ABC News – June 1, 2008:

Tommy DeCarlo of Charlotte, N.C., dreamed of becoming a rock star, listening to his favorite band’s albums and memorizing their songs.

“A Boston song would come on and I’d get fired up and I’d start singing it,” said DeCarlo, 43, a father of two kids — Talia, 19, and Tommy Jr., 17.

But dreams didn’t pay the bills, so DeCarlo worked as a credit manager at a Home Depot store in Charlotte to support his.

Still, he never gave up singing along to his Boston CDs, and his daughter Talia took notice. She posted a MySpace page of DeCarlo singing karaoke to Boston songs after the band’s lead singer, Brad Delp, committed suicide in March 2007. And, in an instant, DeCarlo’s whole world turned upside down.

“My wife was at her computer playing our tunes, and I asked whether it was us playing live,” Boston founder Tom Scholz told USA Today. “She said, ‘It’s some guy in North Carolina singing your songs.’ I said, ‘I know Brad’s voice, and that’s Brad.'”

Still, a skeptical Scholz was intrigued.

“In order to believe it, I had to plug the computer into the big speakers so I could listen to the background music and see if it was the band,” Scholz told ABC News. “And I realized it wasn’t the band, it was a karaoke track. Somebody was singing to it, and it wasn’t Brad.”

So the band decided to give DeCarlo a shot — as their new lead singer.

 




  1. lou says:

    Shame, I thought it was over.

  2. jccalhoun hates the spam filter says:

    They are just following in the footsteps of other bands. Journey found their new singer from videos the guy posted on youtube of himself singing Joyrney songs.

  3. SN says:

    “Journey found their new singer…”

    And Judas Priest found their not so new singer performing in a JP cover band. And if my memory serves me correctly, Styx replaced their late drummer with someone from a Styx cover band.

    The huge difference is that this guy now singing for Boston was never in a band before! He’s just some dweeb who worked at Home Depot.

  4. SN says:

    “But this trend sounds more about looking for cheap replacements”

    I think it has more to do with cheap publicity.

  5. Olo Baggins of Bywater says:

    I’ve seen a whole lot of rock singers, and not many of them could keep up with Brad Delp. That this guy was just banging it out in his car and his house, and is [i]that[/i] good says he was a real find for Scholz. Good for him!

  6. Cursor_ says:

    Again more bands being kept on life support.

    Look you had your time and now bow gracefully and go. Do something else, become famous for that, stop trying to perform necromancy on things that died more than a decade ago.

    Stones, INXS, Boston, Journey, Styx, Fleetwood Mac… move the hell on! Its over. You haven’t had a top ten ot even top twenty penetration in YEARS.

    Move on and do something else. Hell even Dylan, McCartney and Clapton have figured it out.

    Cursor_

  7. judas says:

    i’m a bit disappointed really… i could give a fuck about this band, but really… if you were seriously into a group, regardless of cheese or crapness, it’s pretty freakin’ cool to have been chosen to sing for them. this guy gets a small taste of something pretty neat to him.

    P.S. i cant stand this music… Boston can suck my left nut.

  8. FRAGaLOT says:

    How can you not like classic rock? You must be under 20, Judas.

  9. Mr. Gawd Almighty says:

    I guess Curser and Judas would rather Backstreet Boys got together again for one last gig.

    Boston was the outgrowth of one very talented dude with a few songs under his hat. We can only wish he had more where they came from.

    Congratulations to Tommy DeCarlo. For his, and the rest of the band’s sake, I hope it works out well.

  10. Mister Mustard says:

    >>Boston was the outgrowth of one very talented
    >>dude with a few songs under his hat.

    That’s the great thing about Boston. All the songs sound just like all the other songs, so if you want to do Karaoke, you can sing along to the music of any song using the lyrics of any other song.

  11. livvidd says:

    MisterMustard you need to take the cloth out of your ears when listening to music, Boston while not my favorite group has a classic sound that defined the 70’s. I repeat: Get a life

  12. Mister Mustard says:

    >>Boston while not my favorite group has a classic
    >>sound that defined the 70’s. I repeat: Get a life

    Sure they did. All their songs sounded just the same, so the repetition was endless.

    Besides, disco defined the seventies. Didn’t you love the night life? Didn’t you love to boogie? On the disco round?? You seem like the type.

  13. livvidd says:

    A nation of youth yelling Disco sucks is what defined my memories of the 70’s , musically speaking.

  14. Mr. Catshit says:

    #13,

    Boston while not my favorite group has a classic sound that defined the 70’s.

    LOL, ya RIIIIIGHT !!!

    The ’70s ran the gamut from Three Dog Night’s singing styles, to Paul McCartney & Wings pop sounds, to The Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s versions rockabilly to Sheena Easton and the Bee Gees and disco. Don’t forget Peter Frampton, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Rush, and Aerosmith. Each of these groups mentioned easily had a significant influence but none had the same impact as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, or the Beatles in their respective decades.

    The classic sound that defined the ’70s, HAR !!! Another budding expert.

  15. Mister Mustard says:

    >>A nation of youth yelling Disco sucks is what
    >>defined my memories of the 70’s , musically
    >>speaking.

    That’s why you should have been at Wrigley Field for DISCO DEMOLITION!!!!!

    http://tinyurl.com/y7jwu7

    You just gotta love Steve Dahl.

  16. livvidd says:

    lol, great story, gotta love the wick.thanks MM

  17. BigCarbonFoot says:

    #8 – “Move on and do something else. Hell even Dylan, McCartney and Clapton have figured it out.” – Umm, they’re all still active.

    Boston is one of the greatest, classic sounds out there. Thank god all these bands are still active. I went to Tom Petty with Pearl Jam opening last year. If it had been a contest, Petty would kicked them up an down the stage just to begin with.

    If you throw out disco, the 70’s was the single greatest decade for music.

  18. Mister Mustard says:

    >>Boston is one of the greatest, classic sounds
    >>out there.

    Man, you’re going to need all the carbon credits you can scrounge up. Sell them to Al Gore, and maybe you can get enough money to buy your dignity back.

    HAW!

    Who do you think was the “greates, classic sounds” of the sixties, the 1910 Fruitgum Company? Napoleon XIV (“They’re coming to take me away, ha haa”)??

  19. Mr. Catshit says:

    #20, Mustard,

    What ??? No Bobby Sherman with a letter from camp?

  20. Mister Mustard says:

    >>What ??? No Bobby Sherman with a
    >>letter from camp?

    I believe that was ALAN Sherman, Mr. Shit. Bobby Sherman was a teen heart-throb (you know, “Julie, Julie, Julie do ya love me? Julie, Julie, Julie do ya care?).

    For your own safety, don’t ever challenge me on oldies trivia.


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