Biography for
Ronnie James Dio More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

10 July 1942, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA

Date of Death

16 May 2010, Los Angeles, California, USA (complications from stomach cancer)

Birth Name

Ronald James Padavona

Nickname

Dio

Height

5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

How many rock stars can brag about recording and touring consistently in six different decades? That's just one of the many claims to fame enjoyed by Ronnie James Dio. Born on July 10, 1942, this Cortland, New York native began his recording career back in 1958. Even back then, the seeds of Ronnie James Dio's future musical excesses had already been sown. After more than 40 years in the rock business, Ronnie James Dio has shown he still has what it takes to get the job done. The mystery surrounding Ronnie's age is still going. He himself says the age is not important, the only thing that matters is the music. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was raised in Cortland, near Syracuse in New York State in the USA, in a quiet, Italian, middle class community. Ronnie changed his name sometime (the exact date is unknown) from Padovana to Dio - Which means "God" in Italian.

IMDb Mini Biography By: MMingE@hotmail.com

Spouse

Wendy Dio	(1974 - 16 May 2010) (his death)
Loretta Berardi	(? - ?) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Popularlized the "horns" hand guesture as a symbol of heavy metal music

Long curly hair

Trivia

Organized and wrote music for Hear 'N Aid in 1985, the heavy metal equivalent of Band Aid, USA For Africa, and other multi-artist charity projects that were very popular at the time. The Hear 'N Aid song "Stars" saw the collaboration of 40 artists from various heavy metal bands, and ended up raising $1,000,000 against starvation in Africa.

Was bassist/vocalist in the rock band ELF in the early, and mid, seventies. Was a vocalist in the heavy rock band Rainbow from 1975-1978; in Black Sabbath from 1980-1982 and 1992-1993; in Dio from 1982-1991 and from 1993-?.

Introduced the "horns" gesture (created by extending the index and pinky finger, with the middle and ring fingers held under the thumb) to the world of rock music. Audiences would start repeating the gesture and its popularity soon spread. To this day, it's still widely seen at virtually all hard rock concerts, and is used by audience members to reflect their enthusiasm for the music.

Has a street named after him in Cortland, New York.

In May of 1979, he replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the singer for Black Sabbath. Contrary to current popular belief, the band initially did quite well without Ozzy, with the Dio-fronted albums "Heaven and Hell", "Mob Rules" and "Dehumanizer" earning the band's best sales since 1974.

Is a very big sports fan, particularly of teams based in New York such as the Yankees, the Mets, the New York Rangers, and the New York Giants.

Has one son, Danny

Met Ritchie Blackmore when Elf served as Deep Purple's opening act. When Blackmore left Purple in 1975, he formed Rainbow around the Elf line-up, minus their guitarist. After the first album, "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" was released, Blackmore fired everybody except Dio.

Italian-American.

Got the name "Dio" from gangster Johnny Dio.

Lives in Los Angeles.

The last album he recorded was Heaven & Hell's "The Devil You Know".

Dio studied pharmacy at the University at Buffalo, New York, in 1960/61.

Dio had become a fixture in heavy metal's global family, his legend burnished by his being credited with making the "devil horns" hand gesture the international metal call sign. Dio claimed he had learned it from his Italian grandmother, who used it to ward off evil spirits.

It was on tour last summer with a spin-off version of Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, that Dio revealed he was ill [2009].

His final studio album with his solo band was 2004's Master of the Moon. His final studio recordings released in his lifetime was the Heaven and Hell album The Devil You Know (which was the only Dio-lineup Sabbath album released under the Heaven and Hell name.).

Contrary to popular belief, Dio is not the first Black Sabbath singer to die - Ray Gillen, also of Badlands, sang for Black Sabbath in the late '80s and passed away in 1993.

First Rainbow singer to die.

In 1961, he changed his last name from Padavona to Dio, after Mafia member Johnny Dio.

Personal Quotes

I was in [Black] Sabbath at the time. The gesture was a symbol that I thought was reflective of what that band was supposed to be all about. It's NOT the devil's sign like we're here with the devil. It's an Italian thing I got from my Grandmother. It's to ward off the Evil Eye or to give the Evil Eye, depending on which way you do it. It's just a symbol but it had magical incantations and attitudes to it and I felt it worked very well with Sabbath. So I became very noted for it and then everybody else started to pick up on it and away it went. But I would never say I take credit for being the first to do it.

Where Are They Now

(July 2003) Touring with Iron Maiden and 'Motorhead'.

(June 2004) Beginning a summer tour of Europe