Delp, Brad

▪ 2008

Bradley E. Delp 

      American guitarist and singer

born June 12, 1951 , Danvers, Mass.

died March 9, 2007, Atkinson, N.H.

was the lead singer for the rock group Boston, whose unique hard-rock–pop sound was created by Delp's distinctive high-register vocals and Tom Scholz's soaring guitar. Delp and bandmates Scholz, Fran Sheehan, Barry Goudreau, and John (“Sib”) Hashian burst onto the pop music scene in 1976 with the meticulously crafted single “More than a Feeling,” which combined elements of progressive rock and 1960s pop. Their eponymous first album became the biggest-selling debut in rock history. In 1978 the group's second album, Don't Look Back, appeared, but it was not until 1986 that it released Third Stage, a blockbuster hit. By this time only Scholz and Delp remained from the original members. Some of the band's chart toppers included the songs “Smokin',” “Let Me Take You Home Tonight,” and “Amanda.” Though Delp did not perform on the band's album Walk On (1994), he sang on its most recent one, Corporate America (2002). Delp also was the front man for Beatlejuice, a tribute band he formed in the 1990s.

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