The Catskill Chronicle

By Jason Dole

No more rocking for Dio, but not by his choice. He never stopped rocking.

Ronnie James Dio lost his battle with stomach cancer on Sunday morning (May 16). Dio’s wife, Wendy, announced that he was diagnosed with cancer last autumn. Just months before that, he was touring with his old Black Sabbath band mates—Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinnie Appice—under the name Heaven and Hell. The tour followed an album of all-new material, the Devil You Know, released in April 09. It was a fitting (though unwitting) end to Dio’s 50-plus years in rock music.

Until recently, I didn’t really know much about Dio. I heard the name, but thought it was just another band name. I didn’t know it was some guy who was actually named Dio. It probably dawned on me sometime around 2001, when Tenacious D released their song “Dio.” Now, on word of his passing, I’ve got this song stuck in my head almost as much as songs like “Rainbow in the Dark” and “Heaven and Hell.” Jack Black and Kyle Gass’ tongue-in-cheek tribute seem so much sweeter in light of recent news:

“Dio has rocked for a long, long time,

Now it’s time for him to pass the torch…

You’re too old to rock,

no more rockin’ for you.

We’re takin’ you to a home,

But we will sing a song about you.

And we will make sure that you’re very well taken care of…”

Of course, even after I learned that Dio was more than a band name, I still didn’t know who Dio was. I pictured some Danzig-looking dude, big and dark and scary. Instead, Dio was a smallish Italian-American man with a receding hair line who performed with lots of wild, only slightly scary hand movements. But that voice! Damn, what a voice. His was a quintessential rock voice, often emulated but rarely equaled.

I’d heard that voice plenty of times. Once I learned to associate it with the guy named Dio, that guy had a new fan. It’s the voice that sings alongside Ritchie Blackmore’s guitar on the early Rainbow stuff. It’s the voice of the later Black Sabbath. And, most well-known, it’s the dramatic voice behind “Holy Diver,” perhaps Dio’s best known song.

Rainbow In The Dark

I have to thank VH1 Classic for filling some of the gaps in my knowledge of rock. The two biggest discoveries the cable channel helped me make in recent years were Iron Maiden and Ronnie James Dio. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen this video on late at night, but I always crank it up. Click this link to see the video Dio – Rainbow in the Dark .

Bible Black

You’ve got to hand it to musicians who not only continue to make rock music late in their career, but continue to make original tunes that sound good. This is the official video for “Bible Black” from Heaven and Hell’s 2009 release, The Devil You Know.

Heaven and Hell

The song that pretty much defines Dio’s time with Black Sabbath. An epic song with epic length, Dio said that it’s about the possibility for both good and evil within all of us.

Man on Silver Mountain

Here’s a great clip from the late 70s documenting Dio’s time with Ritchie Blackmore and Rainbow. Before Blackmore recruited them, most of the band (including Dio) were in an outfit that was first called “The Electric Elves” and later, just “Elves.” Shortly after this time with Rainbow, Dio joined Sabbath.

Dio by Tenacious D

Hey, here you go. The song I was talking about. R.I.P. Dio.

Check out this link for a message from Ronnie James Dio’s wife Wendy on his passing, http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/ and this link for more info on Dio and Heaven and Hell, including more videos. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/ronnie_james_dio/artist.jhtml