Ronnie James Dio was one of the great voices in heavy metal history-in the truest sense of the word. Physically, he was a giant as a vocalist: three octaves are said to have spanned his voice, some even speak of four. From his time at Rainbow and Black Sabbath to his successful solo career: Dio shaped generations of musicians. A memory of a large of the heavy metal.
Ronnie James Dio: The Beginnings
Ronald James Padavona was born on July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. As the son of an Italian -American workers’ family, he grew up in Cortland, New York. His musical talent showed up early – initially on the trumpet. “To be honest, I didn’t like it,” said Dio later in one interview. “I was one of these children who had to be forced to practice”.
Dio continues: “I just wanted to play baseball or football or ride by bike. If you are five, you want to do things that five -year -olds did. But it made me grow up faster. I had to go through something that I didn’t really want. My parents found it important – and they were bigger than me, so I had what they said. It was a great training for myself as a singer, especially as a musician. And I came into contact with classical music – something I love very much. “
In the 1950s, Dio played in Rock’n’Roll and Doo-Wop groups: The Vegas Kings, Ronnie and the Red Caps, The Prophets. The 60s brought the upheaval: Padavona became a dio, the music harder. With the band eleven he devoted himself to the hard rock. The band was encouraged by Deep Purple, which led to a decisive contact: Ritchie Blackmore. Blackmore won Dio in 1975 for his new Rainbow project. The albums “Rising” and “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll” shaped the sound of the classic hard rock. “We had strange experiences in the studio. There was a spirit called Baal and he pushed my wife down the stairs.” The Devil Horns gesture, which dio made known, came from his Italian grandma. “This is the Malocchio sign. Protection against evil,” he said.
Dio at Black Sabbath: New heights
After Ozzy Osbourne’s expulsion in 1979, Dio took over the singing at Black Sabbath. “As I said, it is not particularly difficult to get into the shoes of a man who went barefoot all his life. That was really not a big problem for me. I mean, how could you compare Ozzy Osbourne with Ronnie Dio – especially as a singer? Ozzy is a figure, that’s what he is. I guess that is Ozzy.
“Heaven and Hell” became a classic. This was followed by the albums “Mob Rules” (1981) and the live album “Live Evil” (1982) before Dio left the band in 1982. In 1992 there was a first reunion for the album “Dehumanizer”. In the 2000s, Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice formed again-this time under the name Heaven and brightto avoid confusion with the classic Black Sabbath line-up.
Dio: solo career and “Holy Diver”
In 1983 Ronnie James Dios first appeared “Holy Diver”. The line -up: Vivian Campbell on the guitar, Vinny Appice on drums, Jimmy Bain on the bass and Claude quickly on the keyboards. The successor, “The Last in Line”, appeared in 1984, “Sacred Heart” (1985), “Dream Evil” (1987) and “Lock Up The Wolves” (1990). The debut album “Holy Diver” has already been awarded platinum in the USA, the successors each achieved high chart places in North America and Europe. Dio combined hymnic melodies with epic fantasy topics without losing hardness.
Hear’n aid
At the same time, Dio created the charity project Hear ‘n Aid in 1985, for which he gathered the metal prominence. The goal: to support hungry people in Africa – a reaction to projects such as Live Aid and We Are The World, but out of their own scene. He also wanted to counter the bad reputation of the scene: “We did not necessarily want to make it more special, we just wanted to do a little bit of it. The kind of music that we play, and the people who are involved are always accused of being something else – something bad. The song “Stars” was created with dozens of well -known musicians. An album was also released – with exclusive articles, etc. by Judas Priest, Motörhead, Y&T and Dio itself.
The thing with the devil horns
Even if Gene Simmons later claimed to have invented the Devil horn gesture-she definitely made it known to Ronnie James Dio. He himself said that he had taken over the sign of his Italian grandmother: the so -called Malocchioa defensive hand signal against the “bad look”. Dio made it an iconic symbol of the heavy metal – which actually had nothing satanic, but on the contrary should protect against evil.
Dio: illness and death
In November 2009, Dios wife Wendy announced that Dio had stomach cancer. He underwent intensive treatment, was in the meantime combative and even appeared publicly, for example at the awarding of the Golden Gods Awards in 2010. But the cancer was aggressive. On May 16, 2010, Ronnie James Dio died in Houston, Texas at the age of 67. The metal world mourned closed – from fans to musicians to companions such as Tony Iommi and Rob Halford.
At his public funeral in Los Angeles, thousands proved him the last honor. His ashes were buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, under a monument with the inscription: “The Man on the Silver Mountain”.
The news of Ronnie James Die’s death triggered grief in the rock and metal community worldwide. “Ronnie died peacefully this morning at 7:45 a.m.,” wrote his wife Wendy Dio on his official website. Music colleagues recognized him as an outstanding artist and warm -hearted people. “He always had a friendly word and a smile – and he loved the Yankees,” recalled Scott Ian from Anthrax. Kiss described him as a “true gentleman”, who always broadcast warmth and friendship. Motley-Crue bassist Nikki Sixx wrote: “I remember how he sang 100,000 people in front of ‘Man on the Silver Mountain’-that chased me goose bumps.” Guitarist Slash also got to the point: “Ronnie died at 7:45 a.m., but his music will live forever.”