Tommy DeCarlo, who spent nearly 20 years singing with classic rock favorites Boston, died on Monday. 10. He was 60.
DeCarlo’s family confirmed his death on Facebook, noting that he’d been diagnosed with brain cancer last September. “He fought with incredible strength and courage right up until the very end,” the family said. “During this difficult time, we kindly ask that friends and fans respect our family’s privacy as we grieve and support one another.” A rep for the group did not immediately return Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
DeCarlo was a longtime fan of the group before he got the chance to front them in the late 2000s. A self-taught piano player and choir vocalist, he grew up listening to Boston and credited original singer Brad Delp with helping him discover his own voice.
“When I first began to listen to Boston as a young teenager, I absolutely loved Brad’s voice and how he would sing those classic hits whenever there was a Boston song on the radio,” DeCarlo said in a bio on the Boston website. “It wasn’t like I was trying to sing like Brad, it was just that I loved to sing along with him.”
At the time, in the mid-Seventies, Boston was one of the biggest rock groups in the world. Their 1976 self-titled debut quickly went platinum on the strength of hits like “More Than a Feeling” and “Peace of Mind.” (It later earned diamond certification from the RIAA in 1990.) Their second album, 1978’s Don’t Look Back, also sold millions of copies, though they didn’t release a follow-up, Third Stage, until 1986. Despite the long break, the album featured the group’s first (and only) Number One single, “Amanda,” as well as the Top 10 track, “We’re Ready.”
As for Carlo, by the time he was an adult, he was still singing in rock bands, but otherwise working a day job at a Home Depot in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2007, after Delp died by suicide, DeCarlo wrote a tribute song and shared it on MySpace, along with covers of Boston songs like “Smokin’” and “Don’t Look Back.” At the encouragement of his family, he sent a link to his MySpace page to the Boston camp and made himself available for an upcoming tribute show to Delp.
While DeCarlo received a polite rejection at first, a few weeks later, Boston guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader Tom Scholz called him up. Scholz was struck by DeCarlo’s voice, and its similarities to Delp’s. He asked him to join the tribute show lineup, and not long after, become a permanent member of the band.
DeCarlo spent the next nearly 20 years touring with Boston. He was also one of several singers to contribute vocals to their 2013 album, Life, Love & Hope. Along with Boston, DeCarlo also started a band with his son, Tommy DeCarlo Jr., with the group releasing an album, Lightning Strikes Twice, in 2020. A second LP, Dancing in the Moonlight, arrived in 2022.
In a 2015 interview, DeCarlo tried to express the incredible joy of getting to become part of his favorite band. “We love to listen to it,” he said. “But to actually perform it live, that’s almost indescribable. It’s an amazing feeling and it’s something that the fans and band members share together in that moment of music. It’s just amazing.”
