It may bite you in the ass down the road, but you wanna see mammoth home runs in the here and now.

RIP, More than a Feeling dude.

[Ksyrup]

Not only did he die, but he committed suicide by charcoal grill (carbon monoxide poisoning), while listening to Freebird.

That's a pathetic way to go, if you ask me.

[BYU 14]

Really a shock when you here from people what a nice, down to Earth Guy he was. Always friendly and always with time for the Fans.....Seems like the last person you would have expected to commit Suicide. Then again you never know what goes on in someones mind behind what they project. It would just seem with a tour looming with Boston and a marriage coming up to a Woman he adored by all accounts that he would be a happy Guy.

It sadly reminds me of one of my former Players who killed himself over a Girl about a year and half ago. In High School the Kid was never without a Smile. Everyone loved him, super Parents who were very supportive and just a geniune, nice young Man. In short he had a very strong support system around him, yet still apparently felt so much pain that he felt there was no other solution :(

[PackerFanatic]

Very sad, I was looking forward to seeing Boston and Styx at Rockfest this year :(

RIP

[Kodos]

hxxp://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=e092ec61-9e76-46de-b82b-a7a1cb65ff13&k=52962

Family says Boston rocker Brad Delp's death was suicide

The family of Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, said his death was a suicide.

"He was a man who gave all he had to give to everyone around him, whether family, friends, fans or strangers," the family said in a statement relayed by police Wednesday. "He gave as long as he could, as best he could, and he was very tired. We take comfort in knowing that he is now, at last, at peace."

Delp, 55, died Friday at his Atkinson home. Fiancee Pamela Sullivan found him.

Toxicology tests by the state medical examiner's office showed that Delp committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, said Lt. William Baldwin. Delp also left two notes taped to a door and letters to his family and Sullivan.

Baldwin said police do not know the contents of the letters.

The family's statement said Sullivan, Delp's children and their mother, Delp's ex-wife Micki Delp, were grateful for the sympathy they had received.

Brad Delp joined Boston in the mid-1970s and sang two of its biggest hits, "More than a Feeling" and "Long Time."

Delp had planned to marry Sullivan this summer during a break in a tour with Boston. A lifelong Beatles fan, Delp also played with a tribute band, Beatle Juice.

Beatle Juice performed a benefit last year to help build a new public library in Atkinson, a small town of about 6,000 residents on the Massachusetts border.

The family said last week it planned a private funeral followed by a public memorial to be scheduled later.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Not only did he die, but he committed suicide by charcoal grill (carbon monoxide poisoning), while listening to Freebird.

That's a pathetic way to go, if you ask me.

Better than blowing your head off in the shower.

Still, both seem effective...

[Fonzie]

The circumstances of this suicide makes me wonder if he recently learned he had some sort of terminal medical condition. He was planning for his future (the wedding), which is somewhat unusual in folks who are suicidally depressed.

Very sad, whatever the reason.

[Kodos]

Gotta say, this is a celebrity death that has stuck with me more than most. Whenever I hear Boston on my iPod now, it makes me feel a bit sad. Delp had such a unique voice, and I love the trademark Boston guitars.

Third Stage remains one of my favorite albums of all time. Even though I never saw them in concert, and they hadn't put out a great album since Third Stage, I still feel empty somewhere because of the loss. Their music was important to me during my formative years, and hearing it gives me a real sense of nostalgia. Whenever I hear "Amanda", "Can'tcha Say", "We're Ready", "My Destination", or "I Think I Like It", it takes me back to my teen years, and my incredible high-school crush on a girl named Jen Moore. I was stuck on that girl well into my college years. Third Stage as a whole captured perfectly how I felt about her--Loving her from afar, being afraid to tell her how I felt for fear of rejection. The high I felt just sitting next to her. If there was a soundtrack for my teen years, that album would be featured prominently in it. Delp being gone now just seems wrong.

Anyhow, RIP, Brad. Thanks for the memories.

[Karlifornia]

Wow..suicide..I was willing to bet that this was another "overtaxed rockstar's body giving up the ghost" death. I've felt pretty shitty, and that felt like absolute hell. Trying to imagine feeling so bad you'd actually go through steps to kill yourself? That sounds completely terrifying.

[tucker rocky]

Can someone help me think of a Boston song other than More than a feeling. I think Journey keeps popping up in my head.

Sad news though.

Smokin' is another song not mentioned here.

[Hurst2112]

Smokin' is another song not mentioned here.

i hear ya.

(ba-diddle la dum) SMOKIN'
(ba-diddle la dum) SMOKIN!

That guitar lick is cool.