From Fan to Frontman: Tommy DeCarlo and Boston

Bostonist loves stories that prove that the internet is useful for more than virtual poker and porn, and this one's a doozy. When legendary local band Boston lost their frontman, Brad Delp, to suicide last year, lifelong Boston fan Tommy DeCarlo wanted to pay tribute to how much the band's music meant to him. So his daughter created a MySpace page of him singing karaoke to a few of the band's hits.

Somehow, through the magic of our beloved series of tubes, Boston founder Tom Scholz's wife ended up on DeCarlo's website. Scholz heard DeCarlo's karaoke covers and mistook DeCarlo's voice for Brad Delp's. (Bostonist thought Scholz was exaggerating. Then we listened to DeCarlo's MySpace. His voice is absolutely, uncannily Delp-like.) Once Scholz was convinced the singer wasn't his late bandmate, he offered DeCarlo a job.

The rest, as they say, is history. DeCarlo and Boston are touring the U.S. this summer. The tour, fronting for his favorite band since he was 12, will be DeCarlo's first ever.

Boston plays the Tweeter Center August 3.

(Image from Amazon.com)