Remembering Paul O’Neil & Don Rickles
• Many of our radio colleagues are mourning the passing of Paul O’Neill, the producer, songwriter and recording artist and the founder of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who died this week at the age of 61. The news was initially posted on TSO’s website in a message that stated, “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. He was our friend and our leader — a truly creative spirit and an altruistic soul. This is a profound and indescribable loss for us all. We ask that you respect Paul’s family’s privacy now. We will make additional announcements shortly.” The Tampa Bay Times says O’Neill was found dead Wednesday afternoon in a Tampa hotel. There were no signs of foul play.
As Entertainment Weekly reports, “O’Neill got his start co-producing Aerosmith’s two Classics live albums in the late ’80s and went on to form a relationship with metal band Savatage. He later recruited members from that group, Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli, to help form Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 1996. That year, they released Christmas Eve and Other Stories, a holiday-themed rock record and the first in their Christmas trilogy, which included the seminal classic “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24.” TSO’s most recent album was 2015’s Letters from the Labyrinth, which peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.
“We’ve lost a real creative musical genius, and I hope the band will play on,” said Mason Dixon, morning icon at Q105/Tampa and a longtime friend of O’Neill’s, in a conversation with the Tampa Bay Times. “Just amazing music. Nobody played classical rock and roll the way they did it.”
• Like the rest of the civilized world, we were very saddened yesterday to hear that comedy giant Don Rickles had died at the age of 90. While millions around the world will continue to mourn Rickles’ passing — and the end of a era –we also wanted to take a moment and point out Rickles’ close relationship to our industry — he was the father-in-law of our friend Ed Mann, CEO of MannGroup. Eddie is married to Don’s daughter, Mindy Rickles, who is an accomplished comic in her own right. We are sending our most sincere condolences to Eddie, Mindy, and the extended Rickles’ family.
