Vinny Appice recalls the love Ronnie James Dio had for his fans

Born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1957, the drummer Vinny Appice is the younger brother of Carmine Appice. He first achieved fame as a member of Black Sabbath, replacing the original member Bill Ward. He became a good friend of the singer Ronnie James Dio, who was part of the band at the time, also being part of his own band Dio later on.

They worked together for decades and he had the chance to know him quite well. In an interview with Metal Swap Meet (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), the musician recalled the love that Dio had for his fans.

Vinny Appice recalls the love Ronnie James Dio had for his fans

“It was amazing. He’d be sitting there in the rehearsal room, writing lyrics. We’d be jamming on something, both with Sabbath and Dio, and then he’d go up to the mic and sing a couple of lines. I’d go, ‘Holy shit. This sounds like the record’s finished.’ It was so spot-on and strong, I was, like, ‘Oh, man.’ And then I watched him the way he worked with the fans. One of the first things I remember, we pulled out of an arena with Sabbath. We had two limos, Ronnie and I in one, and Tony and Geezer would leave early.”

“We would stay and hang out. We pull up, go out of the arena, go up the hill and go to the gates and let us out and there’s a whole bunch of fans there. And it’s freezing cold out. It’s January in upstate New York. Ronnie says, ‘Stop,’ gets out of the limo, walks over to the fans, starts signing stuff for them. (I thought) ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ So I did the same thing. I wasn’t that known back then, but now that’s somebody who cares.”

Appice continued:

“He cares about his fans. He remembers your name. And it’s just amazing. The next year or tour, you’d go see Ronnie, he’d go, Hey, Brian. How are you doing, man?’ He remembers your name. And I’d be going, ‘Hey, Bob, it’s really good to see you.’ He remembered everybody’s name. It was incredible. He loved his fans. He loved the music,” Vinny Appice said.

With Black Sabbath, Appice recorded the studio albums “Mob Rules” (1981) and “Dehumanizer” (1992). As part of Dio he recorded: “Holy Diver” (1983), “The Last In Line” (1984), “Sacred Heart” (1985), “Dream Evil”(1987), “Strange Highways” (1993) and “Angry Machines” (1996). He was also the drummer in the Black Sabbath spin-off band Heaven and Hell, which released the album “The Devil You Know” in 2009.