Ronnie James Dio

Ronnie James Dio (Ronald James Padavona b. July 10, 1942(Ronnie says 1949)) was born in Portsmouth, NH in a family of Italian heritage. The family moved to Cortland, New York early on in Ronnies life. Dio is a Heavy Metal vocalist who has performed with Black Sabbath, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and his own band Dio. Other musical projects include the collective fundraiser Hear 'n Aid and his band immediately before Rainbow, Elf. He is renowned for his consistently powerful voice and for popularizing the 'horns' hand gesture in heavy metal culture (formed by closing the thumb over the middle and ring fingers, while having the index and little-finger extended). Ronnie said that his grandmother used to make the hand gesture to ward off the evil eye.

Related Topics:
July 10 - 1942 - 1949 - Cortland, New York - Heavy Metal - Black Sabbath - Rainbow - Dio - Hear 'n Aid - Elf - Horns - Evil eye

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He initially played trumpet and even recorded several singles with various Rockabilly bands during his youth, the first one as early as 1958. Ronnie graduated school in 1960. In the early 1970s, he formed the band Elf, who went on to be an opening act for Deep Purple. Ronnie's vocals caught the ear of Deep Purple guitar virtuoso Ritchie Blackmore and when Blackmore left the band, he recruited Ronnie and other members of Elf to form Rainbow. After a few albums with Rainbow, Ronnie left the band due to creative differences (Blackmore had wanted to take the band in a more commercial direction), and was recruited by Black Sabbath in 1979 to replace Ozzy Osbourne. Ronnie gave a new jumpstart to Black Sabbath's commercially sagging career. In 1982, during the mixing of the live album Live Evil, internal band problems and nasty (unfounded) accusations developed, which lead to Dio and Appice quitting the band to form Dio. Ronnie James Dio currently lives in California and still records and tours worldwide with Dio.

Related Topics:
Rockabilly - 1960 - Deep Purple - Virtuoso - Ritchie Blackmore - Rainbow - Black Sabbath - Ozzy Osbourne - Live Evil

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