Singer Ronnie James Dio Passes Away At 67

Legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio has passed away at the age of 67. In 2009, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He was one of the titans of hard rock and heavy metal. He had previously been the lead singer of Black Sabbath and Rainbow and achieved success with his solo efforts. This year has taken it’s toll on metal, as Peter Steele of Type O Negative.

Ronnie James Dio

Ronnie James Dio was born in 1942, in New Hampshire as Ronald James Padovona. During his school years, he played brass instruments, which he attributed his powerful vocal technique to. He formed the band Elf in the early 70s, after a lot more than a decade of grinding out a living around New England. Elf was discovered by Deep Purple, who took them out on several tours as a support band.

Rainbow

Ritchie Blackmore hired Elf, including Ronnie James Dio, as the rest of what would be called Rainbow, after he quit Deep Purple. 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 hand gesture is called "malocchio," which gained popularity as "the horns." It was adopted as the sign of The Metal.

Black Sabbath

After a number of years and various highly esteemed albums with Rainbow, Dio left because of creative differences with Ritchie Blackmore, and Black Sabbath asked him to audition for the open lead singer spot, as Ozzy Osbourne had just been fired. Dio was hired, and stayed for two albums, “Mob Rules” and “Heaven and Hell." Both were well received critically and commercially, despite the iconic original singer having been discharged. He struck out on his own following the release of “Live Evil,” a live record.

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 within the Dar,” which are nevertheless played on rock radio stations. He released solo albums until 2006, and even briefly reunited with Black Sabbath in 1992 for “Dehumanizer,” a new album and tour.

Heaven and Hell

Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath crossed paths once more, when Ozzy Osbourne wasn't working with the band. They decided to tour under a different name, to stay away from conflicts with Ozzy. 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. In 2009, Dio was diagnosed with stomach cancer and 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.

Article Resources

Dio website

http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/

The Horns

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