Ronnie James Dio

I would like to acknowledge the passing of a huge childhood musical inspiration and influence. Ronnie James Dio passed away the morning of Sunday May 16th after battling cancer since last fall. He was 67 years old. RJD was the genre defining vocalist for such Hard Rock and Heavy Metal bands as Rainbow, Black Sabbath (he replaced Ozzy for a few years in 1979), and of course his own band Dio. Ronnie worked with some of the best guitarists in the business. The guitarist on Dio’s first solo record ‘Holy Diver’, Vivian Campbell, was an integral part of my early development on guitar, not to mention Ritchie Blackmore from Rainbow and Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath being huge influences as well. I was lucky to see RJD perform with Heaven & Hell (a re-vamped and re-named Black Sabbath) twice in the last three years. Thanks Ronnie for all the great music! - Alastair