Legendary Metal Frontman Ronnie James Dio Passes Away At 67
Ronnie James Dio, the singer, has passed away at 67. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer in late 2009. Dio was a legend in hard rock and heavy metal. He had been the singer for Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and was successful in his own right with solo works. It’s been a bad year for heavy metal so far, as Type O Negative frontman Peter Steele also passed away.
Ronnie James Dio
Ronnie James Dio was born Ronald James Padovona in 1942 in the state of New Hampshire. During his school years, he played brass instruments, which he attributed his powerful vocal technique to. He played in numerous bands throughout the 60s and formed Elf in the early 70s. After being discovered by Deep Purple, Elf was taken out on tour with them several times.
Rainbow
After Ritchie Blackmore quit Deep Purple, he hired Elf as his backing band, recording and releasing a record with that lineup as Rainbow. He was also instrumental in popularizing the “metal” or “devil horns,” which he got from his Italian immigrant grandmother. The gesture is called a “malocchio,” though it’s now called “the horns.” {It was adopted as the sign of The Metal}.
Black Sabbath
Dio left Rainbow after having creative differences with Ritchie Blackmore, and auditioned for Black Sabbath as they had fired Ozzy Osbourne recently at the time. Ronnie James Dio was hired almost right away, and recorded the albums “Mob Rules” and “Heaven and Hell.” Despite the firing of the iconic original singer, the albums were quite successful. He struck out on his own after the release of “Live Evil,” a live record.
Holy Diver
A new band was formed, called Dio, and with them Ronnie James Dio recorded “Holy Diver” which is considered a classic. The title track and “Rainbow in the Dark” both were fan favorites and radio hits. He continued releasing solo albums until 2006 and briefly reunited with Black Sabbath in 1992 for the “Dehumanizer” album.
Heaven and Hell
While Ozzy Osbourne wasn’t working with the band, Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio started working together again. To avoid conflicts with Ozzy, they decided that they would work under a different name. The lineup of Ronnie James Dio, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Vinny Appice toured under the name Heaven and Hell, and after releasing a live album, recorded a new studio effort, “The Devil You Know,” which was released in 2009. After Dio was diagnosed with cancer, the band went on hiatus. On May 16, his wife Wendy posted that he had passed away on the Dio website. It’s an untimely and unfortunate end to one of the most inspirational, unique and brilliant vocalists of the last 30 years.
Article resources
Dio website
http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/
The Horns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns
1983 Ronnie James Dio “Rainbow In The Dark” (Rock Palace)
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