Ronnie James Dio, the singer, has passed away at 67. He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2009. He was a legend of hard rock and heavy metal music. He had previously been the lead singer of Black Sabbath and Rainbow and achieved success with his solo efforts. Along with the recent passing of Peter Steele, this has so far been a bad year for metal.
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 within the early 70s. The band was found by Deep Purple, who took hired Elf numerous times as an opening act.
Rainbow
After Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple, he got Elf to record as his backup band, with Ronnie as lead singer, and that band became Rainbow. Aside from his musical contributions, he also is credited for popularizing the "metal horns," otherwise known as "devil horns," which he picked up from his Italian grandmother. The gesture is called a “malocchio,” though it is 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 legendary original singer, the albums were quite successful. Nevertheless, Dio began having creative differences with his new band and after the release of the live record “Live Evil” set out on his own.
Holy Diver
After leaving Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio got a group of musicians together as the band Dio and recorded "Holy Diver," long considered a classic. The title track and “Rainbow within 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 was taking time off from Black Sabbath, the rest of the band got Ronnie James Dio back into the fold. They decided to tour under a different name, to keep away from conflicts with Ozzy. The band was redubbed, Heaven and Hell, and Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice hit the road, playing numerous dates and releasing a live album of old hits and “The Devil You Know” in 2009, a brand new studio album. 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. Ronnie James Dio can be sorely missed as one of the greats of the last 30 years, a man of myth and legend.
Citations
Dio website
http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/
The Horns
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns
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