Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Biography[edit]
Origins and Holy Diver (1982–1983)[edit]
In 1982, disagreements originating over the mixing of Black Sabbath's Live Evil album
resulted in the departure of Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice from the band.
[3]
Wanting to continue together as a band, the two formed Dio in October 1982 in the
United States with guitarist Jake E. Lee and bassist Jimmy Bain. About a month after the
band’s formation, Lee was replaced by Vivian Campbell. The following May, the band
released their debut album, Holy Diver, which featured two hit singles – "Rainbow in the
Dark" and "Holy Diver" – that gained popularity from MTV. Dio and Jimmy
Bain played keyboards in the studio, but recruited keyboardist Claude Schnell for live
shows in 1983 prior to the Holy Diver tour. Schnell played to the side of the stage on the
first two tours before coming out front in 1985.[4] Dio had this to say of the band's origins:
It was a good time to be in that band. It was perfect for us. Everything just fell into place.
The ethic in rehearsal was amazing. The effort in the recording was just as good.
Everybody wanted it to be great. We really believed in what we were doing and couldn't
wait to get that product out and have people hear it.[5]
Changes (1990–1999)[edit]
Schnell, Bain, and Appice were replaced, respectively, with Jens Johansson, Teddy
Cook, and former AC/DC drummer Simon Wright. The new band released the
album Lock Up the Wolves in the spring of 1990. During the tour, Dio had a chance
meeting with former Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler which led to that band's
short-lived reunion, producing one album, Dehumanizer. After this, Dio reassembled Dio
once again, retaining only Appice on the drums. By early 1993, guitarist Tracy G,
keyboardist Scott Warren of Warrant and bassist Jeff Pilson of Dokken had all joined.
During this era, the band abandoned fantasy themed songs and focused on modern
issues.[11] As a result, some fans regard the albums made during this period—
1993's Strange Highways, 1996's Angry Machines and the live album Inferno: Last in
Live—as the worst in Dio's catalogue, while others view them positively as a step away
from the outdated sound of the 1980s. With disappointing record sales for Angry
Machines, management wanted the band to go back to their earlier style prompting the
departure of Tracy G[12] to be replaced by the returning Craig Goldy. In addition, Appice
left Dio once again.
Comeback (2000–2004)[edit]
Craig Goldy's return facilitated the release of Dio's eighth studio album in 2000, Magica,
which was regarded by many as the band's "comeback album" and reached No. 13 on
the Billboard independent charts. It featured not only the return of Goldy but also of
Simon Wright and Jimmy Bain, although on the European leg of the tour Chuck
Garric played bass. Scott Warren remained in the band and performed live, although Dio
and Bain handled all of the keyboard and synth on Magica. A concept
album, Magica featured a return to the band's older, more successful sound, while
increased use of keyboards gave it a more modern feel.[13] During the following tour,
however, tensions rose between Goldy on the one hand and Bain and Dio on the other,
as Goldy was dealing with family obligations. Goldy left the band in January 2002 and
was replaced with Doug Aldrich, who Bain had met while recording a tribute album
for Metallica. Because of his late arrival, Aldrich did not contribute much to Dio's ninth
work, Killing the Dragon, which was written primarily by Dio and Bain. Killing The
Dragon was released in 2002 through Spitfire Records and was well received in the
metal community, making the Billboard top 200. Aldrich would stay in the band until April
of the following year, when he, like Campbell before him, joined Whitesnake, prompting
Goldy's return. Soon afterward, Bain left the band.[14]
Murray[edit]
Murray is the demonic-looking mascot of Dio who appears on several of Dio's album
covers, including Holy Diver, The Last in Line and Dream Evil, as well as on some of
their singles and compilation albums. He was also featured in the sets for live shows.
The Last in Line[edit]
Murray is also featured on Dio's second studio album, The Last in Line. On this cover,
resurrected souls emerge from their graves on Judgment Day to find a gigantic Murray
staring at them from the far horizon.
Dream Evil[edit]
Murray is not featured on Dio's third studio album, Sacred Heart, but is, for the last time
in his original form, featured on the cover of Dream Evil. He is shown in the window of a
bedroom with a child sleeping in a bed, while being haunted by several different spooky
creatures. Murray's story is printed in the Dream Evil Tour book. The cover art of Dream
Evil is a reference to one of the tracks on the album, "Faces in the Window" (the entire
album's concept is fears and superstitions about the night and darkness).
Merchandise[edit]
The official Dio webstore had created and sold a baseball cap featuring a
red embroidery of Murray on the front of the hat, and the DIO logo, in the same red
embroidering, on the back side.[25] Recently, a figure of Murray was announced by
Incendium.[26]
Legacy[edit]
Comedy rock duo Tenacious D released a song on their first album entitled "Dio", written
as a tribute to Dio, which mocked him somewhat for being too old and stated that
Tenacious D were going to take over his position as masters of heavy metal.[27] Before
playing the song live, Jack Black would typically speak about how Dio's tenure in Black
Sabbath served as his inspiration to get into heavy metal. The duo appeared in the music
video for Dio's song "Push", and he in turn appeared and sang in Tenacious D's comedy
movie The Pick of Destiny.[28]
The Dio patch on the denim jacket worn by Eddie Munson (played by Joe Quinn) in a
season of the Netflix show Stranger Things is made using a t-shirt from Ronnie James
Dio's personal estate. The show’s costume designer, Amy Parris, in a Q&A posted on the
Netflix website said, “He's (Munson) a fan of wizard metal, he's a fan of Dio. He's a fan of
Metallica. Actually, Dio was a popular band in the '80s, and we reached out to the estate.
His wife is in charge of his estate and offered to send us vintage T-shirts, which was such
a dream."[29]
The character Dio Brando from the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is named
after the band. This has two meanings, as both a reference to the band and to the Italian
for "God", referencing the character's high self-esteem.[30]
Band members[edit]
Main article: List of Dio band members
Final lineup