Boston's Scholz Sues Boston Newspaper

Boston’s Tom Scholz is suing reporters of the Boston Herald over a story that claimed he was responsible for the suicide of former Boston frontman Brad Delp.

This story goes back to a newspaper article published in March 2007 – a week after Delp had taken his own life – which was titled "Pal's Snub Made Delp Do It.” The article attributed quotes to Delp’s widow that said the frontman was "was driven to despair" by his professional problems with Scholz.

The article went on: "According to Micki Delp, Brad was upset over the lingering bad feelings from the ugly breakup of the band Boston over 20 years ago. Delp continued to work with Scholz and Boston but also gigged with Barry Goudreau, Fran Sheehan and Sib Hashian, former members of the band who had a fierce falling out with Scholz in the early '80s.

"As a result, he was constantly caught in the middle of the warring factions. The situation was complicated by the fact that Delp's ex-wife, Micki, is the sister of Goudreau's wife."

Scholz’s lawsuit against the paper and the two reporters responsible, Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, claims that Micki Delp never made the statements that were printed in the article.

In 2008, Scholz sued Micki Delp and her sister, Connie Goudreau, for defamation; that lawsuit is still pending.

According to Delp's testimony in the 2008 lawsuit, Micki Delp told Fee that she did not know why Brad Delp had committed suicide.

When the story was published, Micki Delp demanded that Fee retract the statements, but Fee refused, according to the complaint.

Scholz says Fee and Raposa also invented quotes from an anonymous "insider" in order "to sensationalize a story about Mr. Delp's suicide in an effort to sell newspapers and to portray Mr. Scholz as an insensitive, heartless and oppressive person."

Scholz is seeking damages for defamation and emotional distress.

The case continues.