Ronnie James Dio

Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell.

Dio's music career began in 1957 as part of the Vegas Kings (later Ronnie and the Rumblers). In 1967, he formed the rock band Elf, in which he sang and played bass. In 1975, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore founded the band Rainbow and hired Dio as lead singer; during his tenure, the band released three studio albums. Dio quickly emerged as one of heavy rock's pre-eminent vocalists. In 1979, Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne as Black Sabbath's lead singer and appeared on three studio albums with the band, all three of which met with success: Heaven & Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981) and Dehumanizer (1992). In 1982, he left to form the band Dio, which itself had two albums certified platinum by the RIAA. In 2006, he founded the band Heaven & Hell with his prior Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice. In November 2009, Dio was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died of the disease six months later.

Dio is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal vocalists of all time. He is known for popularizing the "devil horns" hand gesture in metal culture and his medieval-themed song lyrics. According to a version provided by the singer himself, the act derives directly from the classic Italian apotropaic gesture, which his grandmother often displayed. Dio had a powerful, versatile vocal range and was capable of singing both hard rock and lighter ballads. He was awarded the "Metal Guru Award" by Classic Rock Magazine in 2006. He was also named the "Best Metal Singer" at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards in 2010 and ranked as the genre's best vocalist in 2013 by music journalist Sacha Jenkins.

Ronnie James "Dio" Padavona was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Italian-American parents Patrick and Anna from Cortland, New York. The original Italian family name was Padovano but it was miswritten at Ellis Island when his grandfather came from Italy. His family moved to Portsmouth from Cortland as part of his father's service in the U.S. Army during World War II, and they resided there for only a short time before returning to Cortland.

Padavona listened to a great deal of opera while growing up and was influenced vocally by American tenor Mario Lanza. His first formal musical training began at age 5, learning to play the trumpet. It was during high school that Padavona formed his first rock 'n' roll group, The Vegas Kings, which would later be named Ronnie and the Rumblers and then Ronnie and the Red Caps.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.