On July ten, 1942, in the middle of World War 2, a child was born and came to the world who later on would become world famous. Exactly seventy-eight years ago, Ronald James Padavona, more commonly know as Ronnie James Dio, was born and brought to the world.
At a very young age he already found music and realized that it would be his destiny in life. He started out his music career playing the trumpet and horn and recorded a couple of singles with lots of rockabilly bands.
During high school, he joined the band: ‘The Vegas kings’ who later changed their name to: ‘Ronnie and the Rumblers’ and changed it again to: ‘Ronnie and the Red Caps’. Their first single was released in 1958 at Reb Records.
With his band: Elf, they got the attention of Deep Purple-guitarist: Ritchie Blackmore, while they were playing as openers for them.
Because Ritchie wasn’t happy anymore with playing for Deep Purple, he quitted the band and started a new project with almost all members of ‘Elf’. They then renamed the band to: Rainbow.
With rainbow, they made a couple of successful albums. These include: Rainbow Rising and Long Live Rock & Roll, along with many others. When Ronnie left Rainbow, he joined Black Sabbath, where he replaced Ozzy Osbourne.
During the time Ronnie was playing for Black Sabbath, they recorded another two albums and when these were finished, Ronnie decided to go his own way and started the band: Dio.
Their debut record: Holy Diver, is seen as a classic in the metal industry.
Along with his powerful performance and voice, Ronnie is also seen as the inventor of the world hand gesture. This gesture is still used today and not only in metal and rock music, but also very far out of these genres.
2006, Ronnie played himself in the movie: The pick of destiny. This movie portrayed the start of another famous band, called: Tenacious D, formed by Jack Black and Kyle Gass.
A dark day in metal.
On November 25th, in 2009, Ronnie’s wife and manager brought the heavy news outside that Ronnie had stomach cancer. This news shocked the metal world, but no-one was yet prepared of what was going to happen next.
Originally it was said that his sickness was able to be handled very good. Unfortunately, in reality it went backwards very fast and only a half a year later, on May, 16, 2010, Ronnie past away due to his illness.
He left behind a legacy and as on today his name his still very popular and known. Sure, he will be missed by many musicians, fans and family, but his name will be known long after his death. That is something that everyone can tell you.
