Barry Goudreau (born on Nov. 29, 1951) - Original guitarist for the rock band Boston. Boston was formed from Barry's original band, "Mother's Milk", in which Tom Scholz (of Boston) joined as a keyboard player. Later, Barry recruited Brad Delp, who later became the lead vocalist for Boston. Barry worked with Scholz and 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. By this time, Scholz had finally become proficient on the guitar, so he performed all of the instrumental work. This second demo set won a recording contract with Epic Records.

Although Barry is not credited with any song writing on any Boston LP/CD, his guitar work was an integral part of the Boston trademark sound and style. This is attributable, in part, to the influence that he had on Tom Scholz's adoption of many Goudreau's blues-based riffing patterns, thundering pick slides, wild vibrato techniques and the partially engaged "wah" pedal tone generation that helped to define the Boston "sound". Barry composed and performed the lead work for Foreplay/Long Time, Don't Look Back, Used To Bad News and provided much creative input to primary songwriter, Tom Scholz. In late 1979, Scholz became involved in legal and contractual battles with the band's manager (and later with Epic Records). Therefore, 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, Barry had written many songs in hopes that Scholz would incorporate them into the next Boston LP. He approached Scholz with his songs under the auspice of using them for a solo LP, quietly hoping that Scholz would want to save them for the next Boston LP. However, Scholz did not express interest in using Barry's songs. Therefore, in 1980, Barry recorded his first solo LP titled "Barry Goudreau", using Brad Delp and Fran Cosmo (Boston vocalist since 1991) on vocals and Sib Hashian (Boston) on drums. Cosmo also played bass. The record company sought to cash in big time with this "almost Boston" line up and proceded to promote the solo LP as a kind of "Boston-lite". The LP successfully hit the airwaves with the hits "Dreams" and "Mean Woman Blues".

At this point, Scholz was enraged in regards to the way the solo LP was promoted. Also, the fact that several Boston members were banded together on the LP caused Scholz to feel threatened with the loss of control over the Boston legacy. Therefore, he demanded that Epic cease all promotion of Barry's LP or else they would never see another Boston LP. Epic acquiesced and Barry's solo LP was allowed to die on the vine. In addition, Scholz refused to work any longer with Goudreau, so he fired Barry.

In 1984, Goudreau formed up the band "Orion The Hunter" and released a debut LP. This time, Fran Cosmo appeared as lead vocalist, while Brad Delp provided background vocals. This record ellicited the hit song "So She Ran", which also had a music video. After a successful tour, the band disbanded.

It wasn't until 1991 that Barry formed up the band RTZ (Return To Zero). Brad Delp left Boston in order to join the band. Ironically, Fran Cosmo replaced Brad as Boston's vocalist. RTZ experienced some success with the hit "When My Love Comes Back Around", but the record company chose not to renew their contract. By this time, record companies were dropping rock acts in favor of rap and pop acts.

In 2003, Delp and Goudreau teamed up for their independent recording of "Delp And Goudreau". Although this effort was totally independent, the song "It's What You Leave Behind" currently garners substantial, but limited, radio play.

Finally, in 2005, Barry and the members of RTZ released 2 CDs of songs that were earmarked for the never-realized second RTZ CD. Barry continues to perform with Brad Delp, Fran Sheehan and Sib Hashian in small, local venues in the greater Boston area.