Ronald James Padavona, was born on the 10th July 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA, but best known by his stage name Ronnie James Dio for being a heavy-metal singer, songwriter, and musician, who reached international fame as a member of bands such as Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio. His career started in 1957, and lasted until his death in 2010.
Have you ever wondered about the state of Ronnie James Dio’s assets at the time of his death? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Dio’s net worth at the time of his passing was as high as $10 million, an amount earned through his successful career as a musician.
Ronnie James Dio Net Worth $10 Million
Ronnie James Dio was born to Italian-American parents, who moved around when he was a child due to his father’s duties in the US Army. Dio’s music talent became obvious early on, and he began to play the French trumpet at the age of five. During high school, he was invited to join the school band, while he also formed his own group called The Vegas Kings. The band changed name several times, later calling themselves Ronnie and the Rumblers, and Ronnie and the Red Caps. In the latter incarnation, they released two singles, the second of which had Dio on vocals. Having taken up singing, he also picked up another musical instrument, this time the bass guitar. After finishing high school, Dio attended the University at Buffalo, where he studied Pharmacology, while remaining an active member of his band, which changed names again several times, before settling on Elf in 1972. This was followed by the release of their first self-titled studio album, and getting a regular spot as the opening act for Deep Purple.
Ritchie Blackmore’s departure from Deep Purple marked a new stage in Dio’s career, since Blackmore invited him, and most of Elf, to form a new band called Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow in 1975. With Rainbow, Dio recorded three critically acclaimed studio albums, which spawned hits such as “Catch the Rainbow” “Man on the Silver Mountain”, “Temple of the King”, and “Stargazer” – Kerrang! Magazine voted their second album, “Rising” (1976) as the greatest heavy metal album of all time. A big part of that success was Dio’s recognizable, almost operatic singing voice, and the folklore themes and fantasy lyrics which he and Blackmore introduced into their songs. However, Dio decided to break that partnership when it became obvious that Blackmore saw himself as the only boss in the band. Regardless, his net worth was rising steadily.
Following his departure from Rainbow, Dio signed on as the lead singer of Black Sabbath, replacing Ozzy Osbourne. His tenure with the band was marked by some of their most successful albums, including the 1980 “Heaven and Hell” which was certified platinum, and spawned such hit songs as “Neon Knights”, “Children of the Sea”, and of course the titular “Heaven and Hell”.
Despite this success, Dio was dissatisfied with his burgeoning status of vocal for hire, and decided to leave Black Sabbath in order to form his own band, called Dio. He recorded ten studio albums with Dio, including “Holy Diver” (1983) and “The Last in Line” (1984) which both achieved platinum status, and Sacred Heart” (1985), which was gold certified, and all helped increase further Ronnie’s net worth. He remained their only constant member, while the rest of the line-up changed numerous times over the years. Some of the more prominent members include guitarists Vivian Campbell, Doug Aldrich, and Warren DeMartini, and another former Black Sabbath member Vince Appice on the drums.
Dio’s last big project was the founding of Heaven & Hell, an English-American heavy-metal band which consisted of former Black Sabbath members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Vince Appice, and Dio himself. They released only one studio album, “The Devil You Know” (2009), though they toured extensively for several years.
In late 2009, it was discovered that Dio suffered from stomach cancer, and though it was believed that he would manage to recover and return to the stage, his health took a turn for worse, and he passed away from the disease on 29th August 2010. He was survived by his second wife Wendy Gaxiola, and adopted son from first marriage to Loretta Berardi, Dan Padavona. Dio’s legacy includes a fifty-year-long career as a heavy-metal singer, with his unique voice and vocal style earning him the title of Best Metal Singer several times over. He is also credited with inventing and popularizing the ‘metal horns’ hand gesture, which became a staple among heavy-metal fans.
Rainbow in the Dark, Neon Knights, Die Young, Dio, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Heaven & Hell, Elf, Hear 'n Aid, Ronnie Dio and the Prophets
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Trademark
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Powerful tenor singing voice and deep resonant speaking voice
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Long curly hair
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Popularlized the "horns" hand guesture as a symbol of heavy metal music
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Quote
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The music industry's actions at the time of 9/11 and since have been actions driven by patriotism in most instances, and greed and stupidity to a lesser degree. Sounds like real life doesn't it?
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Saddam's fate should be in the hands of his country men. They were the major victims of his brutal reign and should decide his life, death, or permanent imprisonment. Personally, I would lock him away forever.
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Lyrically I like to use themes that make the listener use his or her imagination, and to give a little of the lessons I've learned in my own life.
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You can't tell young people what to do. You can't tell 'em because they'll look at you and say, 'Well, how can you tell me not to do that when you were there doing it yourself?' Or supposedly were doing it yourself. I think you must let everyone live their life the way they have to.
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I've never taken vocal lessons. My early trumpet training and a fortunate talent for singing has always been enough for me. In the case of rock singing, I've always felt it was better to remain a bit untrained to maintain your individuality.
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My childhood was safe and sane. No abuse and no traumas. I was surrounded by a large and loving family who taught me the importance of hard work and a meaningful education.
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I always wanted to be a basketball player.
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The best subjects are always people, who never fail to amaze me by their unpredictability.
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Music, Rock and Roll music especially, is such a generational thing. Each generation must have their own music, I had my own in my generation, you have yours, everyone I know has their own generation.
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I was in [Black] Sabbath at the time. The gesture was a symbol that I thought was reflective of what that band was supposed to be all about. It's NOT the devil's sign like we're here with the devil. It's an Italian thing I got from my Grandmother. It's to ward off the Evil Eye or to give the Evil Eye, depending on which way you do it. It's just a symbol but it had magical incantations and attitudes to it and I felt it worked very well with Sabbath. So I became very noted for it and then everybody else started to pick up on it and away it went. But I would never say I take credit for being the first to do it.
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Fact
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Touring with Iron Maiden and 'Motorhead'. [July 2003]
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Beginning a summer tour of Europe [June 2004]
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In 1961, he changed his last name from Padavona to Dio, after Mafia member Johnny Dio.
Contrary to popular belief, Dio is not the first Black Sabbath singer to die - Ray Gillen, also of Badlands, sang for Black Sabbath in the late '80s and passed away in 1993.
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His final studio album with his solo band was 2004's Master of the Moon. His final studio recordings released in his lifetime was the Heaven and Hell album The Devil You Know (which was the only Dio-lineup Sabbath album released under the Heaven and Hell name.).
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It was on tour last summer with a spin-off version of Black Sabbath, Heaven and Hell, that Dio revealed he was ill [2009].
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Dio had become a fixture in heavy metal's global family, his legend burnished by his being credited with making the "devil horns" hand gesture the international metal call sign. Dio claimed he had learned it from his Italian grandmother, who used it to ward off evil spirits.
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Dio studied pharmacy at the University at Buffalo, New York, in 1960/61.
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The last album he recorded was Heaven & Hell's "The Devil You Know".
Met Ritchie Blackmore when Elf served as Deep Purple's opening act. When Blackmore left Purple in 1975, he formed Rainbow around the Elf line-up, minus their guitarist. After the first album, "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow" was released, Blackmore fired everybody except Dio.
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Has one son, Danny
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Is a very big sports fan, particularly of teams based in New York such as the Yankees, the Mets, the New York Rangers, and the New York Giants.
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In May of 1979, he replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the singer for Black Sabbath. Contrary to current popular belief, the band initially did quite well without Ozzy, with the Dio-fronted albums "Heaven and Hell", "Mob Rules" and "Dehumanizer" earning the band's best sales since 1974.
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Has a street named after him in Cortland, New York.
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Introduced the "horns" gesture (created by extending the index and pinky finger, with the middle and ring fingers held under the thumb) to the world of rock music. Audiences would start repeating the gesture and its popularity soon spread. To this day, it's still widely seen at virtually all hard rock concerts, and is used by audience members to reflect their enthusiasm for the music.
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Was bassist/vocalist in the rock band ELF in the early, and mid, seventies. Was a vocalist in the heavy rock band Rainbow from 1975-1978; in Black Sabbath from 1980-1982 and 1992-1993; in Dio from 1982-1991 and from 1993-?.
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Organized and wrote music for Hear 'N Aid in 1985, the heavy metal equivalent of Band Aid, USA For Africa, and other multi-artist charity projects that were very popular at the time. The Hear 'N Aid song "Stars" saw the collaboration of 40 artists from various heavy metal bands, and ended up raising $1,000,000 against starvation in Africa.
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
2016
writer: "Catch the Rainbow"
ZombieCollege
2015
Short performer: "Welcome to My Nightmare"
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
2013
Short writer: "Holy Diver"
Sound City
2013
Documentary writer: "Rainbow in the Dark", "Stand Up and Shout"
Dag
2012
writer: "Affet" - as Dio
Les seigneurs
2012
performer: "Love Is All"
Metal Evolution
2011
TV Series documentary writer - 1 episode
On Track with SEAT
2011
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Bad Teacher
2011
writer: "Rainbow in the Dark"
Heaven & Hell - Neon Nights, Live in Europe
2010
Video writer: "E5150", "The Mob Rules", "Children of the Sea", "I", "Bible Black", "Time Machine", "Fear", "Falling off the Edge of the World", "Follow the Tears", "Die Young", "Heaven and Hell", "Country Girl", "Neon Knights" - uncredited
Fubar: Balls to the Wall
2010
writer: "Die Young"
Bones
2010
performer: "The Last In Line" / writer: "The Last In Line"
The Life and the Agony
2009
writer: "You've Got Me All Wrong"
100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs
2008
TV Movie writer: "Heaven and Hell"
Grand Theft Auto IV
2008
Video Game writer: "Heaven and Hell"
Heaven and Hell: Live from Radio City Music Hall
2007
Video writer: "E5150", "After All The Dead", "The Mob Rules", "Children of the Sea", "Lady Evil", "I", "The Sign of the Southern Cross", "Voodoo", "The Devil Cried", "Computer God", "Falling Off the Edge of the World", "Shadow of the Wind", "Die Young", "Heaven and Hell", "Lonely is the Word", "Neon Knights"
Rage
2006
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
2006
performer: "Kickapoo" / writer: "Holy Diver"
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
2006
Video Game performer: "Holy Diver" - as Dio / writer: "Holy Diver"
I Love the 80's 3-D
2005
TV Series documentary performer: "Holy Diver" / writer: "Holy Diver"
Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling Volume 3
2003
Video performer: "Holy Diver" / writer: "Holy Diver"
Evil on Queen Street
2002
Video writer: "Evil On Queen Street"
Rock Star
2001
writer: "Long Live Rock N' Roll" - as Ronnie Dio
South Park
1999
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Raging Angels
1995
writer: "Gates of Babylon"
S.F.W.
1994
writer: "Light In The Black" - as Ronnie Dio
Wayne's World
1992
"TIME MACHINE"
Iron Eagle
1986
writer: "Hide in the Rainbow"
Vision Quest
1985
lyrics: "Hungry For Heaven" / music: "Hungry For Heaven" / performer: "Hungry For Heaven" - as Dio / producer: "Hungry For Heaven"
Heavy Metal
1981
writer: "The Mob Rules"
The Butterfly Ball
1977
as Ronnie Dio, "Together Again"
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
DIO: Live in London - Hammersmith Apollo
2014
Singer
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
2006
Dio
Meng xing xue wei ting
1993
as Ronnie Dio
Hear 'n Aid: The Sessions
1986
Video short
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Evil on Queen Street
2002
Video based on work by
Evil on Queen Street
1996
Short based on work by
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
Atlas Shrugged: Part I
2011
special thanks
Maiden Heaven
2010
Documentary fondly remembered
The Needle Drop
2010
TV Series dedicatee - 1 episode
Northern Light Orchestra: The Spirit of Christmas
2009
Video special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
DIO: Finding the Sacred Heart - Live in Philly 1986
2013
Video
Himself
Heaven & Hell - Neon Nights, Live in Europe
2010
Video
Himself
Golden Gods Awards
2010
TV Special
Ronnie James Dio
Golden Gods Awards
2009
TV Special
Himself
That Metal Show
2009
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Iron Maiden: Flight 666
2009
Documentary
Himself
100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs
2008
TV Movie
Himself
Heaven and Hell: Live from Radio City Music Hall
2007
Video
Himself
Highway Star: A Journey in Rock
2007
Documentary
Himself
The Making of 'The Pick of Destiny'
2007
Video documentary
Himself
Rainbow: Live in Munich 1977
2006
Video
Himself - Vocals
Heavy Metal: Louder Than Life
2006
Video documentary
Himself
Brick by Brick: The Building of Gillan's Inn
2006
Video documentary short
Himself
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
2005
Documentary
Himself
Motörhead - Stage Fright
2005
Video documentary
Himself (uncredited)
The Greatest
2004
TV Series documentary
Himself
Headbangers Ball
2003
TV Series
Himself
Dio: Evil or Divine
2003
Video
Himself - Vocals
VH-1 Where Are They Now?
2002
TV Series documentary
Himself
Satan's Top Forty
2001
Video documentary short
Himself
Deep Purple in Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra