Ronnie James Dio



""Because Dio taught me, in part, what it is to be a man. Oh, he did not teach the rational lessons: He did not teach me morality, or responsibility, or restraint. No, Stanley, he taught me that being a man means sometimes ruining things in the most extravagant fashion possible. Because you can, and because it’s awesome."

Robert Brockway: For Dio: The Only Appropriate Tribute"

Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona) was a Heavy Metal musician from New Hampshire. He was well known for his powerful singing voice and popularizing "the horns" hand gesture. He worked with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own solo band Dio. Near the end of his life, he handled the vocal duties of a reunited Sabbath, under the name Heaven and Hell.

He unfortunately was diagnosed with stomach cancer in November 2009. He passed away ascended into Rock & Roll Heaven May 16th, 2010, at 7:45 AM after a long, hard battle, confirmed by his wife Wendy Dio on his official website.

Discography:
DIO:
 * Holy Diver (1983)
 * The Last in Line (1984)
 * Sacred Heart (1985)
 * Dream Evil (1987)
 * Lock Up the Wolves (1990)
 * Strange Highways (1994)
 * Angry Machines (1996)
 * Magica (2000)
 * Killing the Dragon (2002)
 * Master of the Moon (2005)

Elf:
 * Elf (1972)
 * Carolina County Ball (1974)
 * Trying to Burn the Sun (1975)

Rainbow:
 * Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (1975)
 * Rising (1976)
 * Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978)

Black Sabbath:
 * Heaven and Hell (1980)
 * The Mob Rules (1981)
 * Dehumanizer (1992)

Heaven and Hell:
 * The Devil You Know (2009)

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Ronnie James Dio provides examples of:

 * Author Existence Failure: Unfortunately. The sadness factor of Dio's death is brought Up to Eleven when you discover that just about 12 hours before he did die, a rumor got out that he was gone. His wife said he was hanging in there- not doing good, but alive. This was at about 3:00 AM, May 16th. Flash forward 4 hours, 45 minutes...
 * Berserk Button: Vivian Campbell. Observe. He starts ranting at about 45 seconds in.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: He was normally a pretty nice, calm guy... until you pissed him off. See Berserk Button.
 * The Cameo: Tenacious D appeared on the music video of "Push". He then appeared on Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny as himself.
 * Catch Phrase: The words "LOOK OUT!" show up in a lot of his songs.
 * Cool Old Guy: He was 38 when he first sang for Black Sabbath and 67 when he toured for the last time.
 * Cover Version: He and guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen made a cover of Aerosmith's "Dream On".
 * He contributed vocals to Welcome To My Nightmare: An All-Star Salute To Alice Cooper, on the song "Welcome to My Nightmare".
 * He also sang "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" on the We Wish You A Metal Xmas And A Headbanging New Year album.
 * He further collaborated with Malmsteen and added Tim "Ripper" Owens to the mix to cover Ozzy Osbourne's "Mr. Crowley". In both of his collaborations with the guitarist, Malmsteen plays approximately two or three times more notes than necessary.
 * Egocentric Team Naming
 * Everything's Better With Rainbows: There's always a mention of rainbows in his music.
 * He WAS the vocalist of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.
 * Making that an example of Rainbows Are Better With Dio.
 * ~Hey, It's That Voice!~: He voiced Dr. X on Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime II album.
 * He sang on couple of songs on Roger Clover's The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast album.
 * He also sang background vocals on Big Band version of "Holy Diver" on Pat Boone's In a Metal Mood album.
 * Heavy Mithril: He was in a band called Elf, and the music video for Holy Diver features a sword-wielding Dio running through a spooky castle and fighting medieval dudes.
 * Large Ham: Possibly the largest ham in metal, which is no mean feat.
 * Subverted by God Himself, as Dio was 5'4" (1.62m.) That's a lot of ham in a not-so-large frame.
 * Mind Screw: He loved this trope, at least in the lyrics.
 * Old Shame: When some of the songs from his earlier years resurfaced in the internet, Dio claimed he would've been happier if they had stayed hidden.
 * Stage Names: Dio took his name from an italian mafia member Johnny Dioguardi. For your information, dio is italian for God.
 * Start My Own: After he left Black Sabbath.
 * What Could Have Been: He wasn't working on one, but two sequels for the Magica album before he died. Also, a second Heaven & Hell album was also planned.

His solo career provides the examples of:

 * Black Sheep Hit: Rainbow in the Dark is one of his most well-known songs, but after recording it, Dio thought that it sounded too "pop", and would have destroyed the tape, if the other band members had not talked him out of it. He later warmed a bit up to the song, eventually using it as one of his signature songs.
 * Break Up Song: "As Long As It's Not About Love" from Magica.
 * Concept Album: Magica
 * Epic Rocking: "Egypt (The Chains Are On)", "All the Fools Sailed Away", "Lock Up the Wolves", "Strange Highways", "Stay Out of My Mind" and "Eriel".
 * "I Am" Song: "I Am" from Master of the Moon. Also, "I" from Dehumanizer, contributing that page's quote.
 * It Gets Better: Holy Diver's prologue consists of a soft synth overture. It lasts until the 1:20 minute mark until the song proper starts.
 * Instrumentals: "Magica Theme" from Magica and "Annica" from the limited edition of the album.
 * Mascot: Demonic Murray, who is always giving the horns.
 * Motifs: Rainbows, eyes and dreams.
 * Nightmare Dreams: Dream Evil's title song and album artwork.
 * Power Ballad: "All the Fools Sailed Away", "This is Your Life" and "As Long As It's Not About Love"
 * Song of Song Titles: "My Eyes", covering his tenures in Rainbow and Black Sabbath as well.
 * Word Salad Lyrics
 * The X of Y: Master of the Moon