Dio

Dio is a heavy metal band led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who formed it in October 1982 after leaving Black Sabbath. In an interview, available on the special edition re-release of H

Dio is a heavy metal band led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who formed it in October 1982 after leaving Black Sabbath. In an interview, available on the special edition re-release of Holy Diver, Dio states that he never intended to begin a solo career. His intention was to just form a new band, with fellow former Black Sabbath member drummer Vinny Appice, but Dio just became the band's name by accident, for he was well known, and it just sounded good to name the band Dio at the time. Dio's logo, when inverted, spells out the word "Devil", although this is disputed and Ronnie James Dio insists that he does not see it and never intended to do this. In addition to Ronnie on vocals and Keyboards originally, and Vinny Appice on Drums, the band featured Vivian Campbell who played guitar, and Jimmy Bain, bass.

In May 1983 they released their debut album Holy Diver, on which Ronnie sang and played keyboards. To avoid having the vocalist stuck behind a keyboard in concert, the band recruited keyboardist Claude Schnell in 1984.