Tom Scholz

Tom Scholz

Donald Thomas "Tom" Scholz (born March 10 1947), is an American rock musician, songwriter, guitarist, inventor, and electronics engineer. He is best known as the founder of the hard rock band Boston and inventor of the Rockman guitar processor. Scholz, as noted by All Music Guide, is "a notoriously 'un-rock n' roll' figure who never enjoyed the limelight of being a performer," but instead concentrated on his music. After achieving commercial success with Boston, Scholz has spent much of his time working with charities.

Early life

Tom Scholz was born in Toledo, Ohio and raised in the suburb of Ottawa Hills. His father, Don Sr., was a homebuilder who garnered considerable wealth from his designs of prefabricated luxury houses and founded Scholz Homes Inc. His mother, Olive, was valedictorian of her class, then became an architectural designer and a landscape architect. As a child, Scholz studied classical piano. He also had a penchant for tinkering with everything from go-carts to model airplanes, and was always building or designing. A top student and a member of the Varsity basketball team, he graduated from Ottawa Hills High School in 1965. Prior to his musical career, Scholz received both a bachelor's degree (1969) and a master's degree (1970) in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for Polaroid as a senior product design engineer.

Musical success, hiatus, and return

Scholz had a keen interest in music and began recording demos in his makeshift basement studio, while working at Polaroid. These demos attracted the interest of Epic Records who would sign Scholz to a recording deal. Scholz believed his demos were good enough to be the released album, but Epic told him to rerecord the tracks. The first Boston album was recorded by Scholz and a group of studio musicians that he assembled for the project. Many of Boston's most well-known tracks appeared on this album, including Foreplay/Longtime. This track consists of two parts, "Foreplay" being a nearly 3 minute instrumental, using bass, guitar, dums, and keyboards. The other part of the track, "Long Time", was a popular radio hit. It has appeared in pop culture several times, such as in the video game entitled "Rock Band". Most of the guitar, organ, and bass on the album were performed by Scholz (bassist Fran Sheehan and second guitarist Barry Goudreau are on two tracks). Most of the record was recorded in Scholz's basement studio. It was there that he crafted his trademark guitar sound and also "Top Secret Space Pedals". Epic didn't want the album recorded entirely in Scholz's home, as Scholz intended; they suggested a typical recording studio. But most of what ended up on the album was recorded by Scholz in his basement. It is noted that Scholz started learning and playing the instruments at the age of 21 rather than a younger age. The album, released in 1976, would become the biggest selling debut album by any artist up to that time. Scholz's reputed perfectionism would delay the followup release for two years. Scholz was unhappy with the second album, Don't Look Back, and claimed it was released under pressure from the record company. Scholz declared he would not be forced to release any more music unless he was completely satisfied with the final product. Consequently, a third Boston album did not appear until 1986. The album entitled Third Stage was a success and featured the high charting single, Amanda. By this time, only Scholz and original Boston vocalist Brad Delp remained from the group that had recorded the band's debut.

Boston played the National Anthem at the Fiesta Bowl in 2002.

After the death of longtime friend and Boston frontman Brad Delp, Tom and Boston held a final Boston concert in memory of Brad. Tom invited singers from past Boston lineups and different bands, such as Michael Sweet from Stryper, to sing in Brad's place. The concert was held at the Bank of America Pavilion on August 19, 2007 and was a big success according to Tom. It was said by many fans that one of the biggest surprises of the night came when a man by the name of Tommy DeCarlo sang on the stage. Tommy was just a longtime fan who had auditioned in front of Tom to sing at the concert. His almost scary reproduction of Brad's tone leads some people to believe he will have a role in the future of Boston, if there is a future. As for now it is unsure whether Tom will continue work under the Boston name, but many await live and unreleased material of the band.

Personal life

Scholz, a vegetarian for 29 years, has been a supporter of many organizations including PETA and Greenpeace. He set up his own charitable foundation, the DTS Charitable Foundation, in 1987 to help support such causes as animal protection, providing vegetarian resources, stopping world hunger, creating homeless shelters, food banks, as well as animal rescues and sanctuaries, and advocating for children's rights. Through his work with his foundation he has raised millions of dollars. Scholz married his second wife, Kim Hart, in the Florida Keys on January 11, 2007. They live in the Boston area. Scholz has one son, who graduated from MIT in 2005 with a degree in mechanical engineering. When asked if his son likes his music, Scholz joked, "I think he does... but he's such a nice kid that he would pretend he did even if he didn't."

Scholz has remarked on the relationship with Boston's various record labels that "The [music] business would be a good thing, except that it's dominated by drug addicts and businessmen". In regard to the theme of his album Corporate America, Scholz told the Sierra Club that "The thing that made me decide to break with previous albums and include an overtly political song, was when I discovered that for the first time in American history big business owns the news media." He criticized the George W. Bush administration, saying "they're taking us backward." He also stated that "The public has been sold a bill of goods about the free market being a panacea for mankind. Turning corporations loose and letting the profit motive run amok is not a prescription for a more livable world."

Further reading

• "Exclusive Interview: Boston’s Tom Scholz Remembers Bradley Delp". Rolling Stone. Posted on 3/13/07.
• Interview by Sound and Vision Magazine. Posted on November 2006.

External links

• Tom Scholz at Boston's Official Website