Stryper frontman Michael Sweet recalled how he was “shocked” when he was invited to join Boston in 2007, following the death that year of singer and guitarist Brad Delp.

Band leader Tom Scholz hired both Sweet and singer Tommy DeCarlo for what was originally supposed to be a farewell concert, but he enjoyed the experience so much that he took the group on tour the following year. However, Sweet bowed out in 2011.

“The first Boston album changed my life,” Sweet wrote on Facebook, posting a picture of Delp. “Mostly due to the voice of Brad Delp. He was one of a kind and is irreplaceable IMO. I was shocked when they asked me to join the band after his passing. I’m not 1/10th the singer Brad was, but I gave my all and was somehow able to relate to all the Boston fans in a powerful way as we celebrated Brad's life.”

Sweet said he'll "never forget meeting everyone after every show and hearing the most kind comments about my involvement. It was truly amazing and so memorable. Were you able to see me perform with Boston in 2008 and, if so, did you enjoy it? I sure did, even though it was short-lived. ... I was a member of one of the most iconic bands in rock ’n’ roll. … R.I.P. Brad Delp. I never met you, but I sure do wish I had.”

Before the tour launched in 2008, Scholz described Delp as “the most talented musician [and] singer that I have ever know. ... No one person could replace him. We could have looked for a lifetime and never found that person. I have to say that both Michael and Tommy have done a great job filling his shoes. … I am not a mystical sort of person, but it is almost as if Brad is up there pulling some strings. … It was the most serendipitous set of circumstances that I have ever experienced.”

In 2017, Scholz noted he was still writing music, but was doing so in order to develop Boston’s live performances. “I got into recording because I wanted to play live, and I realized the only way I was going to get to play live was if I recorded some music that people could hear and would want to come and see,” he told the Sun-Herald.

“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.”

 

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