Donald Thomas "Tom" Scholz (born 10 March 1947) is an American rock musician, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, inventor, and mechanical engineer, best known as the founder of the hard rock band Boston. He is also the inventor of the Rockman guitar amplifier. As noted by Allmusic, he is 'a notoriously "un-rock n' roll" figure who never enjoyed the limelight of being a performer' but instead concentrated almost exclusively on his music. After achieving commercial success with Boston, Scholz has spent much of his time working with charities.

Early life

Musical success, hiatus, and return

Scholz had a keen interest in music and began recording demos in his home studio while working at Polaroid. These demos attracted the interest of Epic Records who signed Scholz to a recording contract. Scholz believed his demos were good enough to be the released album but Epic told him to rerecord them. Most of the guitar, bass, and keyboards were performed by Scholz, although other players were involved sporadically throughout the recording of the album. Epic did not want the album recorded entirely in Scholz's home as Scholz intended (they suggested using a recording studio) but most of what ended up on the album was ultimately recorded by Scholz in his basement. The album was released in 1976 and became the biggest selling debut album by any artist up to that time. Scholz's reputed perfectionism delayed the followup for two years - he was unhappy with ''Don't Look Back'' and claimed it was released under pressure from the record company. Scholz declared he would not be forced to release any more music unless he was completely satisfied with the final product. Boston's third album ''Third Stage'' consequently did not appear until 1986 but was another success, featuring the chart topping single "Amanda". Only Scholz and original Boston vocalist Brad Delp remained from the original group on the third album.

Scholz also started his own line of guitar effects under the name Rockman. These were supposed to sound like the "true Boston" sound. The boxes were arranged in cabinets and played through a stereo signal (analog) path. The originals have today become collectors' items.

After the death of Delp in March 2007, Boston held a concert in his memory on 19 August 2007 at the Bank of America Pavilion in the group's home city. Fran Cosmo was unable to sing due to a vocal injury, so Tom invited guest singers including Michael Sweet from Stryper and long time Boston fan Tommy DeCarlo who after auditioning live in front of Tom made a guest appearance on lead vocals.

Personal life

From his first marriage, Scholz has one son, Jeremy, who graduated from MIT in 2005 with a degree in mechanical engineering. When asked if his son likes his music, Scholz joked, "I think he does... but he's such a nice kid that he would pretend he did even if he didn't."

Scholz has remarked on the relationship with Boston's various record labels that ''"''The [music] business would be a good thing, except that it's dominated by drug addicts and businessmen''".'' In regard to the theme of his album ''Corporate America'', Scholz told the Sierra Club that ''"''The thing that made me decide to break with previous albums and include an overtly political song, was when I discovered that for the first time in American history big business owns the news media''".'' He also stated that ''"''The public has been sold a bill of goods about the free market being a panacea for mankind. Turning corporations loose and letting the profit motive run amok is not a prescription for a more livable world''".''

References

Further reading

External links

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:People from Toledo, Ohio Category:American vegetarians Category:Boston (band) members Category:American rock guitarists Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Ohio Category:Musicians from Ohio

Gary Pihl (pronounced "Peel") is a guitarist most famous for playing for Sammy Hagar and the band Boston.

At his home recording studio, Pihl worked with the founding members of a band that would eventually be called "Night Ranger." They recorded demos for their first and second albums (''Dawn Patrol'' and ''Midnight Madness'', respectively) at his home studio. Night Ranger was initially called "Ranger," but the band found that the name was already being used by another band and changed it prior to the first album release.

He also played with several other bands including Day Blindness, Crossfire (Steve Jones, Mitchell Froom, David Froom, Phil Marshall with Jeff Dorenfeld as manager; Crossfire also performed with Norman Greenbaum as lead singer for several years.), Stark Raving Mad (Gary on lead vocals and guitar, Donovan Stark, Paul Taylor (later of Winger), Jay Causbrook, and David Payne, with Eric Martin of Mr. Big joining after Gary left, among other players), and Alliance. (Note: There have been several different bands named Alliance.)

Crossfire featured an ARP Odyssey and ARP String Ensemble played by Mitchell Froom (who would later become known for the soundtrack to "La Bamba" and other films while also producing bands in LA). Crossfire's seminal moment was their performance at the ''Stop the Dam Concert'' held at Sonoma State College, (now Sonoma State University). The concert was to raise awareness and funds to stop the Army Corps of Engineers construction of the Lake Sonoma Dam project in Geyserville's Dry Creek Valley.

Before leaving Stark Raving Mad to join Sammy Hagar, he was known for songs such as "Olga on the Volga."

Sammy Hagar was the opening act at the end of Boston's first tour in 1977 and opened the whole second tour in 1978/79. It was on those tours that Pihl met Tom Scholz. The two of them found out how much they had in common with their extensive home studios and techniques. It set up a lifelong bond and a few years later Tom asked Pihl to join Boston.

After Jeff Dornfield became road manager for Boston, Pihl made other introductions including Doug Huffman, another drummer from Sebastopol in Sonoma County when Boston needed a replacement, and still later, bassist David Sikes from Fairfield, California near Sonoma County.

Discography

With Day Blindness

With Sammy Hagar

With Boston

With Alliance

Category:Boston (band) members Category:American rock guitarists Category:Living people Category:1950 births Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois