Richard Del Connor

Richard Del Connor was raised in San Diego, California until he was exiled from the United States in 1970 to St. John's, Newfoundland to live with his uncle, Dr. Richard E. Warner, on the Oxen Pond Game Reserve. When the government massacred the 600 ducks and wildfowl under his care in retaliation for his uncle's demise of the local DDT industry, 16-year old Richard was taken in by television producer, Sally Kuehn. In 1972, after completing a year at MUN Memorial University of Newfoundland, Richard hitchhiked across Canada to return to his hometown where he graduated the Recording Institute of America program to become a recording engineer and record producer for Bonita Studio in Bonita, California in 1974. In 1978, Richard's rock opera band, The Pauper, moved to Los Angeles to become one of the first punk bands at The Masque in Hollywood. This power pop band, The Rich, performed Los Angeles night clubs and college concerts. In 1985, while attending the UCLA Motion Picture Program, his rock opera, Coyote In A Graveyard, was heralded by local celebrities including Michael J Fox. Los Angeles reviewers began referring to Richard as "The Coyote," and the name stuck. As a photographer and cinematographer The Coyote published his photos in magazines and produced music videos for Stanley Clarke, REO Speedwagon, Smokey Robinson, and Quiet Riot. Working for Apogee Special Effects, Richard also worked on commercials for 7-Up, Traveller's Insurance and Japanese productions. New World Pictures had Richard write a screenplay of the rock opera Coyote in a Graveyard. The soundtrack was almost completed when Richard got one of his Shaolin Records interns pregnant. His daughter, Caitlin Marie O'Connor, was born January 14, 1991. Moving to Salt Lake City in 1991 where Caitlin's mother Michelle McCarty was from, resulted in Richard becoming a Mr. Mom until 2011. While in Utah, Richard became famous for teaching Shaolin Kung Fu and was featured in February 1994 issue of Kung Fu Masters magazine. In 1996 Richard founded the Tai Chi Youth nonprofit organization. In 1998, Richard's son, Rory Dibden O'Connor, was born before he packed up the family to return to California in 1999 where the family lived in a rustic cabin in the Angeles Forest north of Los Angeles. Still pretending to be a 4-piece band, Richard released the first American Zen album, LEVEL 1 = Peace of Mind, in 2005. The second album, LEVEL 2 = Christ Killer, was released in 2007. LEVEL 3 = I Want You To Love Me was released in 2008. Under the artist name, Buddha Zhen, Richard released the Tai Chi Magic 1 album in 2009. Buddha Zhen is his nickname used by his Kung Fu and Tai Chi students of Shaolin Chi Mantis, Buddha Kung Fu, and Tai Chi Youth, all three martial arts systems founded by Richard Del Connor. His Chinese Buddhist name, Shen-Lang Zhen, translates to "Spirit Wolf of Truth." In 2009 Richard received the 3rd degree of Freemasonry. This led him to write the book, Masonic Kung Fu - Book 1, and produce the American Zen album, LEVEL 4 = Kung Fu Cowboy Part 1: King Solomon's Temple which was released by his Shaolin Records independent label. This also led to Richard's newest nickname of Kung Fu Cowboy which inspired the movie Kung Fu Cowboy Rock & Roll Movie 1 to be produced by Shaolin Pictures. In 2011, Richard moved to Las Vegas to learn Chinese Lion Dancing and began his odyssey as a traveling stagehand and soloist on electric guitar and flute, which he plays similar to Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. During the 1990s, Richard's booking agent promoted him as, "The best flutist in Utah." in 2012, Richard published 19 books through Amazon.com Kindle program. These novels, poetry books, Tai Chi Manuals, and Kung Fu instruction books are released through Shaolin Communications, also owned by Richard Del Connor.