Monday 17 May 2010

Ronnie James Dio - Rest In Peace


Yesterday, the world lost one of the greatest heavy metal vocalists it has ever been my pleasure to hear; Ronnie James Dio passed away having lost his battle with stomach cancer at the tender age of 67.

Ronnie James Dio is a legend in my eyes. His performances since the 70’s have been breathtaking. It’s hard to believe that such a small man had such a wonderfully strong and powerful voice.

He was the vocalist on, in my opinion, the greatest rock album of the 1970’s – Rainbow Rising with the incomparable genius of Cozy Powell and Ritchie Blackmore. This incredible album is one of the main reasons I love hard rock and heavy metal – I still listen to it today.

I have been fortunate enough to see Ronnie perform on two occasions; once with Black Sabbath and once with his own band Dio. He sounded even better live.

I think I’ve said enough for now. I will let Mr Ronnie James Dio do the talking.

Here he is performing “Stargazer” from the album Rainbow Rising – my favourite song from that album.

Rest in peace …

8 comments:

Pandora Behr said...

PM,

My condolences. As a Jeff Beck fan, I sorta get what you are feeling. He will be missed.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Pandora,

He certainly will be missed.

Cheers

PM

Kath Lockett said...

Hey PM, my ex-boyfriend was a huge Ronnie James Dio fan, so I'm sure there'll be a fair bit of dragging out the old LPs and a few blokes headbanging away with less hair than they used to have back in the day....

Plastic Mancunian said...

G'Day Kath,

Yes - the local rock station has been doing its best to keep his memory alive, which is fab!

I am one of those who used to have less hair, though I'm sure if Mrs PM let me grow it again I could recapture my youth.

:0)

Cheers

PM

Scars Beneath The Skin said...

RIP.

Never got to see him live, sadly.

'Kill The King' was the Rainbow track I used to play most. Always thought it was a bit of an overlooked classic.

River said...

I have no idea who he is. (was)
Not my type of music at all.

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi Andy,

Yes - Kill the King - another absolute classic. It was the first song I heard by Rainbow and is still a favourite today.

Cheers

PM

Plastic Mancunian said...

Hi River,

RJD was, sadly, overlooked by conventional radio stations. Take my word for it, he is a legend.

It's never too late to appreciate his genius. Try this (a more radio friendly example of his singing that you may appreciate):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m-095okyQY

Cheers

PM