Brad Delp

Bradley Edward Delp (June 12, 1951 – March 9, 2007) was an American musician who was the original lead singer and frontman of the rock band Boston.

Delp was born in Peabody, Massachusetts on June 12, 1951, to French-Canadian immigrant parents and raised in Danvers, Massachusetts.

In 1969, guitarist Barry Goudreau introduced Delp to Tom Scholz, who was looking for a singer to complete some demo recordings.

He joined the band in 1970 and appeared on every album with the exception of Walk On (1994) and also participated in every tour prior to his death in 2007.

Delp was known for his "unique and soulful singing and the vocal range of his 'golden' voice".

ILoveClassicRock.com ranked Delp third on its list of the top 10 male classic rock vocalists; it described Delp's tenor voice as "flawless" and "effortless".

Eventually Scholz formed the short-lived band Mother's Milk (1973–74), which included Delp and Goudreau.

After the band produced a demo, they were signed by Epic Records.

Mother's Milk was renamed Boston.

The band's debut album, Boston, was released in August 1976.

With over 17 million copies sold, the album ranks as one of the best-selling debut albums in U.S. history.

The band was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

The album spawned three singles, "More Than a Feeling", "Long Time", and "Peace of Mind", all of which made the national charts.

The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and remained on the charts for 132 weeks.

Boston was followed by Don't Look Back (1978), and Third Stage (1986).

"Amanda", the lead single from Third Stage, went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Subsequent singles "We're Ready" and "Can'tcha Say" reached numbers nine and 20, respectively.

Brad and Micki married in 1980 and divorced in 1996.

He was a vegetarian for over 30 years, and contributed to a number of charitable causes.

A series of interviews conducted by the Boston Herald alleged that lingering hard feelings from Boston's disbandment in the 1980s and personal tension between Delp and bandleader Scholz drove the singer to suicide.

Scholz denied these claims and filed defamation lawsuits.

The court ruled that statements attributing Delp's suicide to Scholz were "statements of opinion and not verifiable fact and therefore could not form the basis of a claim of defamation".

In 1990, Delp stated that he wanted to concentrate on other projects and might not be available to the band for some time.

From the mid-1990s until his death in 2007, Delp played in a side project, a Beatles tribute band called Beatlejuice.

In 1991, Delp and Goudreau formed a band called RTZ.

After Boston released the album Walk On in 1994 with Fran Cosmo on vocals, Delp and Boston reunited later that year for another major tour.

Delp continued to record vocals on several albums and projects, including new tracks for Boston's 1997 Greatest Hits compilation and their 2002 release Corporate America.

During this time, Delp also co-wrote and recorded with former Boston bandmate Barry Goudreau, and in 2003 released the CD Delp and Goudreau.

Entitled "Rockin Away", the song was co-written by Delp and Goudreau and recorded in mid-2006.

It is an autobiography of Delp's musical career.

On October 16, 2007, several months after Delp's death, Barry Goudreau released a song with Delp on vocals.

Sometime between 11:00 pm on March 8 and 1:20 am on March 9, 2007, Delp died by suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning in his home on 55 Academy Avenue, in Atkinson, New Hampshire.

The Atkinson police discovered his body on the floor of his master bathroom.

Two charcoal grills were found to have been placed in the bathtub and lit, causing the room to fill with smoke.

The following day, Boston's website was replaced with a simple black background and white text message: "We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll."

A concert known as "Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp" occurred on August 19, 2007, at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston.

The reason for Delp's suicide has been the subject of contradictory news reports and various lawsuits.

The song reached #20 on the U.S. rock charts in January 2008.

Delp was married and divorced twice, and had two children by his second wife, Micki, who had been a flight attendant on tour with Boston.

Micki's sister, Connie, subsequently married band member Goudreau.