Barry Goudreau | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born |
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
November 29, 1951
Genres | Hard rock, rock |
Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
Years active | 1969–present |
Associated acts | |
Website | barrygoudreau |
Notable instruments | |
Gibson SG |
Barry Goudreau (born November 29, 1951) is a musician, best known as one of the original guitarists for the rock band Boston.
Goudreau had developed a musical interest at an early age and got his first guitar, an acoustic which he borrowed from a friend, at age 11. He began taking lessons and by age 13, joined his first band, the "Tornadoes". At age 15, he joined another band with future Boston drummer Sib Hashian. They would often play at night clubs, sometimes seven times a week. Later, he met up with Brad Delp and Fran Sheehan, both future members of Boston. He auditioned for Delp's band, but didn't make the cut.
When he went to college at Boston University, he sought to get a degree in Geology. He tried to put music aside to focus on school, but he soon met up with Tom Scholz who was right across the river at MIT.
Goudreau worked with Tom Scholz and Brad Delp as early as 1969 on an initial set of demo tapes, where he performed all of the rhythm and lead guitar work. These early attempts to attract record label interest did not succeed.
Later, Scholz re-worked and re-recorded some of these demo songs and wrote several new songs for a second set of demo tapes, this time with Scholz performing all of the guitar, bass and keyboard parts. This second demo set won a recording contract with Epic Records.
In late 1979, Scholz became involved in legal and contractual battles with the band's manager, and later with CBS. Thereafter, he informed the members of Boston that he would not be working on Boston material for at least a year and that they should feel free to do solo projects.
By this time, Goudreau had written many songs in hopes that Scholz would incorporate them into the next Boston LP. Scholz did not express interest in using any of Goudreau's work. In 1980, Goudreau recorded his first solo LP titled Barry Goudreau, using Brad Delp and Fran Cosmo (who would join Boston in 1991) on vocals, and Sib Hashian on drums. The record company sought to cash in with this "almost Boston" line-up. The LP successfully hit the airwaves with the songs "Dreams" and "Mean Woman Blues". Ultimately, it was this album that triggered Scholz to ask Goudreau to leave Boston.