Torrance Heather Castellano (born January 8, 1979) is an American percussionist and the former drummer of

The Donnas The Donnas were an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1993. The band consisted of Brett Anderson (lead vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar, backing vocals), Maya Ford (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Torry Castellano (drum ...

. She announced her retirement from drumming in July 2010.

About

Castellano was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. She met future bandmates Maya Ford,

Brett Anderson Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004- ...

and

Allison Robertson Allison Rae Robertson (born August 26, 1979) is an American musician and the former guitarist for rock bands The Donnas and Chelsea Girls. Early life Allison Robertson was born on August 26, 1979, in North Hollywood, California. She comes from ...

in junior high school. They formed a band in 8th grade called ''Ragady Anne'', later calling themselves ''The Electrocutes'' at Palo Alto High School. Before the release of

' sixth studio album '' Gold Medal'', Castellano developed

tendonitis Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder ( rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow ( tennis e ...

and in October 2003, she had surgery for it. During her recovery, she had to take drum lessons to re-learn to hold drum sticks the correct way. For ''Gold Medal'', she recorded with her recovering wrists, but could only play for short periods of time. A shoulder problem forced Castellano to withdraw from The Donnas' tour following a show on December 27, 2008 at the

House Of Blues House of Blues is an American chain of live music concert halls and restaurants. It was founded by Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, co-star of the 1980 film ''The Blues Brothers''. The first location opened at Ha ...

in Anaheim, California. Amy Cesari of the band The Demonics filled in on future tour dates. On July 9, 2010, Castellano announced on the band's website that due to her shoulder she would have to retire from drumming and performing with The Donnas. Castellano still attended events the band was involved with as well as promoted the last album she recorded with the band, '' Greatest Hits Vol. 16''. She attended

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Although initially serving primarily pre-college high sc ...

before transferring to Stanford University, majoring in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. Castellano graduated from Stanford with distinction and attended Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, she interned for Adalah, Habeas Corpus Research Center, and Article 36. As a Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellow at Harvard, she designed a legal research project on the way cracks in domestic and international legal frameworks lead to a deprivation of rights for the residents of areas that are de facto no man’s land, created by protracted conflicts, focusing on East Jerusalem and eastern Ukraine. She interviewed key human rights attorneys working to protect human and civil rights, Israeli government officials, and local residents in the Kafr Aqab neighborhood.

References

External links

The Donnas’ official website
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on Pearl Artist Roster
1979 births American women drummers American rock drummers The Donnas members Drummers from San Francisco Living people Palo Alto High School alumni Santa Monica College alumni Stanford University alumni People from Palo Alto, California Harvard Law School alumni 20th-century American drummers 20th-century American women musicians 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century American drummers {{US-rock-drummer-stub