The Black Sabbath co-founder and guitarist Tony Iommi recalled in an interview with Total Rock (Transcribed by Blabbermouth) the love that the late singer Ronnie James Dio had for his fans. The musician talked about his late bandmate and friend at the red carpet of the premiere of the new Dio documentary “Dio: Dreamers Never Die”.
Tony Iommi recalls Ronnie James Dio’s love for his fans:
“You know, the thing is he loved his fans. Many times we’d say, ‘C’mon, Ronnie. We’ve gotta go.’ And he’d always see everybody. I mean, you can’t always because you have to leave; you’ve gotta get the flight or you’ve gotta do this and that. But he’d always give them time. And he loved his fans; it was everything to him.”
“He loved what he did. And he was a real professional. And that’s one of the things I really liked about him as well. You’d know he’d go on stage and he’d be able to do it and put it on. He wouldn’t pull anything out; he wouldn’t cancel anything. He’d go on and do it.,” Tony Iommi said.
Dio first achieved fame as the frontman of Elf, but he really became a Rock star as the singer of Rainbow, band formed by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore after he left Deep Purple. In the late 70s he decided to leave the group due to creative differences.
He became Black Sabbath’s singer in 1979 and left in 1982. He then returned from 1991 to 1992, and from 2006 to 2010 when he formed “Heaven & Hell” with Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice.
With Sabbath and Heaven & Hell, he recorded the studio albums: “Heaven & Hell” (1980), “Mob Rules” (1981), “Dehumanizer” (1992) and “The Devil You Know” (2007). Dio died back in 2010 at the age of 67 victim of stomach cancer.