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American rock band

Boston is an American rock band formed in 1975 by Tom Scholz in Boston, Massachusetts, that experienced significant commercial success during the 1970s and 1980s. The band's core members include multi instrumentalist, founder and leader Scholz, who played the majority of instruments on the band's 1976 self titled debut album, and former lead vocalist Brad Delp, among a number of other musicians who varied from album to album. Boston's best known songs include: "More Than a Feeling", "Peace of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time", "Rock and Roll Band", "Smokin'", "Don't Look Back", "A Man I'll Never Be", "Hitch a Ride", "Party", "Amanda" and "Feelin' Satisfied". The band has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, including 31 million units sold in the United States, of which 17 million were the band's debut album and seven million copies of the band's second studio album, Don't Look Back (1978), placing the group amongst the world's best selling music artists. Altogether, the band has released six studio albums in a career spanning over 49 years. Boston's recorded output has been minimal since the 1980s – with Third Stage, Walk On and Corporate America all released eight years apart, and the latter followed eleven years later by the band's most recent album Life, Love & Hope (2013) – although they have continued to perform live and have been hinting at an upcoming seventh studio album. Boston was ranked the 63rd best hard rock artist by VH1. After original longtime lead singer Brad Delp died in 2007, a number of vocalists have taken the stage, including Stryper frontman and vocalist Michael Sweet. Since 2013, Tommy DeCarlo has been the group's lead singer. Other current members of the band include guitarist Gary Pihl, bassist Tracy Ferrie, drummer Jeff Neal and vocalist/multi instrumentalist Beth Cohen.

Tom Scholz first started writing music in 1969 while he was attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he wrote an instrumental song, "Foreplay". While attending MIT, Scholz joined the band Freehold, where he met guitarist Barry Goudreau and drummer Jim Masdea, who would later become members of Boston. Vocalist Brad Delp was added to the collective in 1970. After graduating with a master's degree, Scholz worked for Polaroid, using his salary to build a recording studio in his basement, and to finance demonstration tapes recorded in professional recording studios. Scholz played all the instruments on the demos, except for the drums, which were played by Masdea, and used self designed pedals to create the desired guitar sounds. Scholz and Delp signed a deal with Epic Records after Masdea's departure, thanks to Ahern and McKenzie. Before the deal could be finalized, the band had to do a live audition for the record company executives. The duo recruited Goudreau on guitar, bassist Fran Sheehan, and drummer Sib Hashian to create a performing unit that could replicate Scholz's richly layered recordings on stage. According to Scholz, Masdea had insisted on performing a drum solo during the audition. Scholz stated that "The night before we auditioned I was going over a few things, trying to get everybody psyched up, and this guy says, 'You know, I don't think we're going to get this contract unless we have something flashy like a good drum solo right in the middle.' We'd only been working on arrangements and on this set for a month so we got Sib, whom I'd known for quite awhile." During the late summer and early fall of 1976, Boston attracted publicity due to the record sales. However, according to Cameron Crowe in Rolling Stone, there was "a conscious effort to de emphasize Scholz as the total mastermind behind Boston". After opening for Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Foghat, and others in the fall, the band embarked on a headlining tour in the winter and spring of 1976–1977 to support the album. This helped establish Boston as one of rock's top acts within a short time, being nominated for a Grammy Award as a "Best New Artist". Boston was the first band in history to make their New York City debut at Madison Square Garden. Despite having problems with manager Paul Ahern, being caught in the middle of a fight between Ahern and his business partner Charles McKenzie, and doing most of the recording work alone, 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. Overall, Don't Look Back sold about half as well as the debut album, eventually selling over 7 million records. Another tour followed (playing with the likes of AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Sammy Hagar, and the Doobie Brothers), and the album's title track became a top five hit. Additionally, two other singles, "A Man I'll Never Be" and "Feelin' Satisfied", went top 40 and top 50, respectively. Delayed by technical renovations to his studio, Scholz eventually began the process of working on Boston's third album, determined to complete the album at his own pace and up to his demanding standard.

In late 1979, Scholz began writing new material, but Boston's former co manager, Paul Ahern, argued that according to an agreement Scholz had signed years earlier with Ahern, Ahern owned a percentage of all songs Scholz wrote from that point on. an engineer and producer familiar with Scholz's studio techniques. Scholz objected to the ad copy, but it became irrelevant when Epic dropped promotion on Goudreau's album citing lack of interest. After a meeting with Scholz, Goudreau was fired from the band in 1981. Brad Delp, at the same meeting voiced his disapproval and told Scholz that he was quitting Boston but that he would record and complete the tour for that album. Goudreau then formed Orion the Hunter , After the tour for "Third Stage" ended in 1988, Delp teamed up with Goudreau and recorded the Return to Zero LP

While Scholz and Delp were recording new material for the third Boston album, CBS filed a $60 million lawsuit against Scholz, alleging breach of contract for failing to deliver a new Boston album on time. The legal trouble slowed progress toward the completion of the next album, which took six years to record and produce. Joining Scholz in the album's development again were Delp and Jim Masdea. In 1985, guitarist Gary Pihl left Sammy Hagar's touring band to work with Scholz as both a musician and an SR&D executive. As CBS v. Scholz played out in court, CBS opted to withhold royalty payments to Scholz, hoping to force him to settle on unfavorable terms. The album topped the Billboard 200 while the lead single "Amanda" went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and the subsequent singles "We're Ready" and "Can'tcha Say" reached numbers 9 and 20, respectively. The group headed off on tour to promote Third Stage in 1987 and 1988. Third Stage was played in sequence in its entirety during the shows, with expanded arrangements of some cuts. Boston opened with "Rock and Roll Band" and brought back the original drummer, Jim Masdea, to play drums for this one song. For the tour, the group was joined by Doug Huffman and David Sikes, both of whom stayed with the band into the mid 1990s. Scholz eventually replaced Delp with vocalist Fran Cosmo, who had been in Goudreau's previous band Orion the Hunter and sang on Goudreau's 1980 solo album. For the second album in a row, and for the second time in a decade, Scholz's work was delayed by renovations to his studio. In the end, eight years passed between Third Stage and Walk On, which was released in June 1994. Walk On was certified platinum by the RIAA, and reached No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The group toured in the summer of 1995 with Cosmo and Delp combining vocals. By that time drummer Huffman had been replaced by Curly Smith, who was previously with Jo Jo Gunne. Scholz headed back to the studio in 1998 to begin work on a fifth album, which eventually turned out to be Corporate America. The title track of "Corporate America" was uploaded by Tom Scholz to MP3. com under the pseudonym of "Downer's Revenge" in early 2002 in order to test the album's appeal to a younger demographic. The song reached No. 2 on the progressive rock charts on the website for two weeks. This album featured the largest Boston lineup ever; returning members included Delp and Cosmo on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Scholz on lead guitar and keyboards, and Gary Pihl on guitar, along with new members Anthony Cosmo on rhythm guitar, Jeff Neal on drums, and Kimberley Dahme on bass, acoustic guitar, and vocals. Dahme, Delp, and Cosmo all contributed lead vocals to the album. Due to lack of promotion on Artemis Records part, Tom Scholz sued Artemis. Artemis settled and subsequently went out of business but with that took that album with them. The album has been out of print for 20 years. The group embarked on a national tour in support of the album in 2003 and 2004. Police found him dead in his master bathroom, along with several notes for whoever would find him. Delp was alone at the time of his death, according to the police report. He was found by his fiancée, who saw a dryer hose attached to his car. All of the living members of Boston were invited to perform in the concert. 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 of Boston cover songs on his MySpace page.

The ongoing conflicts among the surviving band members spilled over to the 2008 Presidential campaign. Barry Goudreau appeared with Mike Huckabee and played with him at some rallies in New Hampshire. Huckabee used "More Than a Feeling" as a campaign theme song. sent an open letter to Huckabee in February 2008 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. In 2012, guitarist and vocalist David Victor joined the band, beginning in the studio, where he contributed vocals to several tracks on the album in progress. Scholz and Pihl led the band on a 2012 North American tour, beginning on June 28, 2012, at the Seminole Hard Rock Live arena in Hollywood, Florida and ending on September 8 at the U. S. Cellular Grandstand in Hutchinson, Kansas. Victor and DeCarlo shared lead vocals, with drummer Curly Smith returning for the first time in over a decade, and former Stryper member Tracy Ferrie on bass. Neither Dahme nor Neal played on the tour.

Boston's sixth album, Life, Love & Hope, was released on December 3, 2013, by Frontiers Records; it includes lead vocals from Brad Delp, Tommy DeCarlo, Kimberley Dahme, David Victor, and Tom Scholz. Work on the album started in 2002. On December 11, 2013, Boston re recorded a Christmas song, "God Rest Ye Metal Gentlemen 2013" (previously released in 2002 as "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"). In 2014 Boston embarked on the "Heaven on Earth Tour" spanning the United States and Japan with a lineup including Scholz, Pihl, DeCarlo, Victor and Ferrie. Dahme returned, this time performing rhythm guitar and vocals, and drumming duties were split between Neal and Smith, with Neal handling the first leg of the tour. Victor departed the lineup partway through the tour due to creative differences. In his stead, Siobhan Magnus joined the tour as a guest vocalist in July, performing lead vocals on Walk On. In 2015, Boston launched another tour with a lineup consisting of Scholz, Pihl, DeCarlo, Ferrie and new member Beth Cohen, who performed keyboards, rhythm guitar and vocals. Cohen had previously recorded with the group on both Corporate America and Life, Love & Hope as a vocalist and flautist. Initially, the lineup was to include former Spock's Beard drummer and vocalist Nick D'Virgilio for its first month of shows, with Neal then returning, but D'Virgilio proved "not the right fit" and Smith rejoined in his place. This seven person lineup proved Boston's most stable lineup in some time, touring as well in the summers of 2016 and 2017. The 2016 tour marked the group's 40th anniversary and included shows in Boston's Wang Theatre, their first full performances in their namesake town since 1994. On March 22, 2017, former drummer Sib Hashian died after collapsing on a Legends of Rock cruise ship.

In April 2017, Scholz reported that he has been writing new material for the seventh Boston album. He told Sun Herald, "I find that I'm in a position that I really need to write things that we can play at the shows. We play basically everything that people expect to hear that we can fit into two hours. We also do a lot of things that aren't on any of the records by adding things and segues and instrumental parts, so I always have to come up with new stuff. It's quite a challenge. I have to write new things for the tour every year, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. But I got sidetracked in the studio, recording. Now, I'm actually a performing musician, and I have to tell you, it's much more fun." While Scholz has vaguely stated that he's working on new music, the band has not toured since 2017 and no plans have been mentioned about a tour or new album.

A prominent theme on Boston's album covers is the presence of a guitar shaped spaceship, ostensibly a generation or colony ship carrying the city of Boston inside a clear dome, with the city's name emblazoned across the front. The original spaceship was designed in 1976 by Paula Scher and illustrated by Roger Huyssen with lettering by Gerard Huerta for Epic Records.

Boston (1976) – Two long lines of guitar shaped starships flee a planet that is breaking apart. The ships all have blue flames coming out of the bottom. Don't Look Back (1978) – The Boston ship is flying low or perhaps hovering over a grassy, crystalline planet. The ship has searchlights on. Third Stage (1986) – The Boston ship is headed towards a large flat spaceship resembling a bank of pipe organ pipes over a blue planet. Walk On (1994) – The Boston ship is shown crashing through a rock outcropping. Greatest Hits (1997, compilation album) – The Boston ship is flying low over a planet with turquoise rocks and a turquoise tower in the distance. Corporate America (2002) – The Boston ship is flying towards Earth and the United States. Life, Love & Hope (2013) – The Boston ship is flying in space, near a nebula. Their spaceship also appeared on their tours in the late 1980s, early 1990s, and early 2000s in the form of a giant lighting rig and accompanied on stage by their giant pipe organ set piece, which is known to Boston insiders as Bertha because of its sheer size.

Boston's genre is mostly described as hard rock and arena rock. The band has also incorporated elements of progressive rock into its music. Boston founder, guitarist, and primary songwriter Tom Scholz's blend of musical styles, ranging from classical to 1960s English pop, has resulted in a sound characterized by multiple lead and blended harmonies guitar work (usually harmonized in thirds), often alternating between and then mixing electric and acoustic guitars. The band's harmonic style has been characterized as being "violin like" without using synthesizers. Scholz developed complex, multi tracked guitar harmonies, using handmade, high tech equipment, such as the Rockman, used by artists such as Journey guitarist Neal Schon and the band ZZ Top. Def Leppard's album Hysteria was created using only Rockman technology. Tom Scholz also credited Brad Delp with helping to create Boston's sound with his vocal style. Delp, who was influenced by the Beatles, had an extended vocal range, shown on hits such as "More Than a Feeling".