RIP Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010)

[fleetfootmike]

When I was at Uni, there were, pretty much, four rock vocalists who mattered: Ian Gillan, David Coverdale, Ozzy Osborne and Ronnie James Dio. They'd all had careers with name bands (Gillan and Coverdale with Deep Purple, Ozzy and Dio (and Gillan) with Black Sabbath, Dio with Rainbow) and were working with their own solo acts - Gillan, Whitesnake, Dio and Blizzard of Ozz. Between them, they did, as Cassius says, "...bestride the narrow world like a colossus...".

One of them died yesterday. Perhaps my favourite of the four: Ronnie James Dio. His first solo album, Holy Diver, pretty much wrote the book on 80s metal, and made me realise just how much further I had to go as a rock guitarist. My copy must be pretty much worn out - it was the soundtrack to my years at Uni along with the Rainbow live album he featured on, as well as being Rich-the-sound-guy and my 'stay awake' music driving back from gigs with Fleetfoot Mike.

RIP, Ronnie.

"We believed we'd catch the rainbow,
Ride the winds to the sun.
Sail away on ships of wonder.
But life's not a wheel
With chains made of steel
So bless me... come the dawn.
Come the dawn."

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I knew him simply as the little guy with the big voice. I remember tracks from Rainbow Rising being on the Sunday radio show (Alan Freeman perhaps) when it was released. On the strength of those, I bought the record and that was my first Rainbow LP and it got borrowed by lots of people at uni. It's still downstairs in my collection.

[gurthaew.livejournal.com]

Sorry - my post may have come up as anonymous after LJ logged me out. Martin

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Oh, that is sad news.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

That's taking rather a narrow view of rock in your first sentence.

This is a significant loss, though, and, as usual, too young.

I Concur!

[(Anonymous)]

Nice post Mike, its a sad week, been teaching LOTS of Dio tunes to students, I remember a particularly good evening listening to Holy Diver driving back from a show with you, As long as we remember him and tell the younger generation about his music we'll keep him alive!
Take care mate
Rich

Re: I Concur!

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

You should check out youtube for some of the recent Dio videos. The man still had a better voice than Gillan, Coverdale and Ozzy when he was well into his 60s.

Re: I Concur!

[(Anonymous)]

TOO BLOODY RIGHT!!!!

DIO!

[unix-vicky.livejournal.com]

RJD was definitely the best vocalist in heavy metal. I was lucky enough to meet him in person a couple years ago during the Metal Masters Tour (Motorhead, Heaven and Hell, and Judas Priest). In addition to being a great vocalist, he was genuinely a nice guy. And, personally, it was hearing "Rainbow in the Dark" on the radio that got me hooked on heavy metal in the first place.

Speaking of Priest, I think you need to put Rob Halford in that top list... at least ahead of Ozzy. He didn't always display the range he was capable of, but the tracks on "Sad Wings of Destiny" should give you an idea.