Ronnie James Dio R.I.P.

How do you put your thoughts into words when the greatest ever singer, the man you've worshipped for the past 30 years, has sadly passed away?

The internet was awash with rumours last Saturday night and Sunday morning that Ronnie James Dio had died. These rumours were untrue, but unfortunately the great man passed away less than 24 hours later.

After the shock had worn off, I decided that I wasn't going to mourn the passing of this great man, instead I wanted to celebrate the warmth and happiness his music had brought me over the years. I've been a major Dio fan since I first heard his voice, back in about 1979/80. I can't quite remember what I was a fan of first, either his work in Rainbow or his tenure in Sabbath, and it matters not. All that's important is that Ronnie James Dio has been my favourite singer for the past 30 years. I was lucky enough to see him with Sabbath on the Mob Rules tour in 1981 and on The Last In Line tour in 1984, as well as a couple more times, including the Holy Diver revisited tour he did in 2006. And all I have are great memories, both from on stage and on vinyl/cd. So to keep those memories alive I simply played as many of his albums as I could in a day, non-stop Dio for about 12 hours. What better way to celebrate the life of a man who has brought happiness to thousands upon thousands of people?

From Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and Rainbow Rising, which contains Stargazer, my favourite song of all time, through his time in Sabbath, paying special attention to Mob Rules, my favourite album that he has appeared on and onto his solo work, including the likes of Master of the Moon and of course Holy Diver. As I type this, I'm now playing the Radio City live album and next on my list is The Last In Line, arguably my favourite Dio solo album.

There have been some amazing tributes to Mr Dio, with Lars Ulrich's probably being the more heartfelt that I'd read and in time I hope there's a permanent tribute to this most exceptional metal singer. For this year, how about a series of live concerts across the world, on July 10th, his birthday, which is on a Saturday, featuring some of the artists who have been influenced by his work. I hope the powers that be can organize something because the Metal world has lost its most talented brother.

Ronnie James Dio, R.I.P.

Thanks for all of the wonderful music I've had the privilege of hearing over the years
Steve Green

I’m quite sad to hear that Ronnie James Dio has passed away due to stomach melanoma. My own personal connection to Dio’s art goes back to one of the first vinyl records that I ever purchased; that is Mob Rules by Black Sabbath in late 1981. I soon followed up with purchases of Heaven And Hell and, later on, Live Evil (still to this day one of the best live metal albums ever produced). I was quite demoralized when Dio acrimoniously split with the remaining members of Black Sabbath after the Poplar Creek show in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, at the conclusion of the Mob Rules touring cycle (unfortunately, I was still a bit too young to attend).

I was a huge fan of the first two solo albums, but soon lost track of his output afterwards when I discovered the heavier forms of metal that dominate my listening habits to this day. I always did, however, keep an eye on what Dio was doing, and was ecstatic and then subsequently disappointed with the announcement and release of Dehumanizer.

When the Dio-fronted Black Sabbath reformed in recent years as Heaven And Hell, I finally had my chance to see Dio perform in concert not once, but twice, most recently on the Metal Masters Tour in August of 2008. I am glad that I was able to finally see the legendary vocalist in concert, and was distressed to learn of his terminal illness.

Dio always struck me as a very gracious person, and a good-hearted ambassador for metal. He was an articulate defender of and spokesperson for our art form, and he just seemed to be an all around good guy. Sam Dunn’s Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey in particular demonstrated what a good guy Dio seemed to be, and reminded me in recent years of how important Dio has been to metal. He will be missed.

RIP Ronald James Padavona

Dave Schalek

There have been a depressing amount of deaths in heavy metal over the last decade, but none of them have the immense resonance of that of Ronnie James Dio. The man who popularised the horns, provided the vocals to not one, not two but three of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time (“Heaven and Hell”, “Rainbow Rising” and “Holy Diver”) made an immeasurable impact on my listening life, and seemed to be one of life’s real good guys. When it would have been easy for him to become an insufferable buffoon, he always seemed to have time for his fans, and his passing will be mourned by legions of fans the world over. I doubt, very sincerely, that we will ever see his like again. All of a sudden, the metal world seems considerably less talented with the loss of the voice of three generations of metal fans.

Chris Davison.

Like many of you reading this, I began this week with the sad news of the passing of one of metal greatest singers, song-writers and frontmen, Ronnie James Dio. I cannot tell you how sad it makes me feel as I write these terrible words, but since you’re reading this you obviously feel it in your own hearts.

Normally when I write something, it doesn’t matter if it’s a feature, review or book, I research it, rewrite it, whatever it needs, but in this case I won’t be doing that, a review of Dio’s incredible musical legacy can wait until another day, that legacy is eternal.

I first became familiar with Dio’s work backwards! By the time I became passionate about metal, Dio was already a well-established solo-star, and even in a period of my life where velocity and intensity was more important than melody, I couldn’t help being bowled away by that voice and those songs.

Then, with the money from a summer job, I started collecting vinyl for the first time in my life, a local shop had some old records that were quite cheap. I picked up Led Zeppelin's debut, Deep Purple In Rock, Iron Maiden’s Powerslave, all of which I would quite happily still listen to today (I also picked up a Marillion album…I knew not what I did!), best of all I bought Rainbow On Stage. Oh my god, to hear songs like Man On The Silver Mountain and 16th Century Greensleeves was an utter revelation, and of course I went and got the three studio albums featuring Ronnie, again I was blown away by them all and still listen to them to this day. How many singers will ever record one album of that quality nevermind three!

And of course, I got the magnificent career resurrecting Black Sabbath albums, Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules, two all time metal classics, every true metal fan should have them. Ronnie and Sabbath would get together briefly for the Dehumaniser album, sadly this reunion didn’t last, for reasons we won’t go into here. But this line-up of Sabbath but reunite eventually under the banner of Heaven and Hell for the magnificent Devil You Know album. I scratch my head with wonderment when I listen to it, the magic is still there.

I remember only a few short weeks ago, my good friend Steve Green sending me the e-mail with the good news that Heaven and Hell were special guests to Iron Maiden in Dublin…that e-mail made my year, sadly the e-mail from Steve this morning didn’t bear the same good news, Ronnie has, after his valiant battle with the scourge of cancer left us, no doubt for heaven metal heaven, if there is such a place, certainly Ronnie deserves to be there.

Aside from an incredible career (we will never see a singer create such a body of work again, not in the disposable downloadable world of the 21st century), aside from the magnificent value for money live shows, aside from those songs and that voice, Ronnie brought something sadly lacking into the world.

He brought a sense of imagination, of wonder of joy, of optimism and imagination, a romantic in a world where romance a word to be mocked. He lifted the listener out of our often self-made hell of a world and took us to a world of “circles and rings, dragons and kings”, one where there were no limits, where good could triumph over evil, where you would win the heart of the beautiful princess, where you would slay the dragon. You were no longer in a school you hated, or an unhappy home or a job you detested…you were like Dio, the little man with the big heart who fought right up to last, who survived trends, cruel derision (Ozzy’s vile comments come to mind, as do the constants cracks about Ronnie’s height from Kerrang magazine, who quickly forget how many issues Ronnie had sold for them), but then Ronnie belonged to the fans, and in their heart he will never die!

I cannot write anymore, this is the first time I’ve ever typed anything with tears in my eyes. But I’m going to be strong and follow the example of the great man, so join me, put any of Ronnie’s many classics on the stereo, and continue to slay the metaphorical dragons just as Ronnie showed us!

Ronnie James Dio is dead…Long live Ronnie James Dio!

Steve Earles