David Coverdale talks about his friendship with Ronnie James Dio

The singer David Coverdale is one of the few musicians who were able to be extremely successful with more than one band. He was a praised member of Deep Purple for three years and then formed Whitesnake, that became one of the most successful Hard Rock bands of all time.

In an interview with “Rock Of Nations” (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), he talked about another singer with a similar story that is the late Ronnie James Dio, who was the frontman of Rainbow, Black Sabbath and his own band Dio. Coverdale recalled in the interview the first time they met each other and Dio’s vocal skills.

David Coverdale talks about his friendship with Ronnie James Dio

“I met Ronnie in ’73, ’74 — God bless him. He was with ELF, who became RAINBOW. But they were on Purple Records, so we would take them all over the world as an opening act. I’d known Ronnie for two lifetimes.”

“Oh my God. He was fabulous. You listen to (Roger Glover’s album) ‘The Butterfly Ball (And The Grasshopper’s Feast). That’s Ronnie’s voice. The darker elements, I wasn’t — as much as they’re beautiful singing, there were some things that I didn’t think were him.”

“But they were incredibly successful. But I’ve heard Ronnie sing just beautiful melodies and songs, and he was just amazing. But he made a super, super career, and gave me two guitarists. He said, ‘What am I doing? I’m finding a guitarist, breaking them in and then you take them’ (laughs) — with Viv Campbell and Doug Aldrich,” David Coverdale said.

Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer back in 2010 at the age of 67. He still is considered one of the greatest singers of all time.