Ronnie Dio and the Prophets, et al

I was amazed to learn that there is a plethora of old recordings of Ronnie James Dio on the web. Unknown for most of Dio’s latter day career as a premiere hard rock/heavy metal vocalist, which started in 1975 when he became the vocalist of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow; he was a crooner of the late 50’s and early 60’s. Back then he was known as Ronnie Dio and he fronted or was a member of several bands, most notably: Ronnie Dio and the Prophets.

I discovered Dio in 1980 when I heard “Heaven & Hell,” the first Black Sabbath album to feature Ronnie James Dio as vocalist and lyricist. Since then I have been a fan of his and have watched his career. Later, I discovered Dio had sang for Rainbow, whose seminal song, “Man on the Silver Mountain” was always on the radio and I loved it. I was young then and didn’t know much so it took me a while to figure out it was the same guy in Black Sabbath. Actually this made Dio more interesting to me. Later I learned that Dio fronted a band called Elf in the early to mid 70’s which disintegrated when he quit to join Rainbow. That was it. Before Elf there was nothing. Not all rockers view interviews as confessionals. Dio would comment on Black Sabbath and Rainbow after he went solo with his own band DIO, but usually he discussed the now, what was happening in his life at the time of the interview.

But then the internet came along and as the technology improved and it became the primary means of communication and entertainment. The internet was a thing of the future but it’s greatest quality is as a resource of the past. As more people became involved, they not only downloaded their knowledge of a given subject but their pictures and sounds, as well. I am delighted by what is now available regarding Ronnie James Dio: Recordings of him singing in the early sixties copied from old 45’s.

Copied from old 45’s! Truly vintage and rare. Dio is considered the quintessential singer of Heavy Metal music and to think he started his career in the late 50’s?! It boggles this fan’s mind. And you know what? These songs from the early 60’s are good. YouTube has some songs posted as videos with still photos of Ronnie Dio & the Prophets. Truly shocking! I can’t stress how much of a shock it is to realize the true length of this man’s career. Ronnie Dio passed away in May 2010, ending a 50+ years run in music at the age of 67. Dio has been with many bands and has been quite prolific in his career and it would be an amazing Anthology that collected songs from the whole of Dio’s long career.

Here is a list of some of the songs I found (Enjoy!):
Songs:
-Ronnie Dio & The Prophets LOVE PAINS 1962 (45 label says Padavona for credit)
-Ronnie Dio & The Prophets - Will you still love me tomorrow
-Ronnie Dio and the Prophets - Blue days blue nights
-Ronnie James Dio & The Prophets - I Left My Heart In San Francisco
-Ronnie Dio And The Prophets - The Way Of Love 1964
-Ronnie James Dio & The Prophets - An Angel Is Missing
-Ronnie Dio & The Prophets - Gonna Make It Alone
-Ronnie And The Prophets - Don't Take Your Love From Me
-Dio And The Prophets - 10 Days To Brenda
-Ronnie Dio and The Prophets - Love Potion 9
-Dio - Red Top 1963
-Ronnie Dio And The Prophets - Everybody's Got A Dance {feat. RONNIE JAMES DIO}
-RONNIE JAMES DIO - Welcome to My Nightmare
-Ronnie James Dio - Dream On
-Kerry Livgren-Ronnie James Dio -To Live For The King