Boston (band) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008) Boston Boston live in Hinckley, MN on June 13, 2008 Background information Origin Boston, Massachusetts, United States[1] Genre(s) Rock, hard rock Years active 1976 - present Label(s) Epic, MCA, Artemis Associated acts Alliance, Beatlejuice, Cosmo, Kimberly Dahme, Barry Goudreau, Orion the Hunter, Punch Bug, RTZ, Stryper Website http://www.bandboston.com Members Tom Scholz Michael Sweet Tommy DeCarlo Gary Pihl Kimberley Dahme Jeff Neal Former members See: Boston past member section Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts that achieved its most notable successes during the 1970s and 1980s. Centered on guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, and producer Tom Scholz, the band is a staple of classic rock radio playlists. Boston's best-known works include the songs "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Don't Look Back" and "Amanda". They have sold over 50 million albums worldwide,[2] including 31 million albums in the United States.[3] Contents [hide] 1 History 1.1 Before 1976 début album 1.2 Boston (1976) 1.3 Don't Look Back (1978) 1.4 Boston Disintegrates (1979–1983) 1.5 CBS lawsuit (1983–1985) 1.6 Third Stage (1986–1988) 1.7 Delp departs; Walk On (1989–1995) 1.8 Greatest Hits and Corporate America (1996–2006) 1.9 Death of Brad Delp (2007) 1.10 Tribute to Delp (2007) 1.11 The future of Boston (2008-) 2 Innovations and style 3 Band members 3.1 Current members 3.2 Past members 4 Discography 4.1 Studio albums 5 See also 6 References 7 External links [edit] History This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (February 2009) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (February 2009) [edit] Before 1976 début album Tom Scholz wrote the first song that would eventually bear the Boston name in 1969 while still a student at MIT. The instrumental, later titled "Foreplay," was also the first piece of music he had ever written. A year later in 1970, while still an undergraduate, Scholz joined an MIT frat band called "Freehold," where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea. The musical connection between Scholz and Masdea triggered Scholz' interest in recording demos. Drawing on his engineering background at Polaroid, he cobbled together a rudimentary tape system, and in 1971 he and Masdea recorded "Foreplay" in Masdea's basement. The pair worked so well together that Masdea went on to record the drums on every demo tape that Scholz shopped. As Scholz' writing became more prolific, he began using his income from Polaroid to finance demo recordings of his songs in commercial studios in addition to his basement recording. He began shopping the demos to record companies, only to receive consistently negative, and sometimes insulting rejections. Scholz himself was unhappy with the results of these expensive recording sessions, but they did provide an indispensable ingredient to his future success: he met Brad Delp at one of them. Delp's voice was the perfect match for Scholz' style, and like Scholz, Delp was a natural at overdubbing to ridiculous extremes. Delp laid down choirs of harmony vocals to complement Scholz' orchestra of guitars. And of course his super human range didn't hurt. Delp was a native of Danvers, MA, a Boston suburb, and broke in his performing chops with a local band called the Monks. But it was after Scholz and Delp began working together that Delp began to flourish as a writer, and Delp soon ended up with Scholz in his basement tediously laying tracks for his own material. In addition to his demo efforts, Scholz performed his original songs with numerous never-heard-from-again local bands, switching off between bass, keys, and guitar, and often with Masdea and Goudreau, sometimes with Delp singing. In a desperate effort to be heard Scholz started a band he called Mother's Milk, which played all his original material. He advertised the band's appearances in a Boston entertainment newspaper. Included in Scholz' material that the band played were a couple of songs more or less identifiable as precursors to eventual Boston songs, but the real hits were still just a glimmer in the back of Scholz' brain. Only one song is obviously traceable as an eventual Boston release, "San Francisco Day," which Scholz provided for bands he played in as early as 1970, and was later rewritten by him to become "Hitch a Ride." Despite Scholz' efforts, Mother's Milk quickly went sour. Disappointed in its progress, he disbanded the group and later conceded that "Trying to get my music performed live by bar bands was a self defeating experience. It really just distracted me from what I should've been doing all along, writing and recording." Taking stock, in 1974 Scholz realized his dream of playing music professionally was probably not going to happen. He had spent huge sums of money and time with nothing to show for his efforts. In a last ditch gamble, he emptied the savings account to purchase an obsolete 12 track tape recorder - the rest of the world was upgrading to 24 track - and wired it up to his rudimentary but useable basement studio. Scholz planned to record the music for six new demos, but this time he decided to work alone, except for Masdea. He intended sell his equipment if his music was rejected again. As usual, Scholz relied on Jim to lay the drum tracks, after which Scholz played all the other instrument tracks by himself, methodically overdubbing one part at a time, and making extensive use of the stereo multiple tracking technique he had perfected. He also utilized several devices he had designed including one called a Power Soak, another he called the Space Echo pedal, and a crude prototype of a chorus unit mounted in a cigar box. At this point he also experimented with unusual processing with equalizers to help achieve his new sound. Once he had completed music beds for four of his new songs, Scholz looked up Delp and invited him to sing the vocal parts. Delp

agreed, and with Scholz as engineer/producer, painstakingly laid down all the lead and harmony vocals, also utilizing extensive multiple tracking. After mixing the four songs, Scholz sent copies to several labels, and began to prepare himself mentally to liquidate his gear and hang up his guitar. This time the phone rang. He suddenly had three major labels interested in his songs, and through a fourth, was offered a management deal by a pair of radio promotion men who promised to obtain a recording contract. The new managers, who called themselves Pure Management, decided to court Epic Records even though Epic A&R had already dismissed Scholz' newest tape, complete with closing insult. Their plan was to put on a live showcase performance for Epic/CBS; just one problem: no band. To make matters worse the new managers insisted that Masdea be replaced as drummer if they were to obtain a recording deal with anyone. Having signed an agreement with Pure Management that bound them for the immediate future, Delp and also Scholz, who was particularly reluctant, had little choice. Scholz insisted however that Masdea be included in some regard if a record was to be recorded. Assembling a performing unit capable of reproducing what Scholz had recorded on his demo worried him. He and Delp eventually settled on Goudreau for a second guitar, and Goudreau's friend Fran Sheehan on bass. Scholz and Delp could both switch off on guitar and keys. Scholz was counting on a prototype device he had been working on he called a "doubler" to provide essentially a synthetic second tracks for all the guitars and vocals, all of which were religiously "double tracked" in his studio productions. For drums they initially passed on another friend of Goudreau's, Sib Hashian, and instead settled on a monstrously fast local drummer named David Courier. After several weeks preparation, they performed a short set for invited guests from Epic/CBS including the four new songs on Scholz' demo, and some older pieces he had written. Weeks more passed with no sign of interest from Epic. In the meantime Scholz invited Courier to work on some further music in his basement studio, but with no apparent contract in the offing, and no retainer, Courier declined further involvement with the band. Scholz also believed Courier opted out because the arrangements of his songs gave little latitude for the drum solos that were Courier's passion. Finally, Scholz decided to finish the last two demos of his six new songs, one of which was "More Than a Feeling." He hoped it would either tip the scales for Epic, or give him the firepower to look elsewhere, regardless of his managers. In short order, Epic responded with a contract for Scholz and Delp to record their first album. Epic insisted that the existing demo cuts be re-recorded in a professional studio, but Scholz knew by this point he could only get his sound by working at his own pace in his own studio. A secret deal with the professional producer, John Boylan, hired by Epic for the job, allowed Scholz to record all the instrument tracks in his basement by himself, and share producer credit with Boylan when the album got released. To re-record the new songs, Scholz precisely duplicated five of the six existing demo cuts, working mostly by himself in the same studio exactly as he had made the demo recordings, except that Hashian covered the drum parts previously played by Masdea. At Scholz' insistence Masdea sat in to play one song, "Rock n' Roll Band," while the sixth cut, "Don't Be Afraid," was held for a follow up album. Using his basement setup, Scholz had Goudreau play the guitar leads for "Long Time," and Sheehan the bass track to "Foreplay." Only one song, Delp's "Let Me Take You Home" - recorded entirely in LA - contained performances of all five of the members pictured on the back of the debut album. Scholz brought the multitrack tapes to LA where Delp added all the vocals, and Boylan and Scholz mixed the album. Delp had trouble with the LA smog, and had to re-sing one song back in Scholz' studio, after which the tracks were laid back in - without ProTools or tape deck synchronizers - and remixed. Although they were the only performers named on the Epic Records contract, Scholz nixed the idea of calling the act Scholz-Delp or anything of the sort, a decision he regretted later when some of the other band members challenged his ownership of the band's name. According to Scholz, both Boylan and his engineer Warren Dewey suggested "Boston" for the new act for obvious reasons. Although Scholz felt it would be read as copying "Chicago," all of his rock music background had come from Boston. Even as a high school student in Toledo, Ohio, he carefully tuned in to Boston's WBZ, a high power AM radio station which played the new influx of British rock, and a collection of groups known in the 60's as the "Boston" sound - and of course, he and Delp lived in the greater Boston area. "Boston" it would be.[4] Barry Goudreau, who left the band in 1981, has a significantly different version of how the band started. The way Goudreau tells it, when he was a student at Boston University, he led a band called "Mother's Milk". One day, a musician named Tom Scholz joined after answering an ad in a local weekly newspaper. Scholz was a recent MIT engineering graduate who worked at Polaroid who was primarily a keyboard player, but who rapidly developed as a guitar player after joining Goudreau's band. After years of practice in Scholz's home studio with singer Brad Delp and other local musicians, Mother's Milk evolved into what we know as Boston, and Scholz took over the leadership of the band. In 1976, after years of having their demo tapes rejected, the band got signed to Epic Records after (in Goudreau's words) Scholz "refine[d] the songs and recordings to a point where they could no longer be denied." The first album came out in August 1976 and sold 200,000 copies in just a few weeks. According to Goudreau's story, he was the founder of the band Boston— and he, Delp and Scholz were more or less equal

contributors to the band's emergence.[5] Boston bandleader Tom Scholz made the following response regarding Goudreau's claims about Mother's Milk: "I count six misstatements of fact in this fanciful story. I would love to let Goudreau take credit for starting Mothers Milk, because it would save me the embarrassment of admitting that I came up with that terrible name." "Unfortunately, around 1973 I did actually start a band I called Mother's Milk. It was my final attempt at trying to have my songs heard by performing them with a live band. I wrote the original music played by the band, drew the band logo, paid for the ad space in the Phoenix for an early performance, and even built a crude light system for it, but all Mother's Milk accomplished was to prove that playing my originals with a band was a waste of valuable time." "Possibly Goudreau has confused Mother's Milk with the band he played in which was led by another MIT student, Kevin Clougherty, during my last year at the school. That's the band Goudreau played for that I actually did join, but it was in 1970 - well before Mother's Milk first squirted. Sorry. I'm certainly not going to argue about whether Goudreau led that band or not, but Kevin ran the ad I answered, sang most of the lead vocals, provided the practice space, found the gigs around campus, and named the band, 'Freehold.' Make your own call." "Clougherty also wrote the original material for 'Freehold,' to which I added a few less than stellar compositions. I drew a really cool smashed guitar poster for the band though. 'Freehold' played one very important role in the formation of BOSTON; it introduced me to drummer Jim Masdea. Jim was the first musician I ever recorded with, and he played drums on nearly every demo I ever made." "Mother's Milk held no such distinction. It was the last straw in a string of disappointments that made me give up on bands, and go back to my basement studio to write and record on my own. There I developed some new ideas, and made one last set of six demos with Jim Masdea playing drums, and me, myself, and I playing everything else." "After completing instrument tracks for 4 of the new songs, I got back in touch with Brad, who had quit Mother's Milk long before I smartened up, and invited him to sing on my new tapes. He laid in all the vocals the same way I played the instrument tracks, overdubbing them one part at a time. This demo resulted in three major labels contacting me, and a management contract. The final two songs, one of which was 'More Than a Feeling,' resulted in Brad and I being signed to Epic Records." "The real point here is that neither Mother's Milk, nor any other bar band, regardless of who was responsible for it, really had anything to do with the music released by BOSTON. The songs played in those local bands were songs I wrote at home, and brought to the party for them to learn. Brad and I eventually went on to write all the songs for the first two BOSTON albums." "I think people want to believe that something grows or morphs into something grander as a natural sort of progression. But sometimes something really cool happens because there is a complete departure from what was tried before. Such is the case with BOSTON, simply created in a basement with a beat up tape machine by a couple of unknowns experimenting with their passion for music." [edit] Boston (1976) Brad Delp, the former lead singerThe debut album, Boston, released in August 1976, was an enormous success. They've sold 17 million albums in the United States, the record ranks it as the best-selling debut album in U.S. history.[6] Worldwide, they've sold more than 30 million albums.[7] During the summer and fall of 1976, Boston attracted much publicity when they toured with Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat and others. The band then embarked on a headlining tour in the winter & spring of 1977 to support the album. This helped establish Boston as one of rock's top acts within a short time.[8] The album spawned one Top 10 single, "More Than a Feeling" and two other Top 40 hits, "Foreplay/Long Time" and "Peace of Mind". Additionally, the album peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts. Eleven years later, Boston would reappear in the Billboard Top 200, reaching #101. [edit] Don't Look Back (1978) Despite much bickering between CBS President Walter Yetnikoff and Scholz, the second Boston album had the finishing touches put on it two years after the debut album's release. Album #2, Don't Look Back, was officially released by Epic in August 1978. At the time this was considered a long gap between albums, but Scholz still considered Don't Look Back to be a rush job and was unhappy with the album's second side in particular. This was confirmed on the Third Stage episode of the popular radio program In the Studio with Redbeard when he said that "CBS had no confidence in a second Boston record and were trying to cash in on the success of the debut album". Although it sold four million copies in its first month, overall Don't Look Back sold less than half as well as the extraordinarily successful first album. Another tour followed, and the album's title track became a Top 10 hit, peaking at #4. Additionally, two other singles, "A Man I'll Never Be", and "Feelin' Satisfied" went Top 40 and Top 50 respectively. Despite the success, Scholz's relationship with Epic continued to deteriorate steadily. Scholz eventually began the process of working on Boston's third album, determined to complete the album at his own pace. [edit] Boston Disintegrates (1979–1983) In late 1979, Scholz began writing new material, but a lawsuit filed by Boston's former co-manager, Paul Ahern, argued that, according to an agreement Scholz signed earlier with Ahern, Ahern owned a percentage of all songs Scholz wrote from that point on. Since the litigation would delay the start of the third album, Scholz suggested, in the meantime, the individual members should work on whatever other projects they might be considering. Goudreau then decided to record a solo album which featured Boston members Delp and Hashian. The album, released in 1980, was titled simply Barry Goudreau and featured a minor charting single "Dreams". There was a bit of tension when CBS marketed the album as "The guitar sound heard on twelve million Boston albums". Scholz objected but the label eventually dropped promotion on Goudreau's album citing lack of interest. Goudreau ended up leaving the band in 1981. Delp went along with him to work on some material but was soon back with Scholz helping to record the third album. In the mid-80s Scholz claimed that Hashian and Sheehan had brought a lawsuit against him in an attempt to wrest the Boston name away and continue on without him. He also claimed that this attempt to remove him from Boston was done with the knowledge and assistance of CBS/Epic who also sued him for failing to deliver the third Boston album in the time they thought it should be delivered. The case later went to trial and Scholz would eventually emerge victorious over the record label. Sheehan and Hashian settled their suit out of court. Scholz has stated on numerous occasions that this process left him extremely jaded and wary of record labels and outside musicians. [edit] CBS lawsuit (1983–1985) In the course of recording new material for the third Boston album, CBS, tired of waiting for Scholz to finish, filed a 60 million dollar lawsuit alleging breach of contract by Scholz. Regardless, the legal trouble continued to slow progress toward the completion of the next album, which was now being recorded in much the same way the original tapes were: in Scholz's home studio. Joining Scholz in the album's development again were singer Delp and drummer Masdea, plus former guitarist Gary Pihl who joined the band in September 1985 and remains a member to this day. As the lawsuit played out in court, CBS opted to withhold royalty payments to Scholz in an attempt to leave him without funds to hire legal counsel to fight the lawsuit. Scholz had enough savings to continue paying his lawyers — and he even had enough money to start his own technology company, Scholz Research & Development, Inc. SR&D proved quite profitable, which allowed Scholz to hire lawyer Don Engel to represent him against CBS. Scholz was able to show that, in fact, he never stopped working to produce the album for Epic, even though a severe back problem should have sidelined him. The lawsuit's first round was decided in Scholz' favor. This allowed him to shop around the third album to other record companies. Even though Walter Yetnikoff warned other record companies to keep their hands off it, MCA agreed to release the third album, appropriately titled Third Stage. CBS let it be known that if another major label wanted Boston's contract, CBS would settle for $900,000 and $.25 an album. When MCA decided to take on the album, CBS brought a new case against Scholz and MCA, asking for a preliminary injunction to freeze the deal. The judge decided against CBS and Third Stage then belonged to MCA. [edit] Third Stage (1986–1988) Despite the adversity, progress continued to be made on the third Boston album. A tape of one of the songs, "Amanda", leaked out of the studio in 1983 and was widely bootlegged throughout the fan community who were eager for new material. The song was also played by some radio stations before CBS ordered them to "cease & desist". "Amanda" became the lead single when Third Stage was finally released in September 1986[1] after the band signed with MCA Records. The album is loosely built around the theme of life's "third stage" (the onset of middle age). During Boston's subsequent tour, the new album was played in sequence in its entirety. Third Stage was the strongest charting Boston release to date. The album and lead single "Amanda" both went to #1 on Billboard, and subsequent singles, "We're Ready" and "Can'tcha Say" were Top 5 and Top 30 respectively. Despite the strong start, sales of Third Stage were below the first two albums with fewer than five million copies sold to date. The group headed off on tour to promote Third Stage in the summer of 1987, with side Canadian dates added in the fall of 1988, dubbed the Christmas In Canada Tour. For the tour the group was joined by David Sikes (ex-Aldo Nova) on vocals, bass & keyboards and Doug Huffman (drums, keyboards, backing vocals) Boston also participated in a local charity concert sponsored by Tea Party Concerts to benefit AIDS awareness. This move was lauded by local radio personalities, owing to the stigma attached to AIDS at that time. Boston has continued involvement in a number of charities, including anti-domestic violence groups and local homeless programs. (Boston Herald, 1988; Boston Globe, 1988; bandboston.com). [edit] Delp departs; Walk On (1989–1995) After the release of Third Stage, Delp officially left the band in 1989. Scholz was now the last remaining original member. Ironically, Delp subsequently joined Barry Goudreau's new band, RTZ. Scholz headed back to the studio to work on an album with the working title of Boston IV. He was eventually joined (in 1993) by vocalist Fran Cosmo who sang lead vocals on the entire Walk On record. Cosmo had been a member of Goudreau's previous band Orion the Hunter, a project that also featured songwriting and backing vocals from Delp. In 1990, a jury ruled in favor of Scholz in the CBS lawsuit and the court awarded him 1.6 million dollars in punitive damages. With Scholz working at his usual slow pace, eight years passed before Walk On was released (in June 1994). Walk On went platinum but only reached #7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. It failed to reach the usual multi-platinum level or chart in the Top 5 like all their previous albums. It produced no hit singles, although "I Need Your Love" was widely played on rock radio and did enter the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. Delp rejoined Boston for two Christmas season benefit shows at the House of Blues on December 12 & 13th, 1994 in Boston where the band ended up handing a check of $5,000 to Globe Santa and another $5,000 to Operation Christmas in Fall River. Unfortunately, Delp blew out his voice by the end of the night. The next night, Cosmo and David Sikes had to split the lead vocal duties. The group, with Delp now permanently back on board, toured in the summer of 1995 with Delp sharing lead vocal duties with Cosmo on stage. By this time drummer Huffman had been replaced by Curly Smith (ex-Jo Jo Gunne) [edit] Greatest Hits and Corporate America (1996–2006) On the heels of the Walk On tour, Boston released their first ever Greatest Hits package in 1997, titled simply Boston: Greatest Hits. The album has sold over two million copies since its release. The album featured all of the charting classics, except "We're Ready", along with three new songs, including "Higher Power," the first new Boston song with Delp on vocals since 1986 and featuring a harmonica solo by Curly Smith (the drummer during the Walk On tour and the Summer 1997 Greatest Hits tour). The album also included "Tell Me" with bassist David Sikes on vocals and an instrumental version of the "Star Spangled Banner." Tom Scholz, the band's founder and lead guitaristScholz again headed back to the studio in 1998 (minus Sikes and Smith, who'd departed by the end of the previous year) in order to work on their fifth album. Fran's son, Anthony Cosmo, began helping out on the album as well. Three songs were leaked prior to the release of the album: "Someone" (featuring Delp on vocals) and "Turn It Off" (featuring Cosmo) which were aired on the Rockline radio program in 1999. "Corporate America" was uploaded by Tom Scholz to MP3.com under the name "Downer's Revenge" in early 2002 in order to test the album's appeal to a non-biased (college) demographic. On New Year's Day 2002, Boston sang the Star Spangled Banner at the opening of the Fiesta Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium in Arizona. The lineup was now Scholz, Delp, the Cosmos and Pihl plus new members Kimberley Dahme (vocals, bass, guitar) and drummer Anthony Citrinite. The latter was replaced later that year by Tom Hambridge for a short time before Jeff Neal joined at the tail end of 2002. November 2002 marked the official release of Corporate America on the independent label Artemis Records. This album featured the largest Boston lineup ever; returning members included Delp and Cosmo on guitar and lead vocals, Scholz on lead guitar and organ, Gary Pihl on guitar, Curly Smith on drums for a live cut (from 1997) of Living for You, along with the new members: Anthony Cosmo on rhythm guitar and Kimberley Dahme on bass and vocals. Dahme contributed lead vocals to "You Gave Up on Love" and a country flavored song she wrote, "With You", and Anthony Cosmo wrote and produced three songs, "Stare Out Your Window", "Cryin'" and "Turn it Off". The group embarked on a national tour in support of the album in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, Anthony and Fran Cosmo departed from Boston and formed the band Cosmo. Tom Scholz later sued Anthony Cosmo for allegedly performing live billed as Boston[1]. The lawsuit was later dropped by Scholz. Another significant piece of news for Boston was that Scholz and guitarist Barry Goudreau overcame their previous differences and rekindled their friendship; both have expressed regret for their past actions. (Boston magazine, 2006) In 2006, Scholz supervised and released the first two Boston albums in their remastered form. [edit] Death of Brad Delp (2007) Boston lead singer Brad Delp took his own life March 9, 2007 at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Police found Delp dead in his bathroom. Police Lt. William Baldwin called the death "untimely" and said that no foul play was indicated. Delp was alone at the time of his death according to the police report. According to a New Hampshire TV website, Delp was preparing for a summer tour. The Associated Press reported that his death was a result of suicide and that he was found by his fiancée. The AP also reported that, according to the New Hampshire medical examiner, Delp's death was the result of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning (from a charcoal grill) as evidenced by carboxyhemoglobin. Delp's last concert with Boston had been at Boston Symphony Hall on November 13, 2006 at a concert honoring football great Doug Flutie. [edit] Tribute to Delp (2007) A concert in honor of Delp named Come Together: A Tribute to Brad Delp occurred on August 19, 2007 at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston. The concert included, in order of appearance, Ernie and the Automatics, Beatlejuice, Farrenheit, Extreme, Godsmack, RTZ, and finally the current version of Boston. All of the living members of Boston were invited to perform in the concert on August 19. The singers for Boston included Michael Sweet of Stryper, former band member Curly Smith, band member Kimberley Dahme, and a Boston fan from North Carolina named Tommy DeCarlo, who was chosen to sing based on his performances on Boston cover songs on his MySpace page.[9] Another former Boston vocalist Fran Cosmo was unable to sing because of a ruptured blood vessel in his throat but he did play some guitar. Jim Masdea, Fran Sheehan and even Barry Goudreau joined Scholz and the rest of the band on stage for the finale, "Don't Look Back". Sib Hashian was conspicuously absent. Curly Smith and Kimberly Dahme split the lead vocal on the finale. [edit] The future of Boston (2008-) The ongoing conflicts between the surviving band members spilled over to the 2008 Presidential campaign. Barry Goudreau and Fran Sheehan appeared with Mike Huckabee (who is a musician himself) and played with him at some rallies in New Hampshire. Barry claimed on YouTube to be currently "of Boston" and said "We Like Mike" arguably implying that he and Sheehan were part of the band and that they were speaking for the band as a whole. Huckabee used "More than a Feeling" as a campaign theme song. Scholz, a self-described "Obama supporter", sent an open letter to Huckabee stating that the band had never endorsed any candidate, and that he had never authorized the use of "More Than a Feeling" as Huckabee's theme song. Scholz made a point of saying that he, and not Goudreau or Sheehan, "actually played all the guitars on that Boston hit as well as most of Boston’s songs, not the person holding a guitar in your promotion."[10][11] After the open letter was published in the Rolling Stone magazine, Laura Huckabee, Gov. Huckabee's daughter-in-law, called on behalf of the Huckabee campaign to apologize to Tom Scholz, and Gov. Huckabee did stop using "More than Feeling" as a theme song. Tom Scholz has remastered the Greatest Hits album for compact disc which is available at Wal-mart, and compiling an album of live Boston performances.[12] He has also been working on new Boston studio material, with Michael Sweet of Stryper, and other musicians. In the spring of 2008, Scholz and Sweet introduced a new Boston lineup, which subsequently did a North American summer tour, playing 53 dates in 12 weeks (on a double bill with Styx).[12][13][14] Scholz was the only founding member of Boston to play on the tour, although longtime member Gary Pihl was also part of the band. In addition to Scholz, Sweet and Pihl, the new lineup also featured Tommy DeCarlo, Kimberley Dahme and Jeff Neal. Goudreau and the other charter members were not part of this tour. [edit] Innovations and style Guitarist and primary song writer Tom Scholz' blend of musical styles, ranging from classical to 1960s English pop, has resulted in a unique sound, most consistently realized on the first two albums (Boston and Don't Look Back). This sound is characterized by multiple lead and blended harmonies guitar work (usually harmonized in thirds), often alternating between and then mixing electric and acoustic guitars. Scholz and Brian May are well regarded for the development of complex, multi-tracked guitar harmonies. Another contributing factor is the use of handmade, high tech equipment, such as the Rockman, used by artists such as Journey guitarist Neal Schon, the band ZZ Top and Ted Nugent. Def Leppard's album Hysteria was created using only Rockman technology. Scholz' production style combines deep, aggressive, comparatively short guitar riffing and nearly ethereal, generally longer note vocal harmonies. A heavier, lower and darker overall approach came in the next two albums (Third Stage and Walk On). The original track, "Higher Power," on the Greatest Hits album exhibits a near Germanic, almost techno influence with its sequencer-sounding keyboards, a sound most fully realized on Corporate America's title track. The late singer Brad Delp, who was strongly influenced by the Beatles,[15] is also credited for helping to create Boston's sound with his signature vocal sound, one that associates him with Boston as closely as Freddie Mercury is with Queen, Steve Perry with Journey, Roger Daltrey with The Who, Mick Jagger with The Rolling Stones, Dennis DeYoung with Styx, Peter Cetera with Chicago and Steve Walsh with Kansas - all fellow classic rock bands. Boston's albums are played on heavy rotation on Classic rock radio stations, with an emphasis on the earlier works. [edit] Band members Main article: List of musicians in the band Boston [edit] Current members Tom Scholz: lead guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals (1976-present) Michael Sweet: lead vocals, guitar (2008-present) Tommy DeCarlo: lead vocals, keyboards, percussion (2008-present) Gary Pihl: guitars, keyboards, backing vocals (1985-present) Kimberley Dahme: vocals, bass, guitar (2001-present) Jeff Neal: drums, percussion, backing vocals (2002-present) [edit] Past members Note: The dates when Goudreau, Masdea, Sheehan and Delp joined the band vary widely according to who tells the story. They all knew Scholz as far back as 1969, and worked with him in various combinations on various projects starting circa 1970, which led up to Boston's first album in 1976. Scholz does admit to being in a band with Goudreau, Delp and Masdea early on, but he claims this band was entirely distinct from Boston. Hashian was the last member of the "original" quintet to join, coming on board just before the band hit it big in 1976, replacing Masdea. Brad Delp (d. March 9, 2007) lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, percussion (1976-1989, 1994-2007, he'd been working with Scholz since the early 1970s) Jim Masdea: drums, percussion, keyboards (1983-1988, but also worked with Scholz in the early and mid 1970s) Barry Goudreau: guitars, backing vocals (1976–1981, also worked on early demos with Scholz in the early to mid 1970s) Sib Hashian: drums, percussion, backing vocals (1976–1983) Fran Sheehan: bass, backing vocals (1976–1983) David Sikes: vocals, bass, keyboards (1987–1997) Doug Huffman: drums, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals (1987–1994) Curly Smith: drums, percussion, harmonica, backing vocals (1994–1997) Fran Cosmo: lead vocals, guitar (1993–2006) Anthony Cosmo: guitar, backing vocals (1997–2006) Anthony Citrinite: drums (2001–2002) Tom Hambridge: drums (2002) [edit] Discography Main article: Boston discography [edit] Studio albums Year Album U.S.[16] UK[17] RIAA Certification[18] BPI[19] 1976 Boston 3 11 17× Platinum Gold 1978 Don't Look Back 1 9 7× Platinum Silver 1986 Third Stage 1 37 4× Platinum — 1994 Walk On 7 - Platinum — 2002 Corporate America 42 - — — 2009[20] TBA - - — — [edit] See also Best selling music artists [edit] References ^ a b "Boston". The New Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Inc.. 1995. 0-684-81044-1. ^ Boston Biography ^ RIAA Best Selling Artists - Boston ^ Boston ^ Bio ^ http://www.nme.com/artists/boston ^ http://www.gonnahitcharide.com/walkon/news/286-michael-sweet-and-boston-join-forces-for-a-north-american-summer-tour ^ Rockwell, Jorn (February 12, 1977). Rock: Boston Heads a Triple Bill. New York Times ^ http://www.bandboston.com/ ^ http://daddys.com/blog/?p=538 ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/02/14/more-than-a-feeling-writer-says-mike-huckabee-has-caused-him-damage ^ a b http://bandboston.com/flashsite407.html ^ http://www.metal-rules.com/zine/content/view/1189/1/ ^ http://www.thirdstage.ca/boston/ ^ http://www.gonnahitcharide.com/walkon/articles/web/131-brad-delp-interview-by-par-winberg/ ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wifrxqw5ldde~T5 ^ http://www.everyhit.com/searchsec.php ^ http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS ^ The Bpi ^ http://www.metacritic.com/music/upcomingreleases.shtml [edit] External links Official Site Boston: Heaven is a Reel to Reel Tape, originally published in Goldmine magazine, written by columnist Chuck Miller Interview with Tom Scholz at JUST CAUSE Magazine. [hide]v • d • eBoston Tom Scholz · Michael Sweet · Tommy DeCarlo · Gary Pihl · Kimberley Dahme · Jeff Neal Brad Delp · Barry Goudreau · Sib Hashian · Fran Cosmo · Musicians Studio albums Boston · Don't Look Back · Third Stage · Walk On · Corporate America Compilations Greatest Hits Singles "More than a Feeling" · "Foreplay/Long Time" · "Peace of Mind" · "Don't Look Back" · "Feelin' Satisfied" · "Amanda" Related articles Orion the Hunter · RTZ · Cosmo · Beatlejuice · Stryper Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_(band)" Categories: 1970s music groups | 1980s music groups | 1990s music groups | 2000s music groups | American rock music groups | Boston, Massachusetts musical groups