Every time I think of Ronnie James Dio, the first thing that comes to mind is a meme I saw several years ago.
Rock stars of the 70's and 80's were simply built tougher than those little sissies whining on stages these days with the aid of auto tune.
Ronald James Padavona, AKA Ronnie James Dio began his career all the way back in 1957, when he helped form the group, The Vegas Kings, serving as the bass guitarist. The band went through several name changes, eventually landing on Ronnie and the Redcaps. After a slight lineup change, they released their first single in 1958, with both side A and B featuring lead vocals from Dio.
The band would change names again to Ronnie Dio and the Prophets, and in 1962 began releasing singles under this new banner. Name changes were apparently their thing though, and in 1967 they once again switched, this time to The Electric Elves, which by 1969 was shortened to The Elves.
Dio's vocals caught the attention of Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, who was on the verge of quitting the popular band. Seeing the singer as easy to work with, Blackmore formed the group, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, later shortened to Rainbow starting with their second album. While Rainbow would go on to release albums from 1975 to 1993. However, Dio would leave after their third release, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978).
Black Sabbath would recruit the singer in 1979, following the firing of Ozzy Osbourne. Sabbath would release 1980's Heaven and Hell, and 1981's The Mob Rules, before Dio would depart. However, he would return again in 1991 to release Dehumanizer.
Dio would ultimately leave Black Sabbath because of consistent arguing with member, Tony Iommi over the mix of their first live album, Live Evil. Though it has also been stated that Dio essentially did what he was told because he needed the gigs provided by Sabbath.
Enough was enough for Dio, and it was time to take the bull by the horns. After leaving Sabbath and taking new drummer, Vinny Appice, with him, the singer would form his own self named group. Rounding out the band were Vivian Campbell on guitar and Jimmy Bain on bass.
Holy Diver was released in 1983, and quickly became a success, ultimately going double platinum in the USA. While it two singles, Holy Diver, and Rainbow In The Dark, drove album sales, they didn't fare as well on the Billboard charts. The title track peaked at number seventy-two, with Rainbow doing slightly better at forty-six.
While I definitely prefer 80's hard rock / metal to the noise that it evolved into, listening to the album, Holy Diver, didn't really spark much interest from me. The two singles were definitely where it was at for me, and quite frankly, I'm okay with that. I wasn't expecting to become a massive Dio fan from my listening session.
With that said, I'm not ready to check out on the band any time soon. I have three of their four albums released in the 80's, and I plan to give them their fair chance in the near future. I'll probably also end up grabbing the album I'm missing, because, well, why not?
Dio released albums throughout the 1990's, and early new millennium, and while the group was never disbanded, he joined up with members of Black Sabbath in 2006 under the moniker, Heaven & Hell. Though they mostly used the band to tour, they did release a single album, The Devil You Know in 2009.
Sadly, the momentum was cut short when in November of that same year, Dio announced he had stomach cancer. Though he underwent treatment, it was unsuccessful, and he passed away on May 16, 2010. With a career spanning fifty-three years, and multiple successful bands, Dio has certainly left a legacy in the world of music.
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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
March 4, 1989
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