Ronnie James Dio

Ronnie James Dio was the most acclaimed heavy metal singer of his generation, and the only rock star to achieve multi-platinum success in not one, but three bands: Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio. For Tenacious D's Jack Black, Dio was "the Pavarotti of heavy metal." For Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Dio was "one of the main reasons I made it onto the stage..." And for heavy metal fans all over the world, there were three words that summed him up: "Dio is God." He died in 2010.

Ronnie James Dio was the most acclaimed heavy metal singer of his generation, and the only rock star to achieve multi-platinum success in not one, but three bands: Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio. For Tenacious D's Jack Black, Dio was "the Pavarotti of heavy metal." For Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Dio was "one of the main reasons I made it onto the stage..." And for heavy metal fans all over the world, there were three words that summed him up: "Dio is God." He died in 2010. See less