Search results for Ronnie James Dio

“People gravitate towards success. They say, ‘I want to play with Dio.’ I’ve always been able to surround myself with the top guys”: How Ronnie James Dio escaped Black Sabbath and launched one of metal‘s greatest solo careers

By Malcolm Dome published

Singer, band leader, icon – this is the story of Ronnie James Dio’s epic solo career

“We wore silly hats, but in those days, you did silly things”: Listen to the doo-wop bands Ronnie James Dio sang in before becoming a metal star with Black Sabbath and Rainbow

By Stephen Hill published

Before Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio, one of heavy metal’s most powerful voices sang in skiffle and doo-wop groups. This is what they sounded like…

"I insist upon being great. You don’t always reach that pinnacle, but I insist upon it": The A-Z of Ronnie James Dio

By Jerry Ewing published

In his decades fronting Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and more, the little man with the huge voice made a great many friends – and more than a few enemies

"A new heavy metal classic for the ages": The song Ronnie James Dio called one of the "proudest things I've ever done"

By Mick Wall published

Begun by Dio when he was fronting Black Sabbath, it transformed his career and became one of the classic metal tracks of the 80s

“I just can’t believe this is really happening”: watch Ronnie James Dio unleash his vocals on a Tenacious D song

By Niall Doherty published

The former Black Sabbath and Rainbow man belted it out for Tenacious D's Kickapoo track

"If an arrow has been shot at me, I shoot it back..." The life and career of Ronnie James Dio, in his own words

By Dave Ling published

The amazing life and career of a true metal legend, as explained by the man himself

"Everybody wanted to get in on the action. I wasn't letting that happen": Dio's first platinum album could have been very different

By Mick Wall published

Unencumbered by the curse of the second album, The Last In Line became one of the most momentous metal albums of the 80s

“I have fond memories of sitting on Lemmy‘s lap after he’d come offstage, with his hair in a white towel turban”: Rob Halford says Judas Priest‘s new album has a tribute to Lemmy and Ronnie James Dio

By Classic Rock published

New Judas Priest song Giants In The Sky from upcoming album Invincible Shield pays tribute to Lemmy, Ronnie James Dio and other great rock icons

The Dio Album by Paul Gilbert reduces the originals to a jarring, overplayed jumbles

By Chris Lord published

Paul Gilbert's misguided Ronnie James Dio tribute is more hell than heaven

"It was a very magical time. The right people came together at the right moment": Ronnie James Dio's track-by-track guide to Dio's classic Holy Diver

By Geoff Barton published

Many believed Ronnie James Dio was finished when he quit Black Sabbath, but he proved the doubters wrong with an all-time classic

"It was the most scary thing any of us had ever been through." Ronnie James Dio on the "evil spirit" that apparently sabotaged Rainbow and ended up pushing his wife down the stairs

By Liz Scarlett published

While recording in a haunted château, Ronnie James Dio believed he'd accidentally summoned a "really evil spirit" that caused chaos during their sessions

“We’re all very temperamental in our different ways, but we’ve learned to live with that”: how Black Sabbath were reborn in the 21st century as Heaven & Hell

By Jon Hotten published

In this classic 2009 interview, Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi look back at resurrecting Black Sabbath’s iconic second line-up under the namd Heaven & Hell

"SHEPHERD'S P-I-EEEE!": that time Uriah Heep's singer was the voice of Ronnie James Dio in a TV advert promoting the UK's favourite minced meat and mashed potato classic

By Fraser Lewry published

"Shepherd's pie will go down a treat / Give me a portion of your mash and meat!"

“We were doing things that would have been beyond us with Ozzy. With Ronnie James Dio, there were so many more options”: How a reinvented Black Sabbath saved themselves from oblivion with Heaven And Hell

By Malcolm Dome published

Heaven And Hell was the start of Black Sabbath’s short but glorious second chapter

"But oh my God, he's just awesome. Power, resonance, tone... fabulous": Bruce Dickinson names some of his favourite singers

By Fraser Lewry published

Iron Maiden man Bruce Dickinson talks about his favourite vocalists in the lead-up to the release of new solo album The Mandrake Project

“We were a bit drunk, and I slurred to Ronnie, ‘Do you fancy doing an album?’ It was as simple as that”: How Heaven & Hell resurrected Black Sabbath’s other classic line-up with The Devil You Know

By Dom Lawson published

Heaven & Hell’s The Devil You Know was a Dio-era Sabbath record under any other name

"I'll be honest here – I think they blew us off stage every single night": what happened when AC/DC went on tour with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow

By Geoff Barton published

In 1976 Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow embarked on the Rising tour of Europe with a young band from Australia in tow: Ronnie James Dio was watching them very closely

Every Rainbow album ranked from worst to best

By Neil Jeffries published

Rainbow took Ritchie Blackmore away from Deep Purple, introduced Ronnie James Dio to a wider audience, then went in search of America: these are their albums, ranked

The best Black Sabbath songs that don’t feature Ozzy Osbourne or Ronnie James Dio

By Chris Chantler published

Ozzy and Dio may be Sabbath’s best-known singers, but these bangers with less-famous voices deserve their share of the love

“People think of Ritchie as an angry, unfriendly guy, and that’s not him. I knew him when he was in a very good place”: Ronnie Romero has sung for Ritchie Blackmore and Michael Schenker and lived to tell the tale

By Dave Ling published

When rock’s most ‘difficult’ guitarists need a singer, it’s Ronnie Romero they hit up

Kerry King rules out future Slayer activity and names the much-missed metal icons he wishes he'd collaborated with. "We're never gonna make a record again, we're never gonna tour again."

By Rich Hobson published

Kerry King reaffirms that Slayer won't be making a full-scale comeback

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi once had an onstage guitar solo interrupted by local taxi firm orders coming through his amp

By Paul Brannigan published

Black Sabbath's 1981 UK tour was a victory lap for their rebirth with Ronnie James Dio. A shame then that a local taxi company gatecrashed the celebrations

“What’s more satanic than a demon throwing a priest into the water, chained?!” Watch Jack Black react to classic album covers by Dio, Iron Maiden, Manowar and more

By Matt Mills published

Watch Tenacious D singer, Hollywood star and ultimate metalhead Jack Black give his thoughts on artworks from some of our genre’s greatest legends

In 1979, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow began making their fourth album, Down To Earth. Cue pranks, tantrums, line-up changes, bad vibes and really bad hair days

By Paul Rees published

"I didn’t look like them and I wasn't into their music" - Graham Bonnet on being offered the job of Rainbow singer

Black Sabbath albums ranked, from worst to best

By Paul Elliott published

Some Black Sabbath albums are epoch-defining classics, some are average, some downright embarrassing, and we've ranked them – from woeful worst to brilliant best

Do you need a great singing voice to be a great rock’n’roll frontman?

By Jon Hotten published

Dee Snider created a Twitterstorm by suggesting that Ronnie James Dio was a great singer but not a great performer – and rock history is filled with other examples

"I was left standing alone in the dark, trying to match up to these iconic singers that had gone before": The chaotic tale of Black Sabbath's Tony Martin era

By Dave Ling published

Dio was out, Gillan was gone, Geezer had given up, and Ozzy had declared war. Light came in the shape of Tony Martin, and the next chapter in Black Sabbath's story

"Yes, we all want to bang our heads at Christmas, but we also want to sit down with a cup of tea and a mince pie and have a bit of a chillout": Rob Halford's 8 favourite Christmas songs

By Mark Blake published

Metal God Rob Halford salutes the most wonderful time of the year, as he selects his eight favourite Christmas songs

The Ritchie Blackmore albums you should definitely listen to - but none of them are by Deep Purple

By Paul Elliott published

A guitarist who helped define the sound of a genre, both pre- and post- Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore has a formidable back catalogue of classics

10 heavy metal solo careers that fell completely flat

By Stephen Hill published

Not everyone can be Ozzy Osbourne or Ronnie James Dio…