A nice little bit of music trivia and history appeared on the Ronnie James Dio Facebook page today. With a full press photo of the early 1960's band Ronnie Dio and The Prophets, a short story was included that shed some light on the human side of the late great metal singer. The story, written by Ronnie's cousin David Rock Feinstein, reads:
"Before ELF, you know, the band was called "Ronnie Dio and the Prophets". During that time, we did a couple of what was called the Gene Pitney ( Caravan of Stars ) tours. Or course Gene Pitney was the headliner, but the tour also consisted of popular groups of the times such as, The" Music Explosion", The "Happenings", The "Easybeats", the "Fifth Estate", the" Buckinghams", and us, of course. We got to do an opening slot with our band, and then Ronnie and I played trumpet in Gene Pitney's back up band. Anyways, again in the deep south, Gene Pitney, and a couple of the other bigger groups had their own tour buses, ( with bunks ), and the whole nine yards. The rest of us got thrown on what I would call a glorified transit bus, no bunks, no reclining seats, and just an open overhead luggage compartment over the seats. And I don't remember there being any air conditioning.
Of course summer in the deep south is always in the 90's and humid. Who needs air conditioning?/#**# You know how easy it is to sleep sitting straight up on a hard seat, with smoking, drinking, playing cards, and partying going on. Anyways, after one of the shows, we were all loaded on to our tin can with wheels for an all night drive to the next city. At 7 a.m., after an eight hour drive, a few winks of sleep, and a very stiff back, we pulled into the usual flee bag hotel. Needless to say it was a very welcome sight.
We all dragged ass off the bus and made our way into the lobby, but of course couldn't check in for at least two or three hours. As I'm looking around in the fog that I was in from being up most of the night, I didn't see Ronnie anywhere. I started asking everyone, "Have you seen Ronnie?" I got all no's from everyone. I/we began to panic, thinking that Ronnie must have missed getting on the bus at the last stop, and was left behind. (Remember, no cell phones back then). I started searching everywhere. I finally went back out to the bus, ( at least 95 degrees inside ), and found Ronnie stretched out sleeping in the overhead luggage compartment. I wanted to let him sleep, but I woke him up and got him into the motel. I only wish I had had a camera. Relieved that Ronnie was found, a little sleep, some food, and we were ready to rock again that night."
Dio was an American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter. He performed with, amongst others, Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio. He was widely hailed as one of the most powerful singers in heavy metal, renowned for his consistently powerful voice and for popularizing the "devil horns" hand gesture in popular metal culture. Prior to his death, he was collaborating on a project with former Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice, under the moniker Heaven & Hell, whose first studio album, The Devil You Know, was released on April 28, 2009. Dio died of stomach cancer on May 16, 2010. Fans are encouraged to follow his Facebook page for great information and stories.Rock and Ronnie were in many great bands together in the 60's and 70's and today, Rock is the leader of the Legendary band The Rods.
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