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

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

of The Donnas. She announced her retirement from drumming in July 2010.

About

Castellano was born in San Francisco, California. She met future bandmates

Maya Ford Maya Anne Ford (born January 8, 1979, in Oakland, California) is an American musician and the former bass player of rock band The Donnas. She also goes by the name Donna F. Early life Maya Anne Ford, was born on January 8, 1979, in Oakland, C ...

, Brett Anderson and Allison Robertson in junior high school. They formed a band in 8th grade called ''Ragady Anne'', later calling themselves ''The Electrocutes'' at

Palo Alto High School Palo Alto Senior High School, commonly referred to locally as "Paly", is a comprehensive public high school in Palo Alto, California. Operated by the Palo Alto Unified School District, the school is one of two schools in the district, the other b ...

. Before the release of The Donnas' sixth studio album ''

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

'', Castellano developed tendonitis 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 in

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

, 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 ''Greatest Hits Vol. 16'' is a compilation album by the American rock band The Donnas, released in 2009 through Purple Feather Records, the band's independent record label. Despite its title, it is neither a greatest hits album nor the sixteenth ...

''. She attended Santa Monica College before transferring to

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, majoring in political science. Castellano graduated from Stanford with distinction and attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

. While at Harvard, she interned for

Adalah Adalah ( ar, عدالة) means ''justice'' and denotes the Justice of God. It is among the five Shia Principles of the Religion. Shia Muslims believe that there is intrinsic good or evil in things, and that God commands them to do the good th ...

, 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