Dio is an American band founded in 1982 by vocalist Ronnie James Dio. After the singer left the Black Sabbath team, he had the intention to organize his own team together with Vinny Appice, his colleague on the previous project. The name for the new team was chosen for commercial reasons: the name of the vocalist was already well-known at that time. The only permanent member of Dio was its founder.
History of occurrence
In 1982, disagreement over the Black Sabbath live album led to the departure of lead singer Ronnie James Dio and drummer Benny Appice. Desiring to pursue a career together, two musicians formed the rock band Dio in the United States. The new team also included: guitarist Vivian Campbell and bassist Jimmy Bane. Already in May of the following year, the musicians released their debut album, entitled "Holly Diver."
His release was preceded by two singles with hits Rainbow in the dark and "Holly diver". For these songs, clips of the group Dio were filmed, which were regularly shown on MTV.
Ronnie James Dio said so several years later about creating a collective and recording the first album: “It was a great time. Everything turned out great for us. The recording of the album went according to our plan. We were terribly courteous with each other at rehearsals. Everyone put great effort into "Records of this record. Everyone wanted a wonderful disc. We really believed in what we were doing and were looking forward to the album. We wanted people to listen to it as soon as possible."
New member and second album
During a concert tour in support of Dio's Holi Diver album, keyboardist Claude Schnell joined the band. The result is a wonderful quintet. In this composition, the group Dio began recording the second album, which it was decided to call The last in line.
Its official release came on July 2, 1984.
Third disc
The second work of the group was warmly received by fans of the Heavy Metal style. Therefore, the musicians decided not to delay the recording of the third disc, which was released the next year, 1985. Around the same time, Ronnie James Dio, Campbell and Bane recorded the song Stars, the proceeds of which went to the African Women Assistance Fund. She was the last song Campbell recorded as part of the Dio band. After a brief conflict with the team leader, the guitarist was fired from the band.
Craig Goldie was invited in his place. He was introduced to the fans of the band during the tour. In 1987, the fourth album of the group Dio was released. This disc was recorded at Plant Records, which was built in the late sixties to work on one of Jimmy Hendrix's records. The company's employees have recorded and compiled many magnificent albums of the seventies and eighties, including the "Hotel California" by Eagles and the last album of John Lennon's Double fantasy.
Change
The new decade was marked for the group Dio by a change of composition. Of the old members in the team, only Ronnie James remained. Musicians who had not previously participated in the work of the band began to play keyboards, solo guitars and drums. The line-up was replenished with former Rainbow keyboardist Jens Joansson and AC / DC drummer Simon Wright.
Unexpected meeting
During a concert tour in support of this album, Ronnie James Dio accidentally met his Black Sabbath bandmate, Geyser Butler. This incident led to a short-term reunion of the Dehumanized record team. After that, the leader of the group Dio again radically changed the composition. Of the old members, only the drummer Appice remained.
New themes for songs
Since 1993, in the songs of the group Dio mystical themes give way to actual problems.
Texts are becoming more topical; they touch upon questions from the life of modern society.
Some fans speak of 1993-1996 recordings as the worst period in the band’s history. But there are fans who, on the contrary, consider these works as a new stage of development, a departure from the old-fashioned style of the eighties of the 20th century.
Due to the low sales rating of the album Angry machines, managers began to persuade the team to return to the classic style. They insisted that the current guitarist leave the band, and Craig Goldy, a member of the gold roster, returned to his place.
Return
Craig Goldy returned to the group, after which the extremely commercially successful Magica album was recorded, which many fans see as a return to basics. He reached 13th place on the Billboard magazine charts.
The recording of this album was marked not only by the return of Craig Goldie, but also by Simon Wright and James Bane. Thus, the group returned to the classical composition. Musically, the disc was a mixture of the old, time-tested style with the addition of synthesizer parts, thanks to which the team began to sound more modern.
Killing a dragon
This name was given to the next album of the group, which was released in 2002 and was warmly received by fans of heavy metal, which led to its getting into the Billboard magazine chart.
In 2004, Dio released their latest album, Master of the moon.
Jeff Wilson, the famous multi-instrumentalist, formerly a member of Dokken, played the bass in it.
In 2009, Ronnie James Dio again joined Black Sabbath to record the next album. After a long 2-year break in the activities of the Dio group, its leader returned to the team, after which information appeared about the upcoming next round.
In November 2009, these tours were canceled due to the hospitalization of Ronnie James Dio. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The musician’s wife and group manager then said: “After killing this dragon, Ronnie will definitely return to the stage, where he should be, and will continue to do his favorite thing - performing songs for his fans.”
Ronnie James Dio died on May 16, 2010 in Texas at the age of 67.
In the same year, it was announced that members of the final team would continue to work on the project, changing the name to Dio Disciples. The vocalist in this group was a former member of Judas priest Tim Owens.
This team has been actively touring since its inception. In May 2012, former Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell announced his intention to join the original lineup for a series of concerts. This group is called Last in line.