Born in Toledo, Scholz grew up on Edgehill Road in Ottawa Hills and graduated from Ottawa Hills High School. Before his musical career, Scholz received both a bachelor’s degree (1969) and a master’s degree (1970) in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for Polaroid Corporation as a senior product design engineer. Scholz had a keen interest in music and began recording demos in his home studio while working at Polaroid. He spent six years unsuccessfully submitting demos to record companies. Eventually the demos attracted the interest of Epic Records, who signed Scholz and singer Brad Delp to a recording contract. Most of the guitar, bass, and keyboards on Boston’s debut album were performed by Scholz in his home studio. Boston’s first album is filled with hits, including, More Than A Feeling. The track took almost five years to complete. Scholz noted the song was about a “fantasy event. But it’s one that almost everybody can identify with, of somebody losing somebody that was important to them, and music taking them back there.” Crafted in Scholz’s basement, the song was the bands first single and immediately went gold after it’s release. Scholz also started his own line of guitar effects under the name “Rockman.” Among the many Rockman effects available, one could reproduce the unique “Boston” guitar sound.
