When Boston was at a crossroads in the early 1990s after ruling rock and roll throughout the prior two decades, Fran Cosmo, who worked with various members in the offshoot act Orion The Hunter, an MTV fixture in its own right, stepped up to the plate as singer.

Besides being the sole voice on the entire “Walk On” project, he helped the group mount a major comeback thanks to the strength of singles “I Need Your Love” and “Livin’ For You,” plus kept the momentum rolling throughout a few “Greatest Hits” compilations, the “Corporate America” album and many massive tours.

Come Friday, May 30 at the Arcada Theatre, fans will not only have a chance to hear Cosmo perform his previous band’s best in all the original keys (“More Than A Feeling,” “Don’t Look Back,” “Amanda”), but also some fellow Voices Of Rock Radio, including former Kansas singer/songwriter John Elefante and Illinois native Kevin Chalfant, who fronted The Storm and was Journey’s first-ever Steve Perry stand-in.

In the meantime, Cosmo called Chicago Concert Reviews for a complete timeline of a still “Smokin’” career, being best friends with the late Brad Delp, having ongoing awe for former collaborator Tom Scholz’s creative genius and what could be coming around the solo corner.

How did you get connected with the Voices Of Rock Radio?

Fran Cosmo: I’ve done shows with Kevin from way back, different kinds of shows, like raising money for cancer and for [late Toto singer] Fergie Frederiksen, plus we did concerts together. Then John Elefante too, I’ve been playing with him all over the place for the last many years and we became very good friends. We’re very close, all three of us. It’s fantastic. I love working with those guys. I do other projects and they do as well, but this one’s like one big family, from the bandmates to the singers involved. I love the fact that we’re all Christian and stuff like that.

I just had so much fun with John Elefante and [former Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist] Randall Hall in Germany. We were all together and we had a blast out there. It was a very different kind of thing for me to be singing with a whole symphony orchestra with the Boston songs, with a rock band behind me and behind them. And I wanted to say that John Elefante killed it. There’s going to be strong memories with that tour. The food was not like I wanted it to be (laughs), but it was a great time. We went out on our nights off and we did 13 shows together. It was a great tour!

Does anything about Chicagoland in particular stand out for you?

Cosmo: Yeah, as a matter of fact, I played the Arcada Theatre a couple of times with my band and I think one time we had some other singers on there with us. It was fun. I love that theatre. Chicago, yeah, there’s some good food out there. I love it. Chicago pizza is awesome (laughs). I’m Italian, so I love pizza. It was a great time in Chicago.

What’s planned for your part of this upcoming Arcada Theatre evening?

Cosmo: Obviously, I’m gonna do some Boston songs. Most of it is the classic Boston songs, the favorite tunes as they say. On occasional shows with my band and other projects, I’ll do “Livin’ For You,” “Walk On” and “I Need Your Love,” stuff off the “Walk On” record that I sang on, which went platinum in America and platinum in Canada…This show is gonna be most of the classic rock and roll from Boston.

Can you trace the steps of getting to know and work with some of the Boston members?

Cosmo: Okay, you ready for this? (laughs). Yes, I met Brad Delp, Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian, all from the band Boston, in 1979. They got in touch with me to see if I wanted to write some songs. They were missing three songs from the “Barry Goudreau” solo record, so I went out there, met them and I did sing the three songs that I wrote on the record. I got to know Brad so well over the years, he became my best friend. So that’s how it started with Brad Delp and me being very good friends and then with Barry Goudreau. We moved on from his solo record to a band called Orion The Hunter and the song “So You Ran” that I wrote with Barry. That song made a hit record. It was the number sixth played song in the country and went to MTV. There was a big video on there…

Before MTV, music was happening a little bit on radio, but it was dull. It would take you years to make it. It was slow moving and the songs weren’t as exciting as the ‘80s, so when MTV came out, there was a big platform for artists to achieve their goals. That was one of the favorite times of my life and that’s what made Orion The Hunter cause we had big recognition from that. The video of “So You Ran” led us to go on tour with Aerosmith.

How did opening up for Aerosmith go?

Cosmo: That was great! I met Steven Tyler and it was the “Back In The Saddle” Tour 1984. He was like kinda upset to go on stage because they had no new music and he came up to me one night and said, “Fran, you’re so lucky. You’re doing new songs. I wish I was doing new songs” (laughs). We used to talk every night before he went on stage and he was a cool guy. It was fun.

At what point did you officially join the band?

Cosmo: Basically from there, from Orion The Hunter, [Boston leader] Tom Scholz needed a singer. After about 1988, Brad Delp had left the band because he was busy singing a record with RTZ, with Barry Goudreau, “Return To Zero.” Anyway, Tom didn’t have to search very far for a new singer to do his “Walk On” record. So in 1990, Tom’s lawyer called me and set up a meeting for me and Tom, and Tom picked me up at the airport. We went to his home and he had his studio all ready to go for my auditions. He sent me upstairs with a cassette tape singing the song “I Need Your Love,” in a lower octave cause he can’t sing the high octave. I had to go upstairs, learn the song, go back to his studio downstairs and start singing. My practice tapes that I sang that same night, that went on the record. He called me up at two in the morning. “I like it. You’re singing great Fran.” So the next day, I went back in and said, “What do you want me to sing over?” He said, “No, this was all great.” We finished up the harmonies and moved on to the next tune.

So now you’re in one of the biggest rock acts on the planet. No pressure right?

Cosmo: The first day I met Tom, man, was I nervous! I was shaking cause he’s a genius. I always was a big fan of Tom because he built this Boston, this whole sound and music. It was all in his head, this new guitar sound and arrangements. He played most of the instruments. On “Walk On,” he played all the instruments, so that was great…Yes, it was such a big break and it was like, “Wow!”

Any recollections about the “Walk On” Tour?

Cosmo: After the record was finished, I didn’t know if Brad was gonna come in the band or not, but then he decided to come back to the band because he was done with the other record and stuff he had to do. So he did come to back to Boston and we sang together on stage. It was me singing the “Walk On” songs and Brad singing all the classic songs. We sang harmony throughout the whole night together. When Brad dropped out, and I came and sang, people didn’t even know he dropped out. We sounded so much alike at that moment in time and he did vice versa for the “Walk On” songs I sang. It was a great singing team, Brad Delp and myself, and it was awesome being on stage with Tom Scholz…

There were so many bands that warmed up for Boston, well known bands that I got to meet, and sing with and become friends with, [like] the girls in Heart. That’s the first time I met Lou Gramm when he came back from his operation. He warmed up for Boston and I do sets with him now. I sang with him several times this last year and I love him. Great guy, great singer. But there were many. I met REO Speedwagon. I mean, you name it, there’s so many of ’em.

The first two tours, we had our own plane. We did four or five tours with that record. The laughs we had were just marvelous. It was great, fantastic venues. It was a big comeback tour because Boston hadn’t toured or did a record in years since 1987. So here it was 1995, we went out and the shows were packed. It was awesome and it was screaming. You couldn’t even hear the songs! It was just a big comeback and I felt great about it because we’re actually pushing the “Walk On” record on these tours, so it was very special for me…The 1990s tours, according to Brad and I, that was the best Boston ever. Brad even says it in interviews. We thought that was the best rockin’ Boston ever…

You also got to be part of the “Greatest Hits” album with some of those songs you originated and contributed to new ones as well. What was that like?

Cosmo: The latest “Greatest Hits” had “I Need Your Love” with a red sticker [advertising the song] and it said “remastered.” I was so proud cause that’s a song I sang on and there were a couple of others songs I sang on the “Greatest Hits” too, like for instance, the only live song that Boston ever released was “Livin’ For You.”

After the “Corporate America” album and concerts, tell us about unwinding the Boston season of your life and going onto the next.

Cosmo: I met Tom in 1990, and when I left the band, it was late in 2006. That’s like a lifetime in rock and roll, just add up them years! I mean every year being in Boston was something special…After Brad passed, I was really devastated and Tom was devastated also. Everybody was just devastated over this very sad news about Brad. I love him. He’s like a brother to me. But I don’t know, I just left after that. I guess we decided it would be better. Tom decided and I decided, “maybe just end it, right?” I didn’t have it in my heart to go out any more with it at that moment. So I just moved on and started playing with my band, did a lot of concerts, just kept busy.

What do you hope people will remember about Brad or would like them to know about him?

Cosmo: Oh, one of the most kind guys you would ever want to meet and the most modest. I mean he sang “Amanda,” which was like number one, and he thought nothing of it. “More Than A Feeling,” he thought nothing of it. He was a very good human being, quiet, never drank, never did drugs, nothing, just a very good friend and kind guy…He was my best friend and I miss him. I feel like he would’ve wanted me to keep singing his songs. That’s how close we were.

These are some of the most complicated songs in rock music. What does it take to be able to sing them at such an optimal level?

Cosmo: Just ask any musician/singer about singing Boston songs. They’ll say, “Oh no, I’m not going near that” (laughs). I can’t blame them. They’re way up there, so it’s difficult and I haven’t changed the keys yet. Most rock and roll people, they’re lowering the keys a half a step down or sometimes a whole key. I’m actually trying to do them in the original keys when Brad was only a 20-something-year-old man, so it’s difficult, but I like and I continue doing it.

How would you describe the music you’ve made outside of Boston, particularly the vision for your group Cosmo and the “Alien” record?

Cosmo: That was on Frontiers Records. It was 2006. Me and my son [Anton, who was also in the latter edition of Boston] got together and it was heavier. It was more towards modern rock and roll, heavier guitars. I’m the kind of singer that sometimes wants to come out of my element, out of the box as they say, and sing a different style, so I decided to sound a little more like a modern singer on that record. I changed my voice purposely, not to sound like the Fran Cosmo on the Boston or Orion The Hunter albums, so when you hear that record, you’ll see what I mean. I remember the record label, they weren’t quite happy with me because they wanted the Fran Cosmo from the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and I gave them a record that was heavier, very raw. That’s how I wanted it though, but it’s good. I love it.

Is there any new music in your future?

Cosmo: Yes, I’m writing new songs now, so I’m getting ready to rebuild my studio. I’m gonna start singing and I really like my stuff. The direction is between Orion The Hunter and Boston, and it’s me singing the same keys.

Have you ever considered redoing any of your older tracks with either of those bands?

Cosmo: Orion The Hunter, I was gonna redo “Dark And Stormy Nights” in a little different manner. I was gonna sing it differently and rewrite the bridge a little bit, like how I’m hearing the song now. The other one was I remember calling Tom a couple of years ago and asking if he minded if I did “Livin’ For You,” cause he wrote the song and I felt it only right to ask him, even though I sang it on the record. They’re both ballads and I was gonna do “Livin’ For You” in a little different manner than the way that Tom put it. It was gonna be a little more intimate with more strings, more live acoustic piano, some guitars coming in, just some little different, heartfelt ways singing this song. He said “Yes, go ahead and do it. I’m looking forward to listening to it,” so there’s two songs I’ve thought about.

As you look back on your Boston years in particular, why do you think it worked out so well?

Cosmo: Even though I was a different singer than Brad, I still had my own sound similar to Brad that actually worked with Tom’s guitar sound. So when “Walk On” came out, it actually did well because it still sounded like Boston with a little different edge on the vocals, but it still gelled. A lot of people think the song “Livin’ For You,” like on YouTube [was sung by Brad]. That’s my favorite song on that record and that’s [a lot of fans’] favorites, but when you go on and read some of the posts, there’s like thousands of posts, and they’ll say, “Oh Brad, he’s gone now. I feel so terrible. He sounds so great here,” but it’s really me. Then some people wrote in saying, “No that’s not Brad. That’s Fran Cosmo singing” and they write back, “Oh, I’m sorry.” It doesn’t bother me. I love it. Look, that’s that ultimate compliment is people thinking it’s Brad Delp, that I could actually be that good on a record with Tom Scholz and people saying they thought I was Brad. Nothing to feel bad about!

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Voices Of Rock Radio, featuring Fran Cosmo, John Elefante and Kevin Chalfant, perform at the Arcada Theatre on Friday, May 30. For additional details, visit Facebook.com/VoicesOfRockRadio, FranCosmo.com, JohnElefante.com, KevinChalfant.com and ArcadaLive.com.