Roll over Betty Ford and tell Promises the news. A new rehab center in South Central, Pennsylvania called Clarity Way is providing its clients the use of an in-house recording studio and a music therapist. So now drug-addled artists can try to get clean and be productive at the same time.
The studio, which is equipped [...]
Today, the heavy metal world lost a true legend. Ronnie James Dio, who most recently fronted the Black Sabbath-without-Ozzy band Heaven & Hell, lost his battle with stomach cancer at 7:45 a.m. PST. He was 67.
“My heart is broken,” said his wife and manager, Wendy Dio in a statement. “Many, many friends and family were able to say their private good-byes before he peacefully passed away. Ronnie knew how much he was loved by all.”
On November 25, 2009, Dio announced that he was diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. Four months later, Wendy Dio posted that he had undergone his seventh session of chemotherapy and his health seemed to be improving. “Our [cancer clinic] visits are now every three weeks instead of every two weeks,” she wrote.
About a month later, on April 8 Dio attended the the Revolver Golden Gods awards, where he won the “Best Vocalist Award.” At the event, he spoke to Sirius Liquid Metal’s Jose Mangin and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor and discussed his new found lease on life.
Artisan news service also talked to Dio on the black carpet outside the event and Dio was candid about the discomfort of chemotherapy and his faith in the doctors who were treating him. He appeared frail, but was friendly and optimistic; no one could have guessed how little time he had left.
Then on May 4, Heaven & Hell announced that they were canceling all summer tour dates while Dio continued his treatment. After the announcement, Dio issued his own statement. “This setback could be devastating, but we will not let it be,” he said. “With your continued love and support, we will carry on and thrive. There will be other tours, more music, more life and much more magic.”
Late on Saturday, May 15, the Internet was abuzz with reports that Dio had died. In response, his wife issued the statement, "I am at the hospital and Ronnie has NOT passed away!!!! He is not doing good, but he is not dead.”
Ronnie James Dio died at a time when his career was on an upward arc. Since the mid ‘80s, he had been in and out of Black Sabbath three times, but after recording the Heaven & Hell album ‘The Devil You Know’ with his Sabbath band mates in 2009, Dio seemed to be back on top of his game. Tours to support the record were universally acclaimed and the band was making plans to head back into the studio when Dio was diagnosed with cancer.
In addition to singing with Black Sabbath and Heaven & Hell, Dio enjoyed an immensely successful solo career in the band Dio, which formed in 1982 after he left Sabbath for the first time, and released 10 albums with them, including the commercially successful discs 1983’s ‘Holy Diver,’ 1984’s ‘The Last in Line,’ 1985’s ‘Sacred Heart’ and 1987’s ‘Dream Evil.’
Dio broke into the music industry with the blues-rock band Elf, where he honed his powerfully resonant vocals. He joined Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow in 1975 and sang with them until 1978, then joined Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne was fired from the group. The band’s 1980 debut ‘Heaven and Hell’ was a thunderous comeback -- one that showcased Dio's expressive, operatic vocals, which were a stark contrast to Osbourne's unschooled howl. Black Sabath followed in 1981 with the equally potent ‘Mob Rules.’ However, while on tour for the album, friction between Dio and his band mates developed and while 'Live Evil,' a concert album of the tour, was being engineered, Dio was fired. He returned to Black Sabbath during the height of the alternative rock movement for the 1992 album ‘Dehumanizer’ but left again shortly after when his band mates reformed their original lineup with Ozzy Osbourne.
Dio’s final reunion with Black Sabbath – and the one that lasted until his death – came in 2006 when Rhino records expressed interest in putting out a greatest hits package of Dio’s years with the band. Since there were no B-sides or live tracks lying around, Black Sabbath made plans to get together with Dio to write, and came up with three new songs, ‘Shadow of the Wind,’ ‘The Devil Cried’ and ‘Ear in the Wall.’ The writing sessions were so enjoyable, the members decided to tour together as Heaven & Hell. Following the tour, they started writing the full-length Heaven and Hell Album ‘The Devil You Know.’
In the final sentence of her statement to fans, Wendy Dio said, “We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us… Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever.”
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