He is known for popularizing the ' devil horns' hand gesture in metal culture and his medieval-themed song lyrics. In November 2009, Dio was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died of the disease six months later.ĭio is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal vocalists of all time. In 2006, he founded the band Heaven & Hell with ex-bandmate Tony Iommi. In 1982, he left to form the band Dio, which itself had two albums certified platinum by the RIAA. In 1979, Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne as Black Sabbath's lead singer and appeared on three studio albums with the band, all three of which were met with success: Heaven & Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981) and Dehumanizer (1992). Dio quickly emerged as one of heavy rock's pre-eminent vocalists. In 1975, Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore founded the band Rainbow and hired Dio to be his lead singer during his tenure, the band released three studio albums. In 1967, he formed the rock band Elf, which became a regular opening act for Deep Purple. Dio's music career began in 1957 as part of the Vegas Kings (later Ronnie and the Rumblers). The family returned to Cortland when Dio was very young and he lived there until graduating high school in 1960. Though his parents were from Cortland, New York, Dio was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where his family resided for his father's service in the U.S.

He fronted or founded numerous groups throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell. Ronald James Padavona (J– May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer and songwriter.

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