Ronnie James Dio has passed away

[Ultima22689]

Ronnie James Dio `has passed away, I don't know about you guys but i'm really broken up about this, may he rest in peace, he was one of my favorite musicians and he will be missed everywhere. Metal just died a bit today.

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=499771&affid=100055&GT1=28102

[pinkocommie]

I noticed Squid changed his avatar in memory of him.  I mean, I assume thats why.

[McQ]

When I saw his death announced I figured we'd see something from squid.

Ronnie was the man.

[Squid]

I had thought about posting something yesterday but I was sidetracked by other things - that seems to happen often.  Ronnie died at 7:45 a.m. on the 16th.  Ronnie got much more recognition when he replaced Ozzy as the frontman for Black Sabbath even though he has some notoriety as the frontman for Rainbow.  He and the other members of Sabbath (with Vinny Appice replacing Bill Ward) still toured as the band Heaven and Hell - named after the Sabbath album released in 1980.

Most metal historians (yes, they exist oddly enough) credit Dio with the popularization of the "devil horns"   as a universal "metal" or "rock" symbol even though Gene Simmons claims he "invented" the gesture on the cover of KISS's Love Gun album.

Dio, despite his small stature, had an immensely powerful and distinctive voice.  He became a metal icon and one of the most revered people in hard rock and metal.

I remember hearing Dio back on the title track for Holy Diver back around 1984 and thought "this is pretty cool!" - I was 9 years old at the time.

Since then other bands have paid homage to Dio by covering his tunes.  Killswitch Engage recorded a cover of Holy Diver on their album As Daylight Dies and made an accompanying video which was very similar to the original.  This move helped the music of Dio reach a whole new younger audience - other 9 year olds checking out Dio's stuff and thinking "this is pretty cool!"

[G-Roll]

holy diver... something something.... bah im not a fan. but i respect him as a HUGE player/influence in the world of all things metal.

r.i.p to 2 legendary vocalists. Ronnie and Peter Steele.