Ronnie James Dio Dies At 67

Ronnie James Dio, the singer, has passed away at 67. In 2009, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He was a legend of hard rock and heavy metal music. He had been the singer for Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and was successful in his own right with solo works. 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 in 1942, in New Hampshire as Ronald James Padovona. In his earlier years, he played various brass instruments, which is what he attributed to his vocal prowess to. He formed the band Elf in the early 70s, after more than a decade of grinding out a living around New England. The band was discovered by Deep Purple, who took hired Elf numerous times as an opening act.

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 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. Dio quit Black Sabbath after the live recording "Live Evil" and embarked on a solo career.

Holy Diver

Ronnie James Dio assembled a band for a solo record, which was called “Holy Diver,” long considered a classic. The album had two stand out hits with the title track and “Rainbow in the Dar,” which are still played on rock radio stations. He continued releasing solo albums until 2006 and briefly reunited with Black Sabbath in 1992 for the "Dehumanizer" album.

Heaven and Hell

Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath crossed paths yet again, when Ozzy Osbourne wasn't working with the band. To avoid conflicts with Ozzy, they decided that they would work under a different name. 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 could be sorely missed as one of the greats of the last 30 years, a man of myth and legend.

Resources

Dio website

http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/

The Horns

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns