Ronald James Padavona, 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 was an American heavy metal band formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Dio left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice. The name Dio was chosen because it made sense from a commercial standpoint, as the name was already well known at that time.
Rainbow are a British-American rock band formed in London and Los Angeles in 1975 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. Established in the aftermath of Blackmore's first departure from Deep Purple, they originally featured four members of the band Elf, including their singer Ronnie James Dio, but after their self-titled debut album, Blackmore fired these members, except Dio, recruiting drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboardist Tony Carey. This line-up recorded the band's second album Rising (1976), while Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978) saw Bob Daisley and David Stone replace Bain and Carey, respectively. Long Live Rock 'n' Roll was also the last album with Dio before he left the band to join Black Sabbath in 1979.
Dream Evil is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Dio, released on July 21, 1987. It is the first album without Vivian Campbell who left the band in 1986, and features former Rough Cutt members Craig Goldy on guitar and Claude Schnell on keyboards. It includes the singles "All the Fools Sailed Away" and "I Could Have Been a Dreamer". Dream Evil was Dio's last album to feature mascot Murray on the cover and also the last to feature drummer Vinny Appice until the 1993 album Strange Highways. It was also the last album to feature bassist Jimmy Bain until the release of 2000's Magica. The album also marks Schnell's final appearance with Dio.
Holy Diver is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Dio, released in 1983. The album was acclaimed by the music press and is the band's most successful album.
Hear 'n Aid was a charity record released in 1986. The record featured a supergroup of 40 heavy metal musicians on a track called "Stars". A music video was released as well, produced during the recording sessions. Proceeds from the album were used to raise over $3 million for famine relief in Africa.
The Last In Line is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Dio, released on July 2, 1984. It is the first Dio album to feature former Rough Cutt keyboardist Claude Schnell. It became the band's highest-charting album in both the UK and the U.S., reaching number 4 and number 23, respectively.
Lock Up the Wolves is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Dio, released on May 15, 1990. It displayed a complete change of musician line-up over the previous album, Dream Evil, including 18-year-old guitarist Rowan Robertson and Simon Wright on drums who had played with AC/DC from 1983 to 1989 as well as bassist Teddy Cook who was in the band Hotshot that morphed into Danger Danger. Rod Simpkins from the Hollywood bands Riken and Jungle Alley also filled in on bass for several tour dates in 1990. Former Dio Bass player Jimmy Bain was not able to fill tour dates for Teddy Cook due to health concerns.
Sacred Heart is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Dio and the last to feature guitarist Vivian Campbell. It was released on August 12, 1985, on Warner Bros. Records in North America, and Vertigo elsewhere. The record peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. It includes the singles "Rock 'n' Roll Children" and "Hungry for Heaven".
Vivian Patrick Campbell is a Northern Irish guitarist. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as a member of Dio and has been a member of Def Leppard since 1992. Campbell has also worked with Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Sweet Savage, Trinity, Riverdogs and Shadow King.
James Stewart Bain was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo albums.
Killing the Dragon is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Dio. It was released May 21, 2002 through Spitfire Records and was produced by frontman Ronnie James Dio. The album was reissued in 2007 in a two-CD package with Magica. It was remastered in 2019 and reissued in 2020 with updated album art and a bonus disc containing six tracks recorded live on the Killing the Dragon tour.
Intermission is the first live album released by the American heavy metal band Dio in 1986 on the label Vertigo Records in Europe and Warner Bros. Records in North America. The live songs were recorded with guitarist Vivian Campbell during the first leg of the Sacred Heart tour. Craig Goldy replaced Campbell in mid-tour, and the band wanted something to represent the new line-up, so they recorded the song "Time to Burn" in the studio with him, which was added to this album.
Diamonds – The Best of Dio is a greatest hits collection from heavy metal band Dio. It was released internationally in 1992, but it was never released domestically in the US.
"Hungry for Heaven" is the seventh single released by heavy metal band Dio. It was the second single from their 1985 LP Sacred Heart, although it was originally written for the movie Vision Quest, appearing both in the film and on the associated soundtrack album.
We Rock is a compilation video album by the American heavy metal band Dio. It collects the out-of-print videos Live in Concert (1984) and A Special from the Spectrum (1984), which had been available on VHS and a Japanese issued Laserdisc, minus a couple of songs.
A Special from the Spectrum is the second video album by the American heavy metal band Dio, containing footage of a live concert performance recorded at The Spectrum arena in Philadelphia on 25 August 1984. Most of the performance has been repackaged on the We Rock DVD, minus the opening track of "Stand Up and Shout". The video has been certified Gold by the RIAA having sold 50,000 units.
Time Machine is a video compilation by the American heavy metal band Dio. Ronnie James Dio made extra narration to every song in this video.
Rising is the second studio album by the British-American rock band Rainbow. It was released on 17 May 1976.
Last in Line is a British rock band formed in 2012 by former members of Dio's original lineup. Their name comes from the 1984 Dio album, The Last in Line. Following the death of frontman Ronnie James Dio in 2010, drummer Vinny Appice, bassist Jimmy Bain, guitarist Vivian Campbell and keyboardist Claude Schnell reunited and added vocalist Andrew Freeman to perform the Dio songs they originally recorded. They released three studio albums of original material without Schnell between February 2016 and March 2023.
