Claudio Alberto Castro, also known as Claudio O'Connor (born April 28, 1963 in Llavallol, Buenos Aires Province) is a thrash metal, groove metal and hard rock vocalist from Argentina. He is lead singer of the bands O'Connor and Malón, and was also formerly the lead singer of Hermética.
Biography Mark I Claudio O'Connor started in the music in 1984. He was recommended by Walter Almada, Horse Power bassist. When O'Connor joins the band as vocalist, it's renamed to Mark I. The band performed over 30 shows until its dissolution in 1987. They recorded two demos, one with two tracks ("Una Farsa Más" and "Traidor") and other with 4 ("El traidor", "(Esto es) Mark", "Tierra marginal" y "Las tablas de la ley").
Hermética Shortly after, Fabián Spataro (former drummer of Mark I) joined the new musical project of Ricardo Iorio. Spataro insists to Iorio to try Claudio O'Connor as singer. They decided not to continue using the name of V8 band, and Iorio founded along with Antonio Romano, Spataro and O'Connor, Hermética. Shortly after, Spataro left the band for personal reasons and was replaced by Tony Scotto. In 1989 they release debut album, Hermética, through the newly formed label Radio Trípoli. After, they records the EP Intérpretes in 1990. Scotto is replaced by Claudio Strunz, and released the albums Ácido Argentino in 1991 and Víctimas del Vaciamiento in 1994.
Claudio O'Connor remained in the band throughout its existence (1988–1994), as lead singer. While Iorio was a singer and bassist, Antonio Romano was guitarist, and Claudio Strunz, Tony Scotto and Fabián Spataro were drummers.
Malón Hermética is dissolved due to internal conflicts. As result, three of the four members (O'Connor, Romano and Strunz) meet to form with Karlos Cuadrado, the thrash metal band, Malón. In contrast, Iorio formed Almafuerte. During his career, Malón recorded two studio albums: Espíritu Combativo (1995) and Justicia o Resistencia (1996), besides Resistencia Viva, a live album.
In the early 1998, Claudio O'Connor decides to form a parallel project, creating O'Connor, along with Hernán García.
O'Connor Within a few months, for several reasons, Claudio decides to quit Malón and devote himself to his new band, which experiments with heavy rock from the 70s. In turn, the other remaining Malón members formed parallel bands. O'Connor and García, with different line up's, recorded the albums Hay Un Lugar (1999), Yerba Mala Nunca Muere (2000), Dolorización (2002), El Tiempo Es Tan Pequeño (2004), Estamos Pariendo (2006), Naturaleza Muerta (2008), Río Extraño (2010) and Un Poco De Respeto (2012).
Malon's return In 2011, Claudio and Romano announced the return of the original line up of Malón, with their first show scheduled for December 18 of the same year, at the Arena Malvinas Argentinas of Buenos Aires, which was recorded and released on a DVD called El Regreso Más Esperado ("The Most Expected Return") in 2012. In addition, it's announced the recording of a new studio album, which will be released this year.
Discography Album Band/Project Year Recording Demo Uno Mark I 1988 Demo Demo Dos Mark I 1988 Demo Hermetica Hermética 1989 Studio Intérpretes Hermética 1990 EP Ácido Argentino Hermética 1991 Studio En Vivo 1993 Argentina Hermética 1993 Live Víctimas del Vaciamiento Hermética 1994 Studio Lo Ultimo Hermética 1995 Live En Concierto I & II Hermética 1995 Live Espíritu Combativo Malón 1995 Studio Justicia o Resistencia Malón 1996 Studio Resistencia Viva Malón 1997 Live Ni Un Paso Atrás (track: "Malón Mestizo") Malón 1999 Live/Compilation Hay Un Lugar O'Connor 1999 Studio Yerba Mala Nunca Muere O'Connor 2000 Studio Dolorización O'Connor 2002 Studio Vive Siempre O'Connor 2003 Live El Tiempo Es Tan Pequeño O'Connor 2004 Studio Estamos Pariendo O'Connor 2006 Studio Naturaleza Muerta O'Connor 2008 Studio La Década Tour 1998–2008 O'Connor 2009 Live + DVD Río Extraño O'Connor 2010 Studio Un Lugar Que Nunca Muere Vol I & II O'Connor 2011 Compilation Un Poco De Respeto O'Connor 2012 Studio El Regreso Más Esperado Malón 2012 Live + DVD Malón 360 Malón 2013 Live + DVD TBA Malón 2014 Studio
References
External links
www.o-connor.com.ar Official Site of O'Connor band www.maloncombativo.com Official Site of Malón band