Flashback Interview (1996): Ronnie James Dio about quitting Black Sabbath and not rejoining Rainbow

Ronnie James Dio, the legendary vocalists and one of nicest persons in Hard Rock! In this interview Ronnie talks openly about leaving Black Sabbath twice and why he doesn't want to join forces with Rainbow again. He also explains how his lyrics changed in the 90s and why he stopped using permanent keyboardists. You also got to hear his take on the bad climate within the band Dokken and himself being called a dictator.
RIP Ronnie!
By Stig Nordahl
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[@BikerMatt86]

🤘💀🤘 Love these old interviews. Thanks

[@RobinBassett]

A Rainbow & Dio bill - I would have loved to have been there!!

[@matimus100]

Wow you love really easy

[@FrostedSeagull]

The one thing I respected about Ronnie was the fact that he NEVER let his guard down when it came to Sharon Osborne. Dio never opened for Ozzy, o, was in a position where Sharon who could get him contractually, financially or demean him in any way. Smart man. God bless him wherever he is.

[@sambuxton931]

Dio really got under Sharon’s skin, even to this day the osbournes like to imagine he never exists, not even out of respect for a dead man. You can’t help but love Ronnie for that

[@jaydeeoldboy9903]

@@sambuxton931 Is that why Ozzy paid tribute to him to multiple times, and dedicated songs to him while on tour just after he died.

[@jaydeeoldboy9903]

Dio didn't open for Ozzy through arrogance and ego. He thought he was too good for it... He wasn't.

[@sambuxton931]

@@jaydeeoldboy9903 that’s bad wording on my part, by the osbournes I’m mainly referring to Sharon who has never really acknowledged Ronnie unless directly asked, not to mention the fact that she was the one who started the law suit so that Ozzy owned 50% of the sabbath name, effectively meaning they can ignore the rest of the sabbath line ups on stuff like their social media pages and websites, meaning pretty much Tony Iommi alone has to be the one to advertise and remaster the Tony Martin box set. Out of curiosity by the way, which songs did Ozzy dedicate to Dio after his passing?

[@TheTruthbetold-uu7qu]

Show me links of ozzy dedicating songs and doing tributes to Ronnie at his concert after Ronnie died. I've seen a bunch of bands paying tribute to Ronnie and have read many articles of bands paying tribute and not once I heard Ozzy said anything, The only thing I heard was Ozzys camp reaching out to Wendy Dio telling her how awful they felt about Dio cancer therapy and that if they need it sometimes to let them now, Thats all! For years and years Ozzy never fully apologize to Dio for all the Bullshit he said about him, Dios ego? Give me a break!! Ozzy would bring a dwarf on stage in the 80s all called him Ronnie just to mock Dio, I know if someone does that to me ill never want to be close to that person, What Dio did of not wanting to be the opening band for ozxy was Brilliant.​@jaydeeoldboy9903

[@borisbabich]

I so regret never seeing Ronnie live. Seen almost all my heroes, in the 80's or much, much later, but not him. And RJD is the best, all-around. This only confirms my conviction. Thanks for the interview.

[@joemiller9931]

I never saw him live either- also my greatest regret.

[@Leroy-gg5qg]

Best ever ❤

[@Chardister70]

Respect! Love his strength! 🤘

[@Leroy-gg5qg]

Love him ❤️

[@mikeg6666]

Brilliant music mind!

[@Leroy-gg5qg]

Very very wise 🦉

[@doug6321]

It Goes On and On and On... Heaven and Hell !!!!!! True gifted singer from birth.....DIO !!!!!!! We Rock.

[@YourFellowRNRSisterFan98]

No matter where he’s at? He’s not forgotten .

[@rrg6754]

The only time I saw Dio live at a concert was in March 2007 at the John Labatt arena in London, Ontario Canada. When he had rejoined Black Sabbath for the 3rd time (or "Heaven & Hell") as they called the band at the time since it was the Tony Iommi-Geezer Butler-Ronnie James Dio- and Vinnie Appice line-up. The opening bands were Down & Megadeth. Dio is by far my favorite Black Sabbath singer. And even with Dio being only about two years from his death from cancer when I saw him in 2007 his voice was still better than Ozzy Osbourn could ever sing, with his weak, out of tune voice. Black Sabbath is the only band I can think of where their first singer, is their WORST singer. Every other vocalist Sabbath ever had: (Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes, Ray Gillen, Tony Martin) ALL had stronger and better voices than Ozzy Osbourne EVER had. The only other time I saw Black Sabbath in concert was in my home state of Michigan in February 1994 at the State Theater in Detroit, MI. on the Cross Purposes tour with the Line-up being: Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Tony Martin (vocals), Bobby Rondinelli (drums) and Geoff Nichols on keyboards. Opening bands were: Morbid Angel & Motorhead. And even though Tony Martin was my 2nd favorite vocalist Black Sabbath ever had, after Dio. I actually preferred this concert over the time I saw them in 2007 in Canada. This 1994 concert was in a very small narrow concert hall, so the sound and view were fantastic. And it was by far the loudest and heaviest concert I've ever been to in my life. I could barely hear anything for 3 days afterward it was so loud. The problem with the concert I saw the band at in 2007 in Canada, was the fact that it was in a huge arena this time. So the sound wasn't nearly as good as the 1994 concert in Detroit. And I was so far away from the stage this time that you practically needed a telescope to even see anything. But I'm still glad I went to the concert though. Since it was the only time I'd ever seen Dio live in a concert. Here's a link to an interview with Dio on the Eric Blair show that goes into a lot more detail into the situation with him refusing to open for Ozzy when they were on the Black Sabbath Dehumanizer tour in 1992. I 100% agree with him. I heard Dio in another interview at some point say something to the effect of: "Black Sabbath shouldn't haven to open up for anybody. Especially their former singer." I couldn't agree more. Here's the link to the interview: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYe0aGmupq-MZqM

[@michaelstephen819]

Apparently Blackmore did ask Dio to do vocals for the 1990-91 reunion that ultimately use Doogie White. Dio turned that down.

[@FrostedSeagull]

@michaelstephen819 BIG big mistake on Dio's part ! It cost him dearly. WHY - Dio didn't fare well through the Grunge years I.e. 1992 - 95. His albums stopped selling and when it came to concerts, Dio ended up experiencing the Spinal Tap cliche. E.g. he was pulling crowds of 1500 on average. On occasion, he drew 3,000. Roger Glover - Purple-MkII Take 3 There's a relatively short Glover video doing the rounds circa 1993. Glover asserts that Dio was struggling for monies. Blackmore had Glover look after the Rainbow finances when he took over in 1979. Roger confirmed what we ALL suspected but couldn't prove. Dio was a paid Rainbow Employee and received NO Copyright Revenue. Ronnie was supposed to receive equal Copyright royalties from the fourth Rainbow studio album. There was NO fourth album. Critics of Blackmore and long-time cynical Rainbow fans for years have said " Ronnie

[@TCraigGoldy]

Ronnie and I stayed friends between Dream Evil and Magica ( and up til his passing ) and I was at the dinner table when Ronnie was discussing this reunion and at first I was excited about it. But it was contingent upon Candess Night's Mother being the Manager and the money, music publishing and so forth all went back to how Blackmore held onto everything and controlled everything and Ronnie wanted no part of that again regardless of his current circumstances with his own band Dio at that time.

[@TCraigGoldy]

@michaelstephen819 Ronnie and I stayed friends between Dream Evil and Magica ( and up til his passing ) and I was at the dinner table when Ronnie was discussing this reunion and at first I was excited about it. But it was contingent upon Candess Night's Mother being the Manager and the money, music publishing and so forth all went back to how Blackmore held onto everything and controlled everything and Ronnie wanted no part of that regardless of his current circumstances with his own band Dio at that time.

[@linkbelt111]

Go from arena’s to bars, great idea!

[@sds4life17]

It was the 90s, in 92 he was playing small theaters bc he reunited with Sabbath, In 94 was when he was starting to play clubs, he was not the only one, almost every band were playing small venues unless you were Metallica or Guns and Roses, or Ozzy with his huge ozzfest bc of all the bands in the bill, Grundge took over and it was not only Dio suffered the consequences. I went to many of the shows and they were pretty sold out, some places were big clubs, To me it was awesome to see Dio playing in small places and Dio obviously didn't mind as he continued doing it until 2004, then came 2007 with Sabbath again and he was playing theaters again and then he unfortunately died.

[@garysmith1863]

Still filling large venues in Europe at the time IIRC

[@gregduke5812]

Dio was a super crybaby that could never understand why Ozzy was more famous. For one, he was almost fired numerous times during the Dehumanizer sessions. It caused Cozy to quit the band. Then they had to get Vinny. And still they were trying to fire Dio to get Martin back (who they completely screwed over). Dio was a good singer but by no means the best or anything. He was overrated. His ego and his mouth made him a prick. He was nice to fans if he had time to give. How he treated music he was involved with was a different story. He was better than everyone and everyone better understand that. Little man syndrome. It's weird to go from nice one minute to complete douche bag because you are BETTER than everyone is disgusting.

[@r.g.armstrong2688]

You missed the whole point.

[@Thebeastfromnorth75]

"Dio was a good singer but by no means the best or anything. He was overrated." Everyone´s entitled to their own opinion and I read your post with interest up till that point. It´s one thing not liking the man but to state that he is overrated when his music skills have been proven again and again to be superior to many if not all, and praised by so many professionals including the elite of metal singers, is just ridiculous.

[@richardhincemon]

Cozy Powell took time off because of a broken pelvis from a horse accident not because of Dio .

[@ilmizarnanda]

Overated?Wth u talking about,mate.the man still the biggest influence in terms of rock music till this days.from commercial point yes Ozzy much more famous.but ask any vocalist,who better singer?wait don't compare him to ozzy.compare Dio to any singer past and present? No one touch him. U said he was crybaby bla2...he stood his ground and didn't back down.thats what man supposed to behave.if u agree on everything that means u have no character of ur own.

[@FrostedSeagull]

The one thing I respected about Ronnie was the fact that he NEVER let his guard down when it came to Sharon Osborne. Dio never opened for Ozzy, o, was in a position where Sharon who could get him contractually, financially or demean him in any way. Smart man. God bless him wherever he is.