Wendy Dio, wife/manager of legendary heavy metal singer
Ronnie
James Dio (
DIO,
HEAVEN & HELL,
BLACK SABBATH,
RAINBOW), has released the following statement to
BLABBERMOUTH.NET:
"Today
my heart is broken,
Ronnie passed away at 7:45 a.m. [on Sunday]
16th May. Many, many friends and family were able to say their private
goodbyes before he peacefully passed away.
"
Ronnie knew
how much he was loved by all.
"We so appreciate the love and
support that you have all given us.
"Please give us a few days
of privacy to deal with this terrible loss.
"Please know he loved
you all and his music will live on forever."
It was only a month
ago that
Dio, 67, spoke about his battle with cancer with the
Artisan
News Service on the "black carpet" of the
Revolver Golden Gods
Awards, which took place on April 8 at Club Nokia in downtown Los
Angeles. When asked about how he had been feeling since he was diagnosed
with the disease late last year,
Dio said, "Well, I feel good
and bad at times. It's a long process. Chemotherapy is a... I never
realized what a difficult thing it was to go through. It's a real
cumulative effect — the more you have, the more it piles up on top and
it takes longer and longer to get over it. I find it very difficult to
eat. I don't like to eat anyway, so I guess that's OK. But I know I have
to. But this makes it very, very hard. But if you're determined to beat
it, then you have to go with what you believe is going to beat it for
you, and in this case it's that. I go to a great hospital in Houston
called
M.D. Anderson, which I think is the best hospital in the
world, I have the best doctor in the world,
Dr. Ajani, who I
really trust and I really believe in, so I think I've done all the right
things. It makes me feel positive about my life and positive that there
is a lot more of it to live."
Earlier this month,
HEAVEN
& HELL canceled its summer tour plans in Europe due to
Dio's
treatment for stomach cancer. The band said in a statement that
Dio
wasn't "well enough to tour this summer. We hope that everyone
understands and want to thank fans and industry colleagues for their
continuing support at this time."
Ronnie James Dio had
performed with
ELF,
RAINBOW,
BLACK SABBATH, and his
own band
DIO. Other musical projects included the collective
fundraiser
"Hear 'n Aid". He is widely hailed as one of the most
powerful singers in heavy metal, renowned for his consistently powerful
voice and for popularizing the "devil's horns" hand gesture in metal
culture. He was most recently involved with
HEAVEN & HELL, a
project which also included former
BLACK SABBATH bandmates
Tony
Iommi,
Geezer Butler and
Vinny Appice. Their first
and only studio album,
"The Devil You Know", was released on
April 28, 2009.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=140129
