RONNIE JAMES DIO - (RONALD JAMES PADAVONA). 10 July 1942 – 16 May 2010

This Sunday I woke up and red a rather uncommon newsflash on the world wide web. ‘Ronnie James Dio’s NOT dead’. When I checked more carefully I learned that a hoax of the man’s dead was spread through twitter, the new hyped media toy. Dios manager and wife Wendy, send a clear message that Ronnie, although he was in the hospital and not doing well, was still alive. So without any worries I carried on to enjoy my lazy Sunday. Watch a movie, have a few drinks, look very much in love to the beloved wife and have a quick snack from the freezer.

All of a sudden, the cosiness in the living room is abruptly disturbed by the hellish noise of my cell phone getting a text message. WTF, screams my loveley espouse. I look at the cell from hell and notice I got a text from a friend that works at a record company. ‘Ronnie James Dio has past away this morning’ says the short message. Instantly I reply with the lovely news that he fell for a hoax. Again the damn thing rings with another text: ‘check the web yourself’. Alright than. Up to the good old computer that’s always running and….’Holy Diver’! A short but very intense post from Wendy Dio tells me Dio has traded his earthly existence for a real time ‘Heaven And Hell’. This morning celebs like Tom Morello and Mick Mars showed their disgust through their own Twitter page because of some nitwit posted a hoax. Now the same network service is producing an avalanche of grief and condolences.

Unknown musicians and respected artists morn the los of a great man in heavy metal history. I still remember the moment I heard Dio his voice for the first time. On the album ‘Rainbow: On Stage’. At that time he was already long-time gone with that band, even his Black Sabbath days were over but I was amazed by the power of this little mans voice. Later on I got to know the rest of his work through a local radio station. The host of the metal show always addressed Dio as ‘the little man with the big voice’. A description that fitted 100%. Just a few feet tall but a voice that would blow you away. I still remember the first time I saw him doing this in person. It was on my 20th birthday in 1992 when he came to Forest National to promote ‘Dehumanizer’ of the than reformed Black Sabbath. Breathless I looked at ‘the little man with the big voice’. A big contrast to the support act where the front man tried to catch his own spit over and over again. Dio showed class, Dio was class. It doesn’t matter if it was with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath or later Heaven and Hell or solo. Dio was a gentleman.

He also was the driving force behind the Hair N Aid project were metal heads raised money for Ethiopia. A much better alternative for ‘We Are the World’ and other Band Aid’s. Much later, in 2007, I ran into the man himself backstage at The Graspop Festival. I just finished an interview with someone of Korn and made a quick pit stop at the restroom where I was shoulder to shoulder with Tony Iommi. Just catching my breathbecause of this strange encounter all of a sudden I bumped into Ronnie. Al I could stumble was ‘Hi, have a nice show later today. He shacked my hand, smiled and said ‘Thank you, I appreciate that’. Today the little man with the big voice is no more. Although I never had the change to do a proper interview with him, that encounter in Dessel that day stays one of the highlights in my carrier as a journo. A mythical person has left us. But let’s remember him by the words he thought us: LONG LIVE ROCK N ROLL!!!

Stef Maes