How much Ritchie Blackmore paid Ronnie James Dio

[@doctorbutters]

Blackmore stiffs Dio in pay, Dio stiffs Viv...A never ending circle

[@scottwhite2757]

Totally .. A Rock n Roll Meat Grinder.

[@mattt-th2ij]

Strange though... you never heard Vinny or Jimmy complain about it... Vivian should be grateful he was even given the shot.. he wouldn't be where he is today

[@TheoneGodfather]

Apparently Viv contributed very little.

[@vectragt2310]

There´s always the boss and the others...

[@hieinh]

Blackmore didn't stiff him

[@borisdisko4322]

The less that you give, you're a taker.

[@mikieg-g6g]

so it's on and on and on ...

[@jeffholt9437]

That sounds familiar.....🤔 😊

[@andrewwilliamson5060]

The lover of lifes' not the sinner The ending is only a beginning The closer you get to the meaning The sooner you know that your dreaming.

[@laurencelevene4333]

Well said. That's so true. Dio wrote incredible lyrics

[@shavpookie]

@@laurencelevene4333 And received half of all writing credits / royalties.

[@doug2078]

Still the Greatest heavy metal voice of all time !!! Thankfully i saw him many times Live !!

[@delorangeade]

By the standards of the time, Dio was pretty well paid, given that he wasn't having to pay for his house or car, and songwriting royalties from Rainbow, which was not a big selling band at the time, might not have been coming through yet. And given that Blackmore was bankrolling the project and taking a chance on an unknown singer, Dio was getting a pretty good deal. Without Blackmore, it's highly doubtful we would be talking about Dio now.

[@G.TZ77]

Not even one in a million possibility for not talking about Dio..!! With that or other way, Dio would have been famous one hundred percent!!

[@ganndeber1621]

@@G.TZ77 Thats why Elf did so well

[@G.TZ77]

@@ganndeber1621 Elf was a rock 'n roll band. According to what the rockers hearing back in 1972, this was a very good band!!! They did very well for those years!!! It is stupid to say that we would never knew a musician if he was not playing together with the other musician.. Mustaine left from Metallica and then he did great things!! Rainbow would never have been the same band without Ronnie. Manowar would never have been the same without Eric Adams. And also Eric Adams would never have been so big singer if he had never been in the same band with Joey Demaio. Everyone needs the others!!! Helloooo!!!!!!!! Ozzy needed Tony Iommi and Tony needed Ozzy!! Wake up!

[@erikolsen1333]

Ahh hurts my heart…. Like how Ozzy treated BoB and Randy, Jake You’re just a hired gun. With travel expensive paid.

[@dimebagvinnie644]

It hurts your heart nancy ? Put a fkn dress on laydee

[@zenica12]

Dio left, Blackmore never fired him

[@gokhanfilms1238]

Blackmore fired him. Blackmore " Dio wasn't doing exactly what I said" .To avoid saying that he had fired him, he said no one left Rainbow of his own volition.

[@karsguitarchannel6088]

Wendy confirmed that Ritchie Blackmore fired Ronnie Dio because Ronnie wouldn't write more commercial songs. She said Ronnie never wanted to leave Rainbow.

[@grantorino2009]

And then Dio paid his band about the same. Imagine that.

[@hdrake1000]

That's the music business.

[@667hodge]

How do you know what they got paid?

[@doctordetroit4339]

Apple doesn't fall far from the tree now does it?? Vivian enters the chat.....

[@joemars41]

And the cycle continues....

[@scottwhite2757]

Yes it does..

[@DPhasely]

She learned to be frugal from Ritchie.😂

[@Randy-jz9ox]

She claims he drove a Lambo when he was in Dio. He said she said.

[@karsguitarchannel6088]

​@@Randy-jz9ox Vivian bought a 308 GTB Ferrari. It was an entry level model. It cost around $30,000 in 1983. Vivian said he saved up his money for a few years and that's why he was able to buy it. I think of course Vivian was getting more than just a $100 per week. By 1985 he was getting $500-$800 per week. Dio covered travel and food expenses. But initially Dio had promised them an equal share. Vinny and Jimmy confirmed it.

[@kevincampbell9526]

Adjusted for inflation, $150 a week in 1978 is about $756 a week today.

[@jimdellavecchia4594]

I heard this a few yrs ago. The road crew was paid more than the band

[@johnny5805]

Ritchie probably spent all the money on toupees.

[@Fuxerz]

Wendy should she talk. After ripping Vivian and all the other members. Ritchie Blackmore paid a fair wage in the 70s. I calulated it on line its 957.64 a week. That's a lot of money. I googled it rock on 🤘1974 150 what's it worth today.

[@claymor8241]

Are you kidding? A fairly middle ranking civil servant London will get that much after tax is taken off at source. Ronnie D became a famous rock singer while in Rainbow. However, a low day-to-day living wage was not uncommon until a band went into profit with (hopefully) big ticket and record sales. If he wrote songs he will also have eventually shared in publishing royalties, as well as recording royalties, which will have continued to be paid to his widow (depending on his will) to this day whenever a song he wrote or played on is sold or played on radio etc. But those royalties were in respect of Dio’s intellectual property, they weren’t Blackmore’s to give or withhold.

[@ryansettani9189]

Dio was 33 yrs old in 1975, not young for a rock star who is still unknown, without Ritchie, he may never had made it, as good as he is, it takes luck and timing too, BTW Dio and Wendy lived in New Cannan CT in 1978 durring Rainbow, one of the wealthiest towns in the USA/World, how they get that money, I cant afford to live there on $200k a year today

[@chevy4x466]

Yup, I have listened to elf. I can’t say I was too impressed. I don’t think elf would have ever been a big thing.

[@shavpookie]

Free house,car and food...Plus %50 co writing on all the songs. Not a bad deal.

[@chevy4x466]

@@shavpookie not to mention he obviously married a very rich woman out of his rainbow fame. Sad that we r without Ronnie. The Ronnie and Richie dou was as good as there was

[@hieinh]

What doesn't make sense is how did they blow the equivalent of $200k in a year? Ronnie left and joined Sabbath within the year

[@thanasis67]

And thank God, because Sabbath with Ronnie, made the best ever song... Heaven and Hell !!! RIP GOAT!!! Greetings from Greece!

[@kevinkhoy7171]

Funny how that all happened at the same time. 1979. Worked out perfectly for both singers! Heaven & Hell was Black Sabbath best LP!

[@BanalayerPete1972]

Ronnie must've received royalties. ASCAP would've ensured that, surely. He co-wrote every Rainbow song he sang on, apart from Black Sheep of the Family, Mistreated, and Still I'm Sad.

[@rockyconway512]

Yes ASCAP would have seen to Ronnie being paid his equal share. But it comes down to how the publishing was split - Ritchie's band - he could have absorbed all of it and only given Ronnie a salary. Tho I don't believe Blackmore paid such a small weekly salary to Dio as stated in the video here.

[@truthseeker6548]

Seemingly not until after his death

[@BanalayerPete1972]

@@truthseeker6548: Did he get paid by Sabbath?

[@truthseeker6548]

@@BanalayerPete1972 presume so as had enough to buy house and finance Dio

[@joemars41]

Always enjoy your channel Kar , thanks for another good one ! 💯

[@karsguitarchannel6088]

Many thanks Joe Mars, great pleasure!!

[@bobpugliese4428]

Revealed how? Did she show paperwork. They had a mansion and a car and shes saying he got paid nothing? Free rent car utilities and insurance are nothing? How dio got the job with black sabbath is interesting. So wendy waits tables at the rainbow then becomes his manager interesting career change. Sounds like wendy achieved her goal. She comes to Hollywood to be a star works at the rainbow and meets one. Great story but classic she banged rockstars and landed one😮

[@2DclanSnipingTeam]

$150 1975 dollars could feed an army.

[@dm8579]

$150 plus royalties.

[@UserUli]

Google says it was 878$ in today

[@ganndeber1621]

maybe a platoon

[@tyronesharp9205]

Never met him, but I've heard he's very kind to his fans. But in every interview I've read, he's always trashing his former bandmates.

[@DrFroyd123]

Dio became a band leader himself and treated his band mates the same. He didn't feel grateful for Blackmore putting him out there on the hard rock map, as he believed he would make his breakthrough anyway

[@yactabay]

$150 from 1975 is $877 today. Yeah, not a lot but that was a heck of a lot more than just food money. And since they weren’t paying rent it was a fair amount. Even if they had to pay rent, remember, rent has gone up in the USA completely incommensurate with inflation. That means rent was cheap even for that amount of money. From what I understand from seeing other videos, Wendy started doing the same when Dio went solo. Same thing Sharon Osborne is accused of doing, though the latter also let Rudy Sarzo(bassist) sleep at their place, initially. Also, the price of stuff, including groceries, was way less than it is now(noting money was worth more then)

[@ozzyvaldez1265]

Probably more than Dio payed Vivian Campbell

[@CarrigansGuitarClub]

This is where Dio got the concept of how a rock band does it's business. The irony is that Dio should have know how Vivian Campbell felt when he shafted him!!!

[@thetype85]

$877 in 2024 dollars or $3,500 per month! That come out about $20 per hour in 2024 dollars.

[@redghettosun9785]

What about co-songwriting royalties and publishing from his time with Rainbow? You could probably get a decent apartment in LA back in those days for $300 a month.

[@slikshocker]

There’s a lot more about Wendy. Surprised no one talks about it. Either most don’t know or everyone should be commended for keeping things classy.

[@TheD4VR0S]

Pretty much the same as Ronnie paid Vivian Campbell in Dio

[@jamesjames2070]

150 was a lot of money in the seventies

[@CTROCK]

How much would it be right now 2024?

[@Fuxerz]

957.64 Today, my friend rock on 🤘

[@davidrynberk1533]

It was back then...most people never made that working full time in a week.

[@mrsmokeydog7830]

you need to clarify 70"s. 1970 150 in a week was good money. 1979 not so much minimum wage was $3.35 per hour . and your take home was maybe 110.00 per week. So 40 more bucks per week. that wasn't good money. what is minimum wage now $ 18.00. So less then 5 times more. $150.00 would be worth about $ 750.00 now. So if you make $150.00 per day nowadays is that good money. not really .

[@davidrynberk1533]

@@mrsmokeydog7830 The mid seventies minimum wage was about $2 and food was obviously much cheaper..if you did it right at the grocery store,you could spend $25 to $30 for the week and get so much more..buy a whole chicken for a $1.25. Buying power,a dollar was a dollar back then.You say at $3.35 was 1979 per hour minimum wage..sounds about right...things have changed no kidding..I am spending$200 a week now...hard to keep up,

[@scottwhite2757]

Wendy worked at the Rainbow waiting on her dream card .. lol , well she got it . Thx Kar have a Rocking great weekend. ✌️

[@karsguitarchannel6088]

You are very welcome Scott, thank you!! Have an awesome weekend! ✌

[@Digibeatle09]

Remember Ian Gillan stated that - considering all the records Deep Purple sold in the 1970s - he didn’t see all that much money himself - I suspect that was the case with Ritchie Blackmore and the other members too - so don’t think Blackmore was absolutely “loaded” by the time he left DP Mk. 3 - no guarantee that Rainbow was going to be a big money spinner either - Dio’s wife’s views are to be respected, of course - just throwing in my “take” on what I understand to have likely been a factor with Blackmore - remember Black Sabbath have always stated their early big successful records (and tours) led to their manager driving a Rolls Royce while they all continued to travel around in a van !!!!

[@vectragt2310]

In fact Ritchie turned more mainstream in the 80´s with Bonnet and JLT for making some money, as the first albums were rock classics, but the Rainbow machine didn´t make that much money...

[@davidbrucemusicvideo]

The weekly pay was just $150 a week? Back then, that was just under $900…

[@strangeuniverse1199]

I was working as a gardener in 1979 making almost $150 dollars a week, $5 dollars an hour.

[@FYMASMD]

It’s traditional for musicians to get screwed, and to screw fellow musicians.

[@laurencelevene4333]

@@FYMASMD the same happens in boxing with managers

[@shanemcconnell1736]

You know when your father beat you, you either grow up to be someone who would never beat your child or you also become a child beater, Ronnie learned nothing from his beating, and did it to all his players when he got a chance, sad, you’re supposed to rise above, not become what you hated

[@vitom5513]

I don't believe Wendy ( Sharon Jr). IF Ronnie were paid a salary, that was extra. Ronnie was co-writer of all Rainbow songs, so he got royalties and concert fees. Nice that Ronnie's not here to confirm that. What does Ritchie have to say. He doesn't hold back.

[@vectragt2310]

Ritchie surely didn´t throw around with money, but I think his musicians were paid fair. Dio was not enslaved and forced to do it. He could´ve gone back to the roadie side or whereever he was.

[@hdrake1000]

I got to see Rainbow Long Live Rock n Roll, 1978.

[@arthur2shedsjackson]

It's good to be the Boss

[@carlosdanger6129]

Why are they complaining, no one forced him to stay in Rainbow

[@dougtrvl888]

Great 😊 History lesson ! 👏

[@karsguitarchannel6088]

Big thanks, great pelasure!

[@josearriola3087]

Get your story straight Ronnie James Dio the left rainbow because he said Ritchie Blackmore was getting to pop and he wasn't into pop music

[@karsguitarchannel6088]

Wendy Dio confirmed that Ritchie Blackmore fired Ronnie James Dio. She said Ronnie never wanted to leave.

[@mickeystanic4750]

'Cos the "food money" was guaranteed?

[@josearriola3087]

@@karsguitarchannel6088 no I saw his documentary his wife said it he walked out

[@gonepostal9101]

Tony and Geezer wrote Children of the Sea before Ronnie, and Ozzy didn’t want to sing it.

[@adelfaragalla3621]

You get paid what the big boss pays you in a band. Ian Gillan went bankrupt with his Gillan band and his musicians got nothing. If you don't have a big label behind you then you sink. Commercially Dio's Rainbow 3 albums were flops but musically they were the best. Touring is where the money came but still it's not very lucrative if it's short in a few countries. Ritchie's name filled the concerts and it wasn't Dio. That's a reality that people might not accept. Same when he joined BS, Dio was singing Ozzy's material. Having said that, Dio is more talented than Ozzy or IG when it comes to singing and writing. That's my own opinion which should not hurt you as I respect others opinions.

[@ponytrekker8996]

I heard several interviews with rainbow members that said Blackmore pays very well.

[@grobbler1]

Also he spent a lot of money on his amplification, not being that worried about the cost, as long as it sounded right.

[@markbouquet1316]

What about his “Doo Wop” days? Randy James Dio and the Prophets. He was in a barbershop quartet in reality. He was a stroke to Vivian Campbell when Viv called just to see how he was doing with his cancer as Viv was fighting cancer too. Dio could sing but he was a chump with a capital C!!!

[@markbouquet1316]

Blackmore is a nobody without Ian Gillian or Ronnie James Dio!

[@ganndeber1621]

of course dear

[@bullwinkle60]

Dumbest thing I ever read.