By Jessica Benson , Staff writer
Eagle-Tribune

ATKINSON, N.H. - The official Web site for the 1970s rock band Boston said it all.

The site was referring to the band's lead singer, Brad Delp, who was found dead in his Atkinson, N.H., home yesterday afternoon at the age of 55. The cause of death was unclear last night, though police said it did not appear suspicious.

Delp had been scheduled to play in Boston last night with his Beatles cover band, BeatleJuice. He had also been planning to tour with Boston and marry his longtime girlfriend this summer.

Though best known for lending his vocals to songs like "More Than a Feeling," "Rock and Roll Band" and "Amanda," Delp led a low-key life in the Merrimack Valley. In recent years, he spent more time playing local charity events with his cover band than he did acting like a big-time rock star.

People who lived on his quiet, wooded New Hampshire street knew him as a down-to-earth, friendly person who would go to neighborhood yard sales and help his neighbors shovel their driveways.

"I don't have a bad thing to say about the guy," said Ken Silva, who lives across the street. "Brad was just a regular guy. You wouldn't know Brad was a famous pop star." Danvers, Mass. native
That Delp grew up to become the lead singer of a rock band was not a surprise to those who knew him as a child growing up in Danvers. Before he even graduated from high school, he had been a singer for two bands, the Monks and the Iguanas.

Delp claimed he became a musician because he was inspired by the Beatles, saying the Fab Four "started it for me." He was enthralled as a 13-year-old watching the group's debut on the "Ed Sullivan Show," and felt like he had lost a family member years later when John Lennon was shot.

The inscription under his picture in his Danvers High School yearbook reads: "Have you heard the latest Beatles record?"

His love for the Beatles would later manifest itself with the cover band he fronted, "BeatleJuice." It started as a running joke at a weekly movie night for local musicians, which went on for several years before the group played their first gig at the former Bleachers bar in Salem, Mass.

The band stayed together for 14 years, longer than the Beatles themselves. Many of their concerts were held to benefit charities in the community, such as one for the Atkinson library, and others for the Methuen High School Ranger Band.

Delp had said he enjoyed the smaller venues after doing big shows with Boston, where crowds got up to 80,000 people.
blog comments powered by Disqus