Ronnie James Dio: News, History & Updates

Ronnie James Dio Biography by Greg Prato

Excerpts from Greg’s books for Alternative Nation

WENDY DIO [Ronnie James Dio’s wife and manager]: Ronnie got on with everybody. Ronnie was a person that really loved people and talked to people. I don’t think he had any enemies.

RUDY SARZO [Quiet Riot/Ozzy Osbourne/Whitesnake/Dio bassist]: There is being kind to the fans, and then there is being kind to the fans at a “Ronnie James Dio level.” Which, it blew me away. I’ve got to say – if you met him in person, say, backstage after a show, the next time he saw you, he would remember your name and would remember everything that you guys talked about. And he did that constantly – every single night. To the point where I thought, “OK, there’s got to be some magic going on here, because how does this guy remember every single person?” It’s impossible for me to even imagine that – unfortunately, I’m not that way. But he was. It was amazing – night after night after night.

TIM “RIPPER” OWENS [ex-Judas Priest singer]: Ronnie and I were friends. I had just joined Judas Priest and ‘Jugulator’ had just come out, and he was playing in Cleveland, so I got put on the guest list. When I got there, they said, “Hey, you’ve got to go backstage. Somebody wants to talk to you.” And this was an outdoor shed thing. So I went there, and Ronnie was going to go on stage, but he wanted to meet me, so they gave me a laminate. I stood on the side of the stage and watched, and met him after the show. I said, “Man, I’m a big fan of yours.” He’s like, “Well, you’re one of us now. You’re just like me.” We exchanged info and he was great – he always talked great about me in the press, and talked great about my singing. He was a great guy – he really liked to talk to the fans. He could be sick on a tour bus, it could be raining outside, and he would come out and sign stuff for fans in the rain. I was amazed that we would talk, and we ate a couple of curries together.

EDDIE TRUNK [Radio host, That Metal Show co-host]: I did, actually [discuss Rainbow with Ronnie]. Ronnie was very protective of Rainbow. He felt very much that it was just as much his band as Blackmore’s. And I got the very distinct impression he had no ill will towards any of the singers that came after him. But in my talks with him – publicly and privately – I got the very distinct impression from him that he didn’t feel that that was Rainbow. That Rainbow was him and Ritchie, and that what came after – and whatever success there was – “Oh good, fine, whatever.” But that Rainbow was conceived and Rainbow is him and Blackmore, and that was the band.

CHARLIE BENANTE [Anthrax drummer]: We did talk about the Rainbow times. He never went in-depth into it, but I told him how much ‘Rainbow Rising’ meant to me. And he was very appreciative – “Thank you so much for that. It was a great time.” I don’t even think he knew how big or what the legacy of that band would be – to today. But I somehow feel like the Dio solo stuff – especially those first two records [1983’s ‘Holy Diver’ and 1984’s ‘The Last in Line’] – have that injection of Rainbow in it. Not just with his voice, but the style of some of those songs.

CRAIG GOLDY [Dio guitarist]: His fascination with good and evil, right and wrong, total opposites, yet finding unity and speaking to both opposite view points, and still, even though the subject matter can be seen as “negative” and with a dark sound, there was a positive theme overall. Which brings us back to, “Saying one thing, yet meaning another.”

DAVID “ROCK” FEINSTEIN [Elf guitarist]: Ronnie was a genius when it came to his lyrics and his ideas. There are a lot of great musicians out there – whether they’re guitar players, bass players, drummers, whatever. But Ronnie could take a riff that somebody gave him – whether it was Tony Iommi, Ritchie, me, or anybody else – and he could create something great from that. And that’s what his talent was – he could create. And he could also strum on the guitar and play a little piano – to create his own riffs. But he was a genius when it came to lyrics and melodies. Incredible. One of a kind.

ERIC BLOOM [Blue Öyster Cult singer/guitarist]: He could sing anything. He could sing the phonebook. He had that “big voice.” He was a little guy, but he had that big voice. God only knew where it came from. He had a God-given talent. I saw a whole tour with Black Sabbath [with Ronnie] – the “Black & Blue Tour” – and got to see them play on a nightly basis. And the guy could shake the walls with this voice.

WENDY DIO: There’s hardly anybody that’s ever fronted three main bands and had a song from each one of them in the Top 20 list, which is a Rainbow song, a Black Sabbath song, and a Dio song.

QUOTE SOURCES (CLICK LINK FOR ORDER INFO):
All quotes are from The Other Side of Rainbow