Ronnie James Dio

There is more than one artist with this name:

1) Dio is a heavy metal band led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, ex- Ronnie and the Prophets, Elf and Rainbow founding member, born in Cortland, New York, who formed it in October 1982 after leaving Black Sabbath. In addition to Ronnie, Vivian Campbell played guitar; with Jimmy Bain on bass and Vinny Appice on drums.

In May 1983 they released their debut album "Holy Diver," on which Ronnie sang and played keyboards. To avoid having the vocalist stuck behind a keyboard in concert, the band recruited keyboardist Claude Schnell. Now a quintet, they released "The Last in Line" on July 2, 1984, followed by "Sacred Heart" on August 15, 1985. Several songs were recorded during the tour for that album; they were released along with the studio-recorded "Time To Burn" on the "Intermission" mini LP.

In 1986 the drift between Vivian Campbell and the band led to the first personnel change in the band. The new guitarist was Craig Goldy from Giruffia whom Ronnie James Dio known from his Hear N Aid project. After the tour was over Dio was working on the next album which was released in July 21 1987, named Dream Evil. After the subsequent tour the band went through a complete overhaul. Goldy left in 1988 and after a year Ronnie announced that the next guitarist will be the then 18 years old prodigy, Rowan Robertson. Then Schnell, Bain and Appice left, too. The additional new members were unknown bassist Teddy Cook, keyboardist Jens Johansson (ex-Yngwie J. Malmsteen's Rising Force, now mainly Stratovarius) and drummer Simon Wright (ex-AC/DC). The new album was released on May 15 1990, called Lock Up the Wolves. During the tour Dio met with Geezer Butler and their jam led to Ronnie's reunion with Black Sabbath.

In 1994 the lineup was changed again. The bass was handled by Jeff Pilson (ex-Dokken), the keybordist was Scott Warren (ex-Warrant, Berlin, among others), the drummer was Vinny Appice and the guitars were handled by Tracy G (full name Tracy Grijalva, ex-WWIII) The new album was named "Strange Highways", and marked a departure from the classic Dio themes and tone resemble the vibe of Sabbath's "Dehumanizer" album. The next albums were "Angry Machines" (1996), and "Inferno: Last in Live" (1998, first live album in 13 years).

After the Dio Anthology Tour; in 1999 Craig Goldy returned and Tracy G was asked to play rhythm guitar but he declined . The new album titled Magica was released on May 21 2000 and featured the lineup of Jimmy Bain (bass), Scott Warren (keyboards), Craig Goldy (guitars) and Simon Wright (drums). Magica was a fantasy themed concept album and musically was closer to the '80s tone of Dio.

In May 21 2002 the album "Killing the Dragon" was released. The new guitarist was Doug Aldrich (ex-Lion, Hurricane), who stepped in during the writing session. The next album was released August 30 2004, named Master of the Moon. It saw the return of Jeff Pilson and Craig Goldy. On tour, Rudy Sarzo (ex-Ozzy Osbourne Band, Quiet Riot) handled the bass duties.

Dio is widely recognized as one of the most influential heavy metal bands still in existence, along with pioneers like Black Sabbath, which he is still a member of and tours with between his own albums and tours, and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and Deep Purple.

Ronnie James Dio has three strengths, amongst others, a powerful and distinctive voice, a gift with metaphysical lyrics, and the integrity to stay faithful to his original vision across the decades.

Dio is also credited with popularizing the famous "devil horns" sign (a fist where the index finger and the smallest finger are pointing upward, like an image of a horned head), which became an international symbol for heavy metal soon after he began showing it at live shows starting with Black Sabbath. In fact Ronnie James Dio stated in several interviews that this sign originated from his Italian grandmother; she did this sign towards the children in order to prevent bad spirits/dark forces to come near them. It could also be used when you wanted to give people an "Evil eye", a kind of curse, or by reversing it you wish them love, according to Ronnie.

Currently Ronnie is writing and touring with old Black Sabbath band mates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinnie Appice under the name Heaven & Hell, after the first Black Sabbath album Ronnie appeared on.

2) Dio is a Dutch rapper by the name of Diorno Braaf, born on the day of May 31, 1988. He is part of the famous Dutch label Top Notch, which includes The Opposites and De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig. He worked with The Opposites on the song 'Dom, Lomp en Famous' and he provided a few songs for the mixtape 'Op Volle Toeren'. He also worked with The Partysquad on the song 'Stuk'. He just released a mixtape called 'Tijdmachine' and his debut album Rock & Roll with singles like 'Het is je boy!' (with Voicst) and 'Tijdmachine' ((with Sef).

3) Dio known as in europa; Dio - distraught overlord is a visual kei band with a heavier and darker sound than other new indies bands. Their members are Mikaru (vocals), Kei (guitar), Erina (guitar), Ivy (bass) and Denka (drums).
Their aim is to produce new music, without any stereotypes, combining ‘heavy’ and ‘melodious’ in their songs.
Although the band hasn’t been around for a very long time, they released their Single "Byakuya ni Moyuru Hana" in Europe.

2nd Maxi Single was released in May 9th.