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Legendary heavy metal vocalist
Ronnie James Dio, best known for his work with
BLACK SABBATH,
RAINBOW and his own band
DIO, died of stomach cancer 10 years ago (May 16, 2010) at the age of 67.
Dio was renowned throughout the world as one of the greatest and most influential vocalists in heavy metal history. The singer, who was recording and touring with
SABBATH offshoot
HEAVEN & HELL prior to his illness, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in late 2009. He underwent chemotherapy and made what is now his final public appearance in April 2010 at the
Revolver Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles.
A free public memorial service was held on May 30, 2010 at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, attended by more than 1,500 fans, friends and fellow musicians.
In March 2011, it was announced that the surviving members of the final lineup of
DIO would embark on a project with former
JUDAS PRIEST frontman
Tim "Ripper" Owens under the name
DIO DISCIPLES.
Ronnie James Dio, real name
Ronald James Padavona, was born in New Hampshire on July 10, 1942.
He moved to Cortland, New York at a young age, where he began playing with local acts. A street in Cortland, Dio Way, was named after him in 1988.
He released his first single, with a band called
RONNIE AND THE REDCAPS, in 1959.
His first heavy rock act,
ELF, released three albums and opened for
DEEP PURPLE, where
Dio's voice caught the ear of guitarist
Ritchie Blackmore.
Blackmore recruited
Dio for his own band,
RAINBOW, after leaving
PURPLE in 1975.
Dio recorded three studio albums and one live set with
RAINBOW before exiting in 1978, including
"Rising" and
"Long Live Rock And Roll".
He replaced
Ozzy Osbourne in
BLACK SABBATH in 1980, recording the
"Heaven And Hell" and
"Mob Rules" albums, plus
"Live Evil", before leaving in 1982. He rejoined the group 10 years later for an album called
"Dehumanizer", and again teamed with the group under the
HEAVEN & HELL banner in 2006.
HEAVEN & HELL released an album called
"The Devil You Know" in 2009.
He also recorded 10 studio albums with his own band,
DIO, including a classic 1983 debut,
"Holy Diver", and an equally renowned follow-up, 1984's
"The Last In Line".
Dio was also behind the
HEAR N' AID project, a collection of metal artists who recorded the track
"Stars" in 1985 to raise funds for African famine relief.
Rock and metal musicians around the world paid tribute to
Dio in the weeks and months following his death.
STONE SOUR and
SLIPKNOT frontman
Corey Taylor shared his feelings with
The Pulse Of Radio about the fallen metal icon. "When I got that news that he had passed away, man, it seriously — it broke my heart. It broke it in two. Because honestly, I just feel like there will never be another
Ronnie James Dio. He had such a pure voice — and still singing his ass off. I just know he'll be missed, and I will miss him as well."
Ex-
VAN HALEN and current
SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE bassist
Michael Anthony also shared his memories of
Dio with
The Pulse Of Radio. "I don't know anybody that didn't grow up listening to his stuff," he said. "You know,
VAN HALEN, we used to do from the first
RAINBOW album, we did
'Man On The Silver Mountain'. I remember one time, the second
VAN HALEN tour we were doing some festivals in Europe, and we actually played on the same show as
Ronnie's band. Real powerful voice, you know, and definitely a driving force in hard rock music, that guy was."
Slash told
The Pulse Of Radio that he felt the loss of
Dio very keenly. "He's just somebody I was influenced by," he said. " I played all the
RAINBOW stuff, I played the
DIO stuff, the
SABBATH stuff when I was in, you know, high school. I don't think that it's really set in what a, you know, huge figure in rock 'n' roll we lost, you know. Really major. Probably one of the most influential heavy metal singers of all time."