Doug Huffman

Doug lived in northern California and started playing with the drums when he was 14. School-buddy guitar players made up his "formal training" as they played weddings and private parties. Just out of high school, Doug started a band with some players he knew were serious. They called themselves "A Euphonious Wail", wrote their own songs, and secured a record deal with MCA Records. They released their first album in 1973 and toured as the opening act for Black Sabbath, Bloodrock, and Steppenwolf. Before they started their second album, their guitar player decided rock and roll life wasn't for him and he quit. "We offered the job to a guitar/vocalist guy named Sammy Hagar, but he didn't want to play guitar anymore, he just wanted to sing, so we sent him packin'!! Too bad... he really missed an opportunity there!" It was around that time that Gary Pihl noticed what a great singing drummer Doug was. Gary tried to get Doug to consider being front man for his band Crossfire. They also tried to hire Sammy Hagar but Sammy had put his own band together by then.

In 1975, Doug landed a gig with a guy making a comeback by the name of Link Wray. He'd had a single back in 1957 called "Rumble" in which he introduced the "power chord" to rock music. "Although the gig lasted only six months, it was an honor to work with a living legend."

From 1976 to 1982, Doug worked with "Pacific Coast Highway", another songwriting/touring band playing festivals and small venues up and down the West coast. 1983 found him moving his family to Eureka Springs, Arkansas where he started playing in musical theater. "This was totally different from anything I had done before and it prepared me for a life-changing event... the call to audition for "Boston" !"

"Early in 1987, I got a phone call from Gary Pihl saying that Boston waslooking for a singing drummer to do an up-coming tour and asked if I would consider auditioning! I was told to learn 4 songs verbatim and that a plane ticket would be in the mail for me. I learned the tunes, then packed my autograph book and my camera! Hey, I knew I would never get the gig, but I really wanted to meet the guys from one of my all-time favorite bands !"

"I flew there, I flew back... I flew there again, I flew back. Each time I went, I worked with a different bass player (a position that was open as well). Finally, on my fourth trip, I was there with bassist David Sikes, who I'd auditioned with one time before. When we saw each other, we both thought, "maybe we're the ones!?!" Excitement turned to jubilation when, after a few hours of playing, we were asked to do the tour!"

"The six-month tour turned into years of fun, adventure and friendship with Tom, Brad, Gary, Dave, and a fantastic crew of forty-some-odd guys and gals."

"When we finished the fourth album, "Walk On", in June of 1994, Tom wanted to make some changes in the line-up and I was asked to step down. We're all still friends... no hard feelings. Tom Scholz is a fabulous human being with a vision of how and what he wants the band to be. There have been even more changes in personnel since I left, but that's what makes Boston "contemporary". They're not your typical "classic-rock" band. It was the experience of a lifetime and I miss their smiling mugs! (here's to you, Brad)"

In December of 1995, Doug and some friends started a country music theater in Branson, Missouri. It's a great show with some incredibly talented musicians that continues today. In June of 2005, Doug's parent's declining health prompted Doug and wife, Valerie, to move to Oregon to care for them. Although he lost his parents, Doug stayed on there with Valerie, enjoying each other and the beautiful Southern Oregon coast.

David Sikes

David Sikes spent the first four years of his life near his birthplace of Cambridge, England, until his family relocated to California. David's interest in music began much in the same way that many of the youth of his generation had... with his exposure to the Beatles. Learning trumpet and French horn in elementary school, he also played a mean air guitar and sang along to his favorite bands. He got his chance to rock as a sophomore in high school, when some friends invited him to join their band. They were in need of a bass player, so David saved his money, bought one, and taught himself how to play by listening to his favorite records and picking the notes up by ear.

A music major in college, David received some formal training, studying music theory, playing in the orchestra, and learning to play several other instruments. David bounced around the San Francisco club scene during the early eighties, playing with a number of bands that had some local popularity. During this time, he was asked to audition for Aldo Nova. Aldo Nova's first album made it into the top 10 selling albums in the year of its release and the band toured for 10 straight months, opening for Sammy Hagar (where he met future BOSTON band mate Gary Pihl), Cheap Trick, Hall and Oates, Rainbow, and Journey among others.

After finishing the band's second album and tour, David decided it was time to move on, and eventually joined the Los Angeles band Guiffria for their second album. At this point, David reconnected with Gary Pihl, who called David a while later with an offer of an invitation to audition for Boston's bassist. A big fan of the band, David jumped at the chance to play with Tom, Brad and the others. Excited about the opportunity, the busy integrated style of bass playing was right up Dave's alley. He explains the process of getting ready for his first BOSTON tour, "First off, I studied the songs on my own, and probably had the bass parts down in 2 weeks or so. One of the things I had to do was buy a 5 string bass because so many of the songs on Third Stage had the E string tuned lower than a standard pitch. Playing a bass with 5 strings was a bit of an adjustment. What was more difficult was playing the bass and singing, there was a lot going on in some of those parts. I can't tell you how long that took because it was a gradual process of working with Brad and Doug on my own and rehearsing with the band. My memory is that we rehearsed for a full 2 months before the Third Stage tour. At the point that we played our first show, I felt I really had it all down." Sikes played with BOSTON from 1987 to 1997, performing on four tours.

Sikes had the reputation of being quite a practical joker on the road. One day, it caught up with him, as Gary Pihl explains, "David was walking over some cables right behind the stage during soundcheck on our '97 tour. He slipped and fell onto his bass guitar. A tuning peg from the bass jammed into his skin about an inch from his eye. He was rushed to the hospital and got about 5 stitches to close the wound. We thought we'd have to cancel the show but he came back to the venue like a trooper, ready to do the concert. While he was at the hospital, Brad heard about the accident and that Dave wasn't in a life threatening situation. So as a joke, Brad outlined an image of Dave's body and the bass guitar on the ground with white tape at the spot where Dave went down, just like a police crime scene. We were all rolling with laughter but Dave wasn't amused when he saw it. But that's rock and roll, you get about one minute of sympathy then no mercy."

Credited on Walk On and Greatest Hits for songwriting and vocals, Sikes also assisted on production on the vocal arrangements for several songs on Walk On. "He was an asset in the recording of the album Walk On," says Scholz.

Trading in rock and roll after BOSTON's 1997 tour for the rewarding world of family life, David lives near San Francisco with his wife and two sons, where he owns a thriving insurance agency. On making the shift, he says, "I have been a musician all my adult life, there were a lot of ups and downs. I have never liked the business of music and there is no way to escape it if you rely on it for your living. The single biggest reason for me though, were my two sons who were growing up and I was missing large chunks of their childhood. My children deserved to have a dad that was around." He continues to play for enjoyment, and has participated in charity concerts over the years with musicians from Huey Lewis and the News, Night Ranger, and Tower of Power.

Sib Hashian

John "Sib" Hashian August 17, 1949 (Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals Live)

Sib had been playing drums since elementary school, though he had no formal training. He played in various bands with Fran Sheehan, and later met Tom Scholz through Fran. Sib played on Barry Goudreau's 1980 solo album, and also particpated in early sessions for Third
Stage (before being replaced by Jim Masdea).

Sib has owned/operated a record store in Danvers, Massachusetts (called "Soundwaves), and at one point he owned a chain of tanning salons throughout the Boston area. His current business endeavor is a small music store Sommerville, Mass.,
called Holland Street Music.

Fran Sheehan

Fran Sheehan March 26th, 1949. (Bass, Percussion, Backing Vocals Live)

Despite the fact that Fran contributed the least to BOSTON's success, he actually had arguably the most musical experience prior to joining the group. He had been playing gigs with his father at age 5, and he majored in Vocals at the New England Conservatory Of Music.

But Fran dropped out of school to pursue a dream in rock and roll. Instead, he ended up playing a lot of weddings. However, Fran did meet up with John "Sib" Hashian, which led to him joining BOSTON.

Jim Masdea

Growing up in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, near Boston's inner city, Jim Masdea lived in a house that shook with the rumble of passing commuter trains. Dealing with the drama of urban survival, no one would have predicted that someday he would be close friends with MIT grad Tom Scholz, who had had the luxury of a good home and successful, educated parents.

Self taught and immersed in Rock and Roll music at an early age, Jim was happy playing drums in capable local rock bands by the time he started high school. When Jim serendipitously answered an ad for a band that Barry Goudreau and Tom Scholz were playing in, the stage was set for a relationship that would eventually change all of their lives. That band quickly dissolved, but the musical connection turned into a close friendship between Scholz and Masdea.

Jim was the drummer for several unsuccessful attempts at bands formed to play songs live, and even more attempts at recording them in Scholz's commercial studio. When Tom gave up on these approaches and went 'underground' to his basement studio, he invited Jim to be the ebony porn only other musician he would work with. Masdea played the drums on every demo recorded by Scholz, and together they developed the drum arrangements for most of the music heard on BOSTON's debut album.

At the insistence of management, Masdea was eventually replaced for the recording of the debut album tracks, but the drum parts for many of the songs were reproduced note for note from the demo tracks that Jim played. At Scholz's insistence, Jim played drums for 'Rock and Roll Band' on that album, and several years later Tom invited him back to record drums for much of BOSTON's Third Stage, and the amazing 1987 stadium tours that followed. In addition to playing with BOSTON, Jim has been involved in diverse enterprises, including building and operating a bakery, and captaining a commercial yacht.

Barry Goudreau

Nov 29, 1951

Playing since he was 11, Barry Goudreau was an accomplished guitarist by the time he entered Boston University to study Geology. In the early '70's, he was playing in a band that practiced in an MIT fraternity house. They ran an ad for a keyboard player, which Tom Scholz answered, and a close friendship between he and Barry was born. Goudreau played lead guitar on several of Tom's early demo recordings, and found vocalist Brad Delp in the mid 70's. When Scholz's final demos won a contract with Epic Records in 1976, Barry was Tom's first and immediate choice to join the new band. Barry recalls, "In the early days of the band we had a tremendous camaraderie. It was more fun than you can imagine. At the same time there was tremendous pressure as well. At first all we hoped for was to sell enough records to continue with a musical career." Those hopes manifested into a collective 25 million albums between Boston and Don't Look Back. Goudreau's incredible leads can be heard on "Longtime," "Used to Bad News," "Let Me Take You Home Tonight," and "Don't Look Back." Tom says, "When Barry and I played those harmony parts or battling guitar leads, it felt like we were connected by a "Vulcan mind link." He adds, "I've never seen anyone so dedicated to honing his physical skill with guitar. Watching TV or hanging with some friends, Barry always had his SG in his hands, playing unplugged, silently conditioning his reflexes. He had lightning speed."

Following two tours and two albums with BOSTON, amidst turmoil with the band's managers and record company, Barry and Tom went their separate ways. In 1980, Goudreau released Barry Goudreau with singers Brad Delp and Fran Cosmo, which reached #88 on the Billboard charts. In 1984 he launched Orion The Hunter, joined by Cosmo and Delp again. In 1991 he formed RTZ (Return To Zero), once again with Delp singing lead vocals, releasing a self-titled album the following year. His most recent effort with Brad was in 2003, the self--titled Delp and Goudreau, a release that really showcases their talent.

After Tom Scholz's remastering of the first two BOSTON albums in March 2006, he and Barry reinstated contact after 25 years, rekindling a friendship neither had forgotten. Barry continues to perform on occasion in small venues in the greater Boston area. In the winter months he takes to the ski slopes whenever possible, and during the summer, he hits the water in his Formula powerboat. Barry and his wife live on the north shore of Boston with their son and daughter.

Bradley E. "Brad" Delp

June 12, 1951 - March 9, 2007

Born in the north shore of Boston, Brad Delp has been playing music ever since childhood, buying his first guitar at 13 after seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. "It cost $60, and it had an amplifier built into the case, which was a great thing," he says, "and it was all of five watts." Shortly thereafter, he joined his first band, The Iguanas, and has been rocking ever since. Brad remembers, "The Iguanas was rather short lived. Most of the original Iguanas remained when we changed our name to The Monks (this was before the Monkees), and that was the band that I played with all through high school. I still see most of those guys today." 

Brad honed his unique singing style by performing in various clubs regularly in the early '70's, a welcome respite from his day job, working in a factory making heating coils. Barry Goudreau brought Brad to the attention of Tom Scholz while he was recording demo tapes in his basement studio, and 30 years later, he still contributes to the BOSTON magic with his dulcet tones. Brad recalls, "The first time I met Tom, he was playing in a little club in Revere Beach. The band, at the time was Tom, Barry and Jim Masdea. I was in a cover band (with Fran Sheehan playing bass) that never got to the point of actually playing a gig. The reason I went to the club at Revere Beach was because I heard there was a band, writing original material, who was looking for a lead singer. This turned out to be the case. I never did meet the original singer, the night I saw them Barry was playing guitar and singing lead vocals as well. Coincidentally, I had met Barry before. He tried out, as a replacement lead guitarist, for a band that I was in back in high school. Although my band thought he was very good, he didn't get the gig with us because our original guitarist had a change of heart and decided to remain in the band." He continues, "I don't know, maybe Barry put a good word in for me with Tom from our earlier musical encounter. In any event, I auditioned for them a short while later in Jim Masdea's basement, where they rehearsed and, happily, got the gig." Good word or not, it was on Brad's own merit that he got the job, as Scholz had auditioned countless singers, but just knew that Delp was the man for the job as soon as he started to sing. In addition to being blessed with those golden vocal chords, he is also a talented songwriter, and wrote or co-wrote with Tom several songs on the first two BOSTON albums, as well as Walk On. Not only does he possess one of the most recognizable voices in the history of rock music, but Brad Delp also plays guitar, keyboards, and harp.

Singing lead and all the harmony tracks (4-6 depending on the song) on the first 3 BOSTON albums, Brad's voice has become an international treasure, heard around the world on a daily basis. Thirty years later, it still hasn't gotten old for him. "I never get tired of playing because every show is different. Wherever you do the show, there's a certain amount of pride because you don't want people to go away disappointed," remarks Delp. Observing the audience's reaction at any given show, they never get tired of seeing him perform, either. After a hiatus from the band in the early '90's, Brad returned to Scholz's studio to lay some tracks for Corporate America.

Brad's fans rave about what a personable and humble man he is. His band mates do as well. Drummer Jeff Neal says, "There's not much more that can be said about him that hasn't already been said a million times. One of the most distinguishable voices in all of popular music, and also one of the nicest, most down to earth guys you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting. I have never seen someone who can so seemingly effortlessly do what he does, whether it be singing those classic lines from the first album or working a room at a meet-and-greet. If there were such a thing as a rock and roll university, Brad would be my first choice for teaching 'How to be a Rock Icon 101' He's self-effacing, kind-hearted and always willing to share the attention. He also has one of the quickest wits around. Gary Pihl adds, "We call Brad 'the nicest guy in Rock and Roll!'" I've been in other bands where we avoided talking to fans. Brad goes out of his way to make sure he meets everybody, signs all the autographs they want and takes pictures with any fan who has a camera!" When not touring with BOSTON, Brad is involved with a Beatles tribute band called Beatle Juice. Tom says, "They sound more like the Beatles than the Beatles did!" Delp cites the Fab Four as his greatest influence, and has been a huge fan since he first heard them over the airwaves. Beatle Juice performs a lot of shows in the Northeast, many of them for charitable causes. Over the years, Brad has lended his songwriting and vocal talents to several projects including the solo album by Barry Goudreau, Orion the Hunter, and RTZ. Most recently, in 2003 Brad and Barry released Delp and Goudreau, an album they made, "for the sheer pleasure of making music." He says that he still gets nervous, even after all these years, even after playing to stadium crowds of 80,000 with BOSTON, and to a crowd of 100,000 from the Hatch Shell on Boston's Esplanade, performing with Beatle Juice. "I get nervous before going on stage and if I didn't get nervous, I'd be suspicious," admits Delp, "But once I start playing, it goes away." A vegetarian for 37 years, Brad resides in New Hampshire's Merrimac Valley.