I remember it as if it were yesterday. It was late spring/early summer in 1983 and I was holding Dio’s debut album Holy Diver in my hands for the first time. I had been a huge fan of both Rainbow and Sabbath for several years, but that album really set a new standard for hard rock/metal in my opinion.
To this day, Ronnie Jame Dio is one of my all-time favorite singers, all categories included. That ballsy tenor voice belting out those epic rainbow tunes is nothing but pure magic.
I only got the chance to see him once on stage, and that was when Heaven and Hell played at Wembley Arena in London 2008. Unlike many of his contemporaries, his voice was still intact.