Brad Delp

Bradley E. Delp

Bradley Edward Delp (born June 12, 1951 in Danvers , Massachusetts , † March 9, 2007 in Atkinson , New Hampshire ) was an American musician, best known as the singer of the rock band Boston .

Early years

Delp took an interest in music at the age of thirteen when he saw the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show . In 1970, he was making heating elements for coffee machines, he met the founder of the music band Boston, Tom Scholz , who played in a cover band with guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea.

Boston and other bands

Delp applied to be a lead singer for Boston in the early 1970s and got the job immediately. On the albums he also played some guitar, keyboard and harmonica. His collaboration with Tom Scholz delivered a wealth of hits. Delp sang the Boston hits "More Than A Feeling" and "Longtime" on the 1976 album. In the meantime, Brad brought the band "RTZ - Return to Zero" to the start in 1989, along with Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau. In 1991 the album of the same title was released, in 1998 a second album was in the record stores. This 2nd album with the title "lost and found" contained recordings that were actually made before the debut album was released. RTZ brought the typical Boston sound at a time when there were hardly any signs of life from Boston and many fans in Germany did not know whether Boston still existed or not. RTZ were able to close the gap with very melodic rock material with Brad's typical vocals and Barry's famous guitar sound. Delp was replaced by Fran Cosmo on the Boston album Walk On (1994), but the album flopped. At concerts, Delp later shared the vocal passages with Cosmo, which is why Delp later said that Cosmo took over the really tough high parts ("the really tough high parts").

Late years and estate

Delp was married to Micki Delp for several years, had two children with her and later divorced. He was a vegetarian for more than thirty years and was involved in numerous charities. Brad Delp last performed with Boston in November 2006 at the Boston Symphony Hall. Delp was found dead in the bathroom of his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire on March 9, 2007 by his fiancée Pamela Sullivan. The musician left several farewell letters in which he described himself as a "lonely soul". A suicide note was tied to his shirt with a paper clip. In this letter he wrote “Mr. Brad Delp. I am a lonely soul ”and“ I take full and sole responsibility for my current situation. I've lost my longing to live ”. According to the police report, Brad Delp was lying on the floor of his bathroom with the door locked. His head was on a pillow. In the room he had set up two burning charcoal grills. As the autopsy showed, the initial suspicion that the musician died of carbon monoxide poisoning was confirmed . In addition to the suicide note mentioned above, the police found others addressed to the fiancée, his children and his ex-wife Micki Delp. Delp and Sullivan had planned to get married with Boston in the summer of 2007 during a two-day break from touring. On the day of his death, he was to perform with his side project, the Beatles cover band Beatlejuice, in Somerville, Massachusetts. On the day of his death, the Boston website was replaced by the following text: “ We've just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll .” (“We just lost the nicest guy in rock 'n' roll.”) A little later, Tom published Scholz posted a very personal obituary on the website.

Web links

Commons : Brad Delp  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Boston official site
• Delp at a Barry Goudreau concert playing "Dreams."

proof

1. ^ Pareles, Jon (Nov. 5, 1986) New Boston hit a throwback to the 70's. New York Times
2. ↑ Pareles, Jon (June 10, 1995). In performance: rock. New York Times
3. ^ Wright, Jeb (July 2003). Interview with Brad Delp.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Classic Rock Revisited  
4. ↑ http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/09/arts/NA-AE-CEL-US-Obit-Brad-Delp.php
5. ↑ http://www.badischezeitung.de/nachrichten/welt/54,51-14223160.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ http://atv.at/main/events/index.php?we_objectID=28120  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.