Back on March 9, 2007, to everyone’s shock, the world suddenly heard the very sad news of the suicide of the best rock singer ever, Mr. Brad Delp.
Yours Truly heard the tragic announcement from Chuck Nowlin on WZLX after coming home as a high school sophomore that afternoon.
Gone too soon but never forgotten (Youtube screenshot) |
Bradley was only 55 and performing at a very high level as the lead singer for Boston of over three decades. Little did I know, he was a Beatles fanatic, and had a local tribute band called Beatlejuice. He was selfless guy who didn’t live the typical celebrity glamorous lifestyle. He did stuff for the community. He hosted an annual Christmas pageant for high school students in New Hampshire, where he lived for most of his adult life. He gave a lot of his fortune to his fans in need, hence he only had about $500,000 net worth at the time of his death.
My parents weren’t really fans of the band Boston, but my dad said he saw the original lineup at the Garden in the ‘70’s. The only realistic chance I could’ve saw Brad perform, I happened to be at Scout camp the very same week Boston performed at Gilford, NH in 2004.
As someone who grew up listening to classic rock (something my parents did do right!), I’ve always been impressed with Tom Scholz (someone I definitely disagree with politically) creating his own studio in his basement while working for Polaroid during the day. The music holds up 45 years later at very high quality. These were the good old days before computers.
It was Scholz who called Brad Delp “the best singer I’ve ever heard.” NO ONE can argue otherwise, because Brad could’ve sang anything!
Unfortunately, I’m afraid Brad and original Boston touring guitarist Barry Goudreau predicted today’s civilizational collapse thirty years ago with the RTZ album, focusing on anti-violence crusading. Irregardless of the lyrical topics, it’s the best Boston album nobody knows about.
It just comes to show that despite the two Middle East wars of that decade, America was actually doing fine overall while Bradley was still here. The 2007-09 Recession started the following month after this should-be hall-of-famer’s death. This might be a matter of coincidence, I don’t know. But as a matter of chronological facts, once Brad was gone, America, and especially the youth at the time, started to decline. (We all know the rest...)
I heard on some websites referring to Brad Delp as “the Voice of America.” This indeed is a good title, because he was the best, versatile, crystal clear sound born in America. Most great classic rock musicians came from Britain. He certainly was, according to his daughter, the 20th century “Man with the Golden Voice.”
Brad would’ve turned 70 this June, and I’m pretty sure he would be setting an example to the Taylor Swifts, Miley Cyrus’, Lady Gagas, and Justin Biebers of the world on professionalism. He would still be performing at a very high level for certain, most especially when your an avid vegetarian who never smoked nor drank.
I never got to meet Brad, nor see him perform live. However, if Brad lived, and the original purpose of this blog were manifested, I possibly could’ve hired him, either with Boston or Barry, to perform at the wedding reception that will never be. (It would’ve cost a lot, though...)
But instead, I’m, by actually no fault of my own, the husband and architect that I’ll never be.