BREAKING NEWS!!! Brad Delp Has Died!!!!!

[Neanderpaul]

ATKINSON, N.H. -- Bradley Delp, the lead singer of the 1970s band Boston, died Friday at his home in Atkinson.

Police are calling Delp's death "untimely," but they said there was no indication of foul play. Investigators said he was apparently alone at the time of his death.

Delp, 55, was preparing for a summer tour with Boston and was also planning to get married this summer.


WOW!!!!!

THIS SUCKS Does anyone in Boston Radio even know?

 

[salesdawg]

This is just horrible news..........just heard the announcement on 'ZLX.................R.I.P. Brad. :'( :'(

 

[SheaTheDJ]

I met him and Beatlejuice when they opened for the Monkees a few years back. A very nice and talented guy. I was -7 years old when their first album came out, but he put out some great timeless music in his day. He will be missed!

Carter Allen just did a great tribute to him on WZLX as did Sam Kopper on WATD.

 

[Mickey37]

ATKINSON, N.H. -- Bradley Delp, the lead singer of the 1970s band Boston, died Friday at his home in Atkinson.

THIS SUCKS Does anyone in Boston Radio even know?

I first heard a blurb about this on WBZ around 6 or 6:30

 

[Varulven]

Norm Prusslin of the IBS told me at 6:30 PM in New York.

This is devastating.

I spoke with Brad at the Regent Theater just a few weeks ago - we talked for about 20 minutes
about the passing of Jo Jo Laine. He is still the nicest guy in rock and roll. It is about 11 15 or so in NYC.

There are no words...just numb. numb.

 

[BigSteveG]

That is so sad. End of an era.

I have lived in the Memphis, TN area most of my life. The first 33rpm album I bought 30 some years ago was Don't Look Back. I remember it today like it was that day I bought it at Pop Tunes. The cover opened up like it had two records, but it had just one. The inside had a lot of pictures and one of the drummer with a big afro and gold glitter on his shoes. The album itself had a bright orange label. I wore that album out. I had broke the corner off not letting me play the first song and I still wore it out. I can say I received my money's worth. Can't say that about a lot of music today. I even have their "Third Stage" on cassette given to me by my brother. That is when music was pure and free. Boston, Rush, The Doobies. Can't wait to hear "More than a Feeling" this weekend. Sad day indeed.

RIP and Rock On Brad Delp!

 

[Time Traveler]

Sad...I remember the first time that I heard any reference to Boston, was in the summer of 1976, when their first record had just been released. Marc Parenteau on WCOZ was raving all about this new band, Boston, that afternoon and how their record had just come into the station....

 

[raccoonradio]

A co-worker of mine heard this on the radio while driving in. I heard WBZ mention it; stations like WZLX
and WROR paid tribute. One caller said she had been planning to see Brad's group BeatleJuice tonight at Johnny
D's (they were to appear tonight and tomorrow night) and once she heard about Brad's death she called
JD's and was told they had just heard the news themselves.

Ch 7 reported that Brad was engaged to be married this summer. About 1:30 pm his fiancee found him
in the bathroom (he may have already died by that point) and called police/medical

My older brother (Richard Nelson; played drums on albums by Chip Taylor & Sleepy LaBeef) knew Sib Hashian somehow and got me and one of my other brothers
into a Boston Garden show in '78. I know one of the members of Boston started up a record store in
Danvers Square at one point; may have been Brad

 

[Jay F]

I am very sad to hear about this. Brad was one of the best rock vocalists of all time .I have been a Boston fan since I first heard them in 1976. The first Boston album was one of the first records I bought when I was a boy. I have never gotten tired of Boston. Their music still sounds great and it takes me back to my childhood in the 70s which seems like a utopian time period to me.

One of the biggest Boston hits was "Peace Of Mind". The message of that song is more relevant now than ever. I can't help but think of the lyric "Cant you see there'll come a day when it won't matter...come a day when you'll be gone". So true and in the case of the man who sang those words, that day came far too early.

 

[Neggy]

there is a great write up in the L.E Tribune. I'm going to post the link here:

http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_068231638.html

I got a call from a friend at WGIR a little after 5, they broke the story, the Boston radio market broke it around 615

For those that never met him, Brad was the nicest guy you'd ever meet. I followed his Beatles cover band "Beatlejuice" all over the place and got to know him and the rest of the group. I am still in shock. I could type for hours the nice things he did for me. He was a supporter of many charities and causes.

I'm going to post links to a couple of pictures I took earlier this year at the BayBridge.... First one is me and Brad, the second and third ones are him performing.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/neggytive/fbd3ee8a.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/neggytive/6de8a88c.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/neggytive/ce880f63.jpg

I have a CD here he signed for me.. the remastered BOSTON disc that came out this past summer. I was hoping to catch him on tour this summer.. I had never seen Boston perform I misses the Red White and Blue gig at Symphony Hall last fall honoring Doug Flutie.

Somewhere in Heaven this morning, John Lennon, George Harrison, Billy Preston and Brad are rocking out.

The BeatleJuice website is down... I guess too much traffic crashed it but in a few days try muzzdrums.com, in the meantime there is a great picture on www.boston.org front page

 

[Neggy]

BTW it was Fran Sheehan who had the record store, and I want to say it was in Somerville.

When I called Johnny D's last night trying to confirm the story around 5:30 ish they just said the band had cancelled on short notice... they had already set up. I told them what had happened.

I hope Muzzy and crew can keep the band going.. the music is bigger than one man. I know "Juice In the Machine" which is BeatleJuice without Brad doing Sting/Police covers had dates booked for the summer to keep them working while Boston was on tour. The Regent in Arlington was going to be one of the first gigs in June.

Boston as a band is now dead IMHO, there can be no Boston without Brad, even if Tom thinks any member can be replaced with a clone.

 

[tim95]

A few random thoughts about Brad:

-Boston's first album is the only album where every single song is a no-brainer for regular rotation on even the most conservative Classic Rock station. You can't say that about "Zeppelin 4," "Dark Side Of The Moon," or even "Sgt. Pepper."

-Before the Rockman guitar box was available, my friends and I spent hours, days, weeks at a time hooking up various effects pedals to try & make our guitars sound like that. We came close by going from the guitar into a Big Muff, distorting the **** out of it and then running the signal through a Small Stone phase shifter and finally fiddling with the knobs for a few more hours. We tried to duplicate the guitar sound because at least we had a shot. There was absolutely no way to duplicate the vocals.

-Brad wasn't part of Boston for the "Walk On" album, and it took 3 singers to even come close to sounding like Boston. Even with the (amazing in his own right and now in the band) Fran Cosmo, it still wasn't all the way there.

-I saw Beatlejuice several times when I worked at WGIR. I was always blown away by the fact that a guy whose music I have played just about every day of my career (something most Rock/CR jocks can safely say) was in a club, playing Beatles music for the sheer love of playing and sharing Beatles music. He was always gracious with his time, and willing to chat, take pictures and sign autographs for the many Boston fans who would come to the shows out of curiosity.

-If you have RTZ's album, I defy you to make it through "Until Your Love Comes Back Around" without choking up.

It's been a long time since I was so sad about losing someone I had only met briefly, as one of those many Boston fans at a Beatlejuice show. My condolences to Brad's family, friends and fans. Rock on Brad, and thanks for the music.

 

[salesdawg]

Nice pics, Neggy
(Don't you ever smile???)

 

[raccoonradio]

>>BTW it was Fran Sheehan who had the record store, and I want to say it was in Somerville.

From a fan site; in a way we're both right. One member of Boston did have a record/music store, and it was in Danvers at one time but more recently Somerville. The following, about _Sib Hashian_ from a Boston fan site:

"Sib has owned/operated a record store in Danvers, MA called Soundwaves. He also owned a chain of tanning salons around the Boston area. He currently runs a music store in Somerville, MA called Holland Street Music. "

Typing in "Soundwaves Danvers" to yahoo I found a listing for apparel stores (i.e., record stores also sell
T-shirts, etc.) that was a bit outdated--the
phone number was 508--but it said "42 Maple St Danvers". That would be in Danvers Square area.

 

[kevinsealy]

I'm here in Queens, NYC and I haven't heard any of our stations (WAXQ 104.3FM) do a tribute to Boston. And Q-1043 is the only fulltime rock station (Classic Rock) in New York.



Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy

 

[TravisWMLN]

If you knew infromation from a great reliable source, would it be ethical to go on the air and say how he passed away (i.e. heart attack, overdose etc.) or would you wait and let the papers take care of it? (out of respect to the family)

Brad will be sorely missed. This is one of the worst losses to Boston music in recent memory.

 

[NHRadio]

BeatleJuice played a week ago today in Keene, NH-I had a chance to talk to Brad both on and off-air and he was indeed one of the nicest, least pretentious people I ever met. The interview (which must be one his last ones I guess) is available at wkbkam.com. It was obvious he loved what he was doing. Like the song says "If there's a rock and roll heaven, you know they've got a helluva band". That band just got a great new member.

 

[mistermicrophone]

BeatleJuice played a week ago today in Keene, NH-I had a chance to talk to Brad both on and off-air and he was indeed one of the nicest, least pretentious people I ever met. The interview (which must be one his last ones I guess) is available at wkbkam.com. It was obvious he loved what he was doing. Like the song says "If there's a rock and roll heaven, you know they've got a helluva band". That band just got a great new member.

I love how they remastered Boston and Don't Look Back...with the way those albums were produced - even in the 70's - it was almost impossible to make them any cleaner...they were well ahead of the times!

My heart goes out to the family of a great man.

 

[SonicOverload]

I know one of the members of Boston started up a record store in
Danvers Square at one point; may have been Brad

it was S**, who I don't mention by his full name because I was his partner and the manager of that store (Soundwaves) and it went VERY badly for a number of reasons. It was actually my idea to open the store and he provided most of the financial backing. We were neighbors in Swampscott (Lewis Road) for a bit and he said if I ever needed backing in a business, he'd do it. I worked at Rockit Records in Saugus for 8 years and, when the store changed hands and I got laid off, I had this crazy idea to do my own store. How were we to know that Newbury Comics would open a store 1 1/2 miles from us. Oops!

when we opened, we did an "in-store" with all the guys from the band except Tom.

enough name-dropping

 

[Lucylu]

It’s very interesting to read some of these post. I think you can tell a lot about a person by what they say when someone known passes.

Brad Delp touched a lot of lives. He cast a wide net. He was the kind of guy that would hang out an hour before and two hours after a RTZ show, just to sign Boston albums or chat with fans, so there will be thousands of similar stories about a truly nice guy.

Minutes after his untimely death boards like this are rushing to be the first with the news, letting each other know where you were when you heard and beating your chest about how you were just with him two days/weeks/months/years ago (not just here, but on other boards as well).

I remember when a woman I worked with passed away and another woman in the office went bouncing from door to door with the sad news. She said to me, ‘I hate to tell you this, but…’

The guy I shared the office with cut her off because we had already heard the news and said, ‘No you don’t. You love telling us this. You are going to take this woman’s death and wear it like hat all day long, telling everyone you know how much you mourn. Making it all about you. Shut your cake hole and stop trying to coat-tail her family’s grief.’ I only wish I had had the sand to say that myself.

Everyone expresses grief in different ways but some of you honestly need to shut your cake holes and stop with the name dropping. It’s not a contest to see who is the most upset.