Dio is a heavy metal band led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, ex-Ronnie and the Prophets, Elf and Rainbow founding member, born in Cortland, New York, who formed it in October 1982 after leaving Black Sabbath. In addition to Ronnie, Vivian Campbell played guitar; with Jimmy Bain on bass and Vinny Appice on drums. In May 1983 they released their debut album Holy Diver, on which Ronnie sang and played keyboards. To avoid having the vocalist stuck behind a keyboard in concert, the band recruited keyboardist Claude Schnell. Now a quintet, they released The Last in Line on July 2, 1984, followed by Sacred Heart on August 15, 1985. Several songs were recorded during the tour for that album; they were released along with the studio-recorded Time To Burn on the Intermission mini LP. Dio is also credited with popularizing the famous "devil horns" sign (a fist where the index finger and the smallest finger are pointing upward, like an image of a horned head), which became an international symbol for heavy metal soon after he began showing it at live shows starting with Black Sabbath. In fact Ronnie James Dio stated in several interviews that this sign originated from his Italian grandmother; she did this sign towards the children in order to prevent bad spirits/dark forces to come near them. It could also be used when you wanted to give people an "evil eye", a kind of curse, or by reversing it you wish them love, according to Ronnie. Read more at: http://www.last.fm/music/Dio/+wiki. |