Boston frontman Brad Delp at Gillette Stadium in 2004. (Staff file photo by David Goldman)
Posted on 03/16/2007 5:29:56 AM PDT by PajamaTruthMafia
Boston lead singer Brad Delp was driven to despair after his longtime friend Fran Cosmo was dropped from a summer tour, the last straw in a dysfunctional professional life that ultimately led to the sensitive frontman’s suicide, Delp’s ex-wife said.
“No one can possibly understand the pressures he was under,” said Micki Delp, the mother of Delp’s two kids, in an exclusive interview with the Track.
“Brad lived his life to please everyone else. He would go out of his way and hurt himself before he would hurt somebody else, and he was in such a predicament professionally that no matter what he did, a friend of his would be hurt. Rather than hurt anyone else, he would hurt himself. That’s just the kind of guy he was.”
Cosmo, who had been with Boston since the early ’90s, had been “disinvited” from the planned summer tour, Micki Delp said, “which upset Brad.”
But according to Tom Scholz, the MIT-educated engineer who founded the band back in 1976, the decision to drop Cosmo was not final and Delp was not upset about the matter. (Cosmo’s son Anthony, however, was scratched from the tour.)
“The decision to rehearse without the Cosmos was a group decision,” Scholz said in a statement through his publicist. “Brad never expressed unhappiness with that decision . . . and took an active part in arranging the vocals for five people, not seven.”
Nonetheless, according to the singer’s suicide notes released yesterday, Delp said he had “lost my desire to live.”
Police say Delp sealed himself inside his bathroom last Friday, lit two charcoal grills and committed suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning.
“Mr. Brad Delp. J’ai une ame solitaire. I am a lonely soul,” said one of the notes. “I take complete and sole responsibility for my present situation.” The note also included instructions on how to contact his fiancee, Pamela Sullivan, who found Delp’s body.
“Unfortunately she is totally unaware of what I have done,” the note said.
Yesterday Sullivan, who was planning to marry Delp this summer, said the situation was “extremely painful” for her, Delp’s children and his family.
“To the rest of the world, this is a big story,” she said. “But to Brad and Micki’s children and me, it’s very different.”
According to police reports released yesterday, Delp was found on the floor of his bathroom Friday, his head on a pillow and a note paper-clipped to the neck of his shirt. He died sometime between 11:30 p.m. March 8 and the next afternoon.
Sullivan told police that Delp “had been depressed for some time, feeling emotional (and) bad about himself,” according to the reports.
According to Micki Delp, Brad was upset over the lingering bad feelings from the ugly breakup of the band Boston over 20 years ago. Delp continued to work with Scholz and Boston but also gigged with Barry Goudreau, Fran Sheehan and Sib Hashian, former members of the band who had a fierce falling out with Scholz in the early ’80s.
As a result, he was constantly caught in the middle of the warring factions. The situation was complicated by the fact that Delp’s ex-wife, Micki, is the sister of Goudreau’s wife, Connie.
“Barry and Sib are family and the things that were said against them hurt,” Micki said. “Boston to Brad was a job, and he did what he was told to do. But it got to the point where he just couldn’t do it anymore.”
Considerate to the end, Delp left a note on the top of the stairs at his home warning rescuers that there was carbon monoxide in the house. Another note said the couple’s cat, Floppy, should be in a room that was safe from the deadly gas and asked that someone find her and make sure she was all right.
Police said Delp was so intent on ending it all that he had a backup plan if the charcoal fumes didn’t kill him. A dryer vent tube was connected to the exhaust pipe of Delp’s car. In the garage, police found a note taped to the door leading into the house.
“To whoever finds this I have hopefully committed suicide. Plan B was to asphyxiate myself in my car.”
Outside the bathroom, police found a carbon monoxide detector with the battery removed.
Delp joined Boston in the mid-1970s and sang two of its biggest hits, “More than a Feeling” and “Long Time.” A lifelong Beatles fan, Delp also played with the tribute band Beatlejuice.
Delp was cremated Wednesday, police said. A private funeral was held earlier this week.
Boston frontman Brad Delp at Gillette Stadium in 2004. (Staff file photo by David Goldman)
I was there that night. It was freaking freezing and I was impressed as hell that the band didn't let the weather prevent them from putting on a good show.
The first song I ever learned to play was "More Than A Feeling" and til this day after 25 years still is timeless masterpiece. It was certainly Delp's voice and singing that has inspired endless musicians.
It sounds like Delp wanted the Cosmo band with them, and Scholz, who is the founder of Boston, said no, there were probably a LOT of arguments, and it probably left Delp feeling really depressed, and alone.
As his ex-wife said, he would "hurt himself before hurting anyone else". He probably felt overly responsible for the family of Cosmo.
Maybe he should have quit Boston again, toured with his other group with Cosmo? I know that it's easier to look at stressful things when you're not in the stress. He probably couldn't see a way out without hurting the Cosmo family.
So sad.
And yes, More Than A Feeling is one of the greatest rock tunes ever.
I heard from someone close to the situation that Scholtz had actually cancelled the tour 2 weeks ago, and didn't bother to tell anyone.
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