Ronnie James Dio R.I.P.

Today the legendary Ronnie James Dio passed away due to complications from his stomach cancer. I had the great fortune to see him perform a couple of years ago with the reformed Black Sabbath, playing under the name of Heaven and Hell. His performance was electrifying. He performed right before the ever impressive Judas Priest but blew them out of the water. He ran and jumped and actually ran up into the crowd during the performance. I remember friends of mine saw Dio open for Iron Maiden several years ago, all of them were Iron Maiden fans and honestly weren’t really into Dio. Every last one of them told me that he stole the show and that Dio was the highlight of the night. He genuinely loved to perform and loved his audience. His music was fun and passionate. Never an unkind word was spoken about Dio and considering his career spanned over 50 years it’s a testament to what a wonderful man he was. He was the best frontman in Metal history.  He will be sorely missed. He was 67 years old.