Biography

Ronnie James Dio

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Born
July 10, 1942 · Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
Died
May 16, 2010 · Los Angeles, California, USA (complications from stomach cancer)
Birth name
Ronald James Padavona
Nickname
- Dio
Height
5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

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

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

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.
Music, Rock and Roll music especially, is such a generational thing. Each generation must have their own music, I had my own in my generation, you have yours, everyone I know has their own generation.
The best subjects are always people, who never fail to amaze me by their unpredictability.
I always wanted to be a basketball player.
My childhood was safe and sane. No abuse and no traumas. I was surrounded by a large and loving family who taught me the importance of hard work and a meaningful education.

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