Trans-SiberianOrchestra appreciation blog. Please feel free to submit any pictures or send requests! [Most pictures are not my own and are mainly stolen from facebook]
“I have this annoying habit around Christmas time that whenever I hear people I know talk about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, I instantly go “You ever heard of Savatage?"“
My eyes are so red & swollen from crying for the past 14 hours, my head is pounding, and all I want to do is sleep… But every time I close my eyes, your face is all I can see. As I sit in silence, your laugh echos in my head. My mind plays back all the late nights we spent together, the laughs we shared, the heart to heart conversations that seemed to come out of nowhere, the beauty that was your smile, and everything else that made you the amazing soul that you were 😢
I will never forget everything we did together over the last 13 years, your constant support of my dreams, and all you taught me. My life was brighter with you in it and I will carry you with me every day for the rest of my life. I want to kick and scream at the universe for taking you from us, but I also thank it for letting us have you for 36 years. I want to avoid all social media because your face is everywhere, yet I can’t stop reading everyone’s stories about how you touched their lives. You are so incredibly loved David ❤️
I still can’t believe it’s real, he was always someone I looked forward to seeing both during and after the TSO shows. He was so fun to watch on stage and incredibly friendly to the fans in the signing line afterwards.
Thoughts and prayers to his beloved family, fiancé, and the several band members he performed with.
30 May 2017 Statement From the Family Paul’s family has been inspired and thankful for the outpouring of support, well-wishes, and prayers, and we thank you for your ongoing respect for their personal privacy. At this time they would like to share a few more details about the passing of Paul O'Neill: The Hillsborough, Florida medical examiner's office has determined the official cause of Paul O’Neill’s death as accidental, resulting from an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications to treat his numerous chronic illnesses (including bone augmentation surgery, complications from spinal fusion surgery, heart disease, and hypertension). http://www.trans-siberian.com/news/title/statement-from-the-family/
Paul O’Neill, who turned Trans-Siberian Orchestra into a source of beloved tradition and timeless stories, as well as a multimillion-dollar enterprise, passed away at the age of 60 after fighting chronic illness. Always wanting to lead from the front, he kept his health issues private.
Paul formed Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 1996 with a vision for a band that was conceptual, art-focused, and, like the world itself, intended to be ever-changing, as well as ever-lasting. In short, everything not expected of rock music at that point in time. At the time of his passing, he had achieved that dream, turning Trans-Siberian Orchestra into one of the most beloved touring acts of the new millennium, having played in excess of 1,800 shows for more than 14 million fans across the globe, with multiple platinum albums selling more than 10 million copies.
Born in Flushing, Queens, the second of 10 children of Harold and Veronica, Paul began playing guitar in middle school. His father, a World War II veteran, had a strong work ethic. He raised a family while studying for his doctorate in History and working full time at the famous Bell Laboratories. Paul grew up in a home where learning and creativity were encouraged. He not only read voraciously from works of literature, history and philosophy, he learned the art of storytelling by listening to the tales told by his father and his Irish and Italian grandmothers. The lessons that he learned about history and humanity he would continue to draw upon for inspiration for his entire life.
After spending years playing in the growing New York City rock scene, he took a position at one of the large artist management companies, which launched the careers of bands like AC/DC and Aerosmith. He learned the recording and concert touring business from the ground up, giving him an insight into how to build a successful act worldwide. In the ‘80s, he became a major concert promoter in Japan for acts like Madonna and Sting, producing the first rock festivals in Japan. He was also adept in the recording studio, having produced Aerosmith’s Classics Live I and II albums, among many others.
Paul was attracted to his idea for a concept album at an early stage, citing The Who’s Tommy as an initial inspiration. As producer and co-writer with Savatage, he helped devise conceptual full-length works like Hall of the Mountain King, Gutter Ballet, Streets: A Rock Opera and Dead Winter Dead. In 1996, he created Trans-Siberian Orchestra as the perfect vehicle to express his art and visions for the future of entertainment.
Paul founded TSO to be not just an “idea” but an “ideal.” Taking inspiration from the great novelists, history and world heroes, he combined that with his own flair for storytelling to put together one of the most successful touring bands of a generation. While the production was a huge spectacular feat of engineering by itself, the show was always intended for everyone. He was a big proponent for keeping TSO’s shows affordable and always giving back to the community.
Paul put his heart and soul into making the impossible possible. Whether it was chartering a private plane for the band following a show in Buffalo to play before two million people at the Brandenburg Gate on New Year’s Eve, to performing a never-before-seen or done concert at the Wacken Open Air Festival across two stages with TSO taking up both of them, playing simultaneously.
By the mid-2000s, Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s seasonal tours found them perennially topping annual box office charts, both in the U.S. and worldwide, cementing the band’s legacy as a seasonal staple.
Two of Paul’s major influences were writers Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde, the former for his own Christmas classics, the latter for the iambic pentameter he used for the narration in his shows (and the inspiration for his daughter’s name). Trans-Siberian Orchestra had several productions touring simultaneously, with him often jetting across America from one concert to the next.
Paul was also a dedicated philanthropist, with TSO having donated $14 million to charity, a writer (he penned a 50-page novella, Merry Christmas, Rabbi), and an avid student of history and collector of rare artifacts – including signed editions of Charles Dickens’ Christmas Books, Winston Churchill’s two-volume biography of his father, as well as letters from numerous dignitaries and Presidents, including one from Thomas Edison to his engineer detailing every stage of the invention of the phonograph, among many other significant antiquities. He loved to spend time with his fans; Paul would explain to everyone the love for his family, showing fans pictures from his home life, sometimes until the venue staff started to flick the lights and the arena was closing down. His charitable side knew no bounds. On more than one occasion, he literally would give the jacket off his back to a random homeless person who caught his eye, often with several hundred-dollar bills stuffed in the pocket.
Those who knew Paul were aware of his ongoing battles with his health and his propensity to overwork himself while in the midst of creative projects. From the solitary weeks in the hotel while working in his Florida studio to jumping around on a pyro-filled stage, or flying around the country on no sleep aggravating his chronic spine problems after early life back surgery. He would gladly do it for the music and for the fans. We fondly remember him jumping off an 8 foot stage at a New Year’s show in Berlin just to give a child the guitar he was playing at the time. While all witnessed Paul’s seemingly superhuman feats, but few witnessed afterward the physical toll these took on him.
Paul’s life mirrored one of his muses, Ludwig Von Beethoven. Just as with Ludwig, Paul’s hearing was a grave concern as he suffered for over a decade with a painful, debilitating, incurable case of Meniere’s disease. For Paul, this was a constant battle, causing him to race against time to write and record as much music as possible, before, like Beethoven, his ears ultimately betrayed him.
At the time of his death, Paul had two rock operas in various stages of completion, including Romanov: When Kings Must Whisper, about the 1917 Russian Revolution, and an expanded rewritten version of Gutter Ballet, both intended for Broadway.
He is survived by his wife, Desiree; his daughter, Ireland Wilde; his father, Harold and his nine brothers and sisters.
While we remain in shock and mourning for the passing of Paul O'Neill, we ask you, the entire TSO extended family, to consider going out of your way today to do something unusually kind or generous for someone less fortunate or for someone who could just use the help.
Paul often wrote about Angels coming to earth to inspire inexplicable kindness in a human life. Today, please consider doing your own selfless act of kindness.
We can't think of a better way to pay tribute to such a compassionate man.
“I’ve always believed that music has the power to transport and transform,” O'Neill explained. “The original concept of Trans-Siberian Orchestra was how to make music have the most emotional impact. We always try to write melodies that are so infectious they don’t need lyrics and lyrics so poetic that they don’t need a melody, but when you combine the two together they create an alloy where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Once those songs are woven together into a tapestry they create a story which gives each song a third dimension. That was so much in the spirit of Trans-Siberian Orchestra This is a group – a constantly morphing group – of extremely creative and talented individuals who are always trying to raise the bar of where a band can take its audience sonically, visually and emotionally. With that as our core ideal, the possibilities are endless.” - Paul O’Neill
“The entire Trans-Siberian Orchestra family, past and present, is heartbroken to share the devastating news that Paul O’Neill has passed away from chronic illness.” -TSO Official Facebook Page
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While I’ve never felt true devastation from hearing about the loss of someone I never met, the news of Paul O'Neill’s death had me sobbing on my kitchen floor. His music has not only helped me through my darkest times, but also given my life purpose by inspiring my passion. I was hoping there would be a day that I could tell him that and thank him for all joy his music has brought me.
~ Rest In Peace Paul O'Neill ~
When he asks Fate what is to happen next, she gently tells him that it is time for him to rest, for tonight he will dream a new dream within the gates of paradise. And as the words weave their way into his soul, Beethoven lies down on the couch near his piano and begins a new dream.
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