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Remembering DIO (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010)

On September 7, 2007 I interviewed Ronnie James Dio.  I explained to Ronnie my vision and was glad to oblige. 

“Sabbath created heavy metal music. Purple were much more of a musical entity. They were much more trained and from Jon Lord to Richie Blackmore to Roger Glover, all of them were just really great players who learned from other great musicians. Zeppelin, those guys were a little bit between Sabbath and Purple in that they had musical expertise but were trying new things. Sabbath were a band that played and flew by the seat of their pants. Tony had his fingers chopped off early on. Which made it necessary for him to tune the guitar down a half a step so the strings weren’t quite as tight so that it would be a little bit easier for him. Which created this other tone that was there and the way Tony plays and Tony’s riffs are to me the most instrumental things that there ever could be for heavy metal music. So, it was always Sabbath first. Tony and Geezer and Ozzy and Bill Ward created heavy metal music.” 

I first met Ronnie James Dio in 1980 with Black Sabbath. To think that a photo I took would be displayed at his Funeral 30 years later is beyond belief. When I walked up to pay my respects at the service, I glanced up above the book to sign for guests and there it was my photgraph of Ronnie. Wendy his widow told me later on that it was his favorite photograph.
RONNIE JAMES DIO (July 10, 1942 - May 16, 2010)
Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath - 1982
Ronnie James Dio in 1987 at his home in California
Ronnie James Dio in 1987 at his home in California with Jet
RONNIE JAMES DIO (July 10, 1942 - May 16, 2010) final resting place at Forrest Lawn, Hollywood Hills California

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