Ronnie James Dio passed away today of cancer, he was 67. Of course a good majority of people reading this have no idea who that is.
He was one of the most intelligent, articulate rockers there was. He was responsible for the use of the "devil horns" that his fans would make with their fingers. Many people thought from the outside that this meant Dio was always singing about Satan and all that kind of lurid stuff, but really his songs were about the fight between good and evil. He had ballads that told stories of the constant struggle, and it read almost like poetry.
But the devil horns, that was something Dio attributed to his Sicilian grandmother. He said once in an interview that he would walk down the road with Grandma, and she'd see someone who'd done her "wrong." So she'd make the devil horns with her pinky and forefinger, and kind of stab them in the person's direction in the air.
He always remembered it, and somehow he got to doing it in concert.
He is most widely known as the singer who replaced Ozzy Osbourne when he was fired from Black Sabbath. But Dio had his own band for many years later on, and as a junior high schooler I discovered them. Really, I think, that's when most of his fans discovered the band.
So long, Ronnie James. Hope you're rockin' the heavens.
