On April 5th, the metal world lost another pioneer, Trans-Siberian Orchestra co-founder and creative force Paul O’Neill to a "chronic illness" according to an official statement. Guitarist Chris Caffery has posted the following tribute to O'Neill:

"When I was a teenager I used to hang out in the rock 'n' roll club scene of New York City. There was a club called L'Amour East that used to have a lot of national acts and I would pretty much go see every one! There was always this one guy there. I didn't know who he was but he was always there. He had long hair and would wander around in a leather jacket with a white shirt. He seemed pretty important, he wasn't in the bands but he was always with the bands. Later in the year when I was 17, I was hanging out at a club called Nirvana in New York City. I had met a couple different people that were managed by a company called Contemporary Communications. This company was formerly known as Leber & Krebs.They had managed just about every major rock 'n' roll band on the planet at the time. One of the people I ran into was the late great Allan Fryer from the band Heaven. I wound up getting an audition with the band and eventually got the gig. I remember walking into the offices of Contemporary Communications for the first time. All of a sudden I see that guy from the club! It was Mr. Paul Oneill. Paul managed and produced Heaven and my very first professional paycheck came from him when I was a 17-year-old kid.

33 years later I look back on my career and think of how lucky I am. How lucky I was to live just about every single dream I ever had as a kid about being a rock 'n' roll musician and a rockstar. The man who created that magic has passed away from us and the emptiness that I'm feeling cannot be described in words.

They always say they are moments in your life in which from that moment on things will never be the same. Meeting Paul was one of those moments and losing Paul is definitely one of those moments as well.

There are one million different things that I want to say right now. I can't really put them into words. I'm praying for his family, his daughter especially. I'm praying for all of us in the TSO and Savatage family we lost our big brother, a mentor...our hero...our leader.

All Paul ever wanted to do was change the world through his music he did that and so much more.

Rest In Peace Paul. It's time to catch up on that sleep you have been missing for the past 20 years...

I love you and I'm gonna miss u."

Caffery has followed up his tribute to O'Neill with an update:

"Eighty days ago I started using this app. I've gone over one million steps. I pretty much do the same routine daily. That's an average of 13,500 steps a day. That means since I met Paul O'Neill... give or take a step or two thousand I've walked 162,607,500 steps. Each one of those steps was different since the day I met him. 

Life flies by. I'm happy that mine flew by with him and Savatage and TSO. I have a lot of life left. The next 162 million steps will be followed by a new angel. The next thousand shows he will watch from the sky but I'll always know he's there. He visited in a dream and told me it was time to get back to work. That everything would be ok. Today I'm back in my studio recording guitars for a new record. A record you will hear soon. More details on that will follow asap. After that is finished I will submerse myself in a new solo CD. One I will have infinite inspiration to write. In the meantime I want to thank you all for your friendship and support during this trying time. 

Many chapters left in this play. Time to make them come alive..."

Paul O’Neill passed away on April 5th at age 61.

The TSO debut album, Christmas Eve And Other Stories was released in 1996 with "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24" as its cornerstone; the album was certified triple platinum in 2011. It also launched TSO as the touring juggernaut it is today, featuring two companies that tour North America every year leading into and during the Christmas holiday season.

"I've always believed that music has the power to transport and transform," O'Neill said in an interview. "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."

 

 

Read Metal Tim Henderson's tribute to O'Neill here.