Ronnie James Dio dead at 67

[Snitskyman2016]

RIP.

Ronnie James Dio, whose soaring vocals, poetic lyrics and mythic tales of a never-ending struggle between good and evil broke new ground in heavy metal, died Sunday, according to a statement from his wife and manager. He was 67.

Dio revealed last summer that he was suffering from stomach cancer shortly after wrapping up a tour in Atlantic City, N.J., with the latest incarnation of Black Sabbath, under the name Heaven And Hell.

"Today my heart is broken," Wendy Dio wrote on the singer's site, adding he died at 7:45 a.m. "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," Wendy Dio continued. "We so appreciate the love and support that you have all given us ... Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever."

The statement was confirmed by Los Angeles publicist Maureen O'Connor. Dio was being treated at a Houston hospital, according to his site.

Though Dio had recently undergone his seventh chemotherapy treatment, he was hopeful to perform again. Earlier this month, Heaven And Hell canceled its summer tour, but Dio did not view being sidelined as a permanent thing.

"Wendy, my doctors and I have worked so hard to make it happen for all of you, the ones we care so much about, that this setback could be devastating, but we will not let it be," he said in a statement. "With your continued love and support, we ... will carry on and thrive. There will be other tours, more music, more life and much more magic."

Dio rose to fame in 1975 as the first lead singer of Rainbow, the heavy metal band put together by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who had just quit Deep Purple.

[Champ]

I feel like in the last 2 years, more people I've known or knew of are either sick, or died more than I can ever recall.

Pete Steele from Typo Negative died a few weeks ago at age 48(I believe). MJ, Farrah, and a bunch of other celebrities passed




Last week I was at a wake for a family friend. Here's the real b1tch of what happened to this family.

For the last 5 years, my sister's friend(Erin)'s father has been sick. He had a stroke and had heart surgery and was being monitored in and out of the hospital for about 4 years.

Last year he finally came home and he's been in a wheelchair. So, Erin and her mother have been taking care of him at home since. Erin has been hesitant to move out of her house because of it too. We used to get updates on him every month or so.

2 months ago, Erin's mother(his wife, obviously) found out she had brain cancer. They gave her a year to live and she died last week. How fucked up is that?

So now Erin is taking care of her father in a wheelchair by herself. He's a great guy too. He used to own a local bar that my old chick band used to play for the night at. When I saw him at the wake, he was so skinny, sitting in a wheelchair and his wife was laying in the casket. It was just SO fuckin heartbreaking man. Erin was in good spirits, even though she told me it hit them hard that day(I went to the wake 3 days after the death). Her father just looked so empty sitting in that wheelchair. Every time it pops into my mind I pretty much want to cry

So in a nutshell, after 5 years of Erin and her mother taking care of her father, her mother gets sick two months ago and dies last week.




4 months ago, my old neighbor died at 42 from heart failure. Nice guy, never hurt a fly




2 weeks earlier, one of my Uncle's best friend's Rob MacDonald(we called him Mac), who I got along with really well, died of heart failure from an overdose. The sad thing about that is, I hung out with him in Ireland for my Uncle's wedding 7 years ago and he was 5 years clean from alcohol and drugs and doing great. He was such a nice guy too. When he fell off the wagon, he started stealing from people and a fire department he used to work for. It's just so sad.




2 days before that, my band's recording engineer(who's one of my really good friends), his ex wife OD'd and died and they brought her back. They have a 13 year old daughter and he was so upset his daughter had to go through this




last summer, my great uncle, who was basically my second grandfather, died from cancer.

Another one of my Uncle's just got released from the hospital last week. My Aunt(his wife) died 2 years earlier




I just found out a few days ago my cousin Steve just came out of the hospital and needs 1 month of intravenous vitamin injections.




I feel like I'm developing a habit of telling my band members I can't make rehearsal because I have a wake to go to. I can stand it anymore. It really fuckin sucks.




The only person that passed away that I can live with and sleep at night is my sister's ex-boyfriend from 10 years ago. The dude was ok deep down, but he had such a tough guy complex to prove himself and he was a drug addict. So he use to get physical with her and throw her around. He never actually punched her in the face, but he did things like bruising her wrists and giving her little scratches. I always said if I ever saw him, I'd put on a mask and kick the ever living shit out of him. I wouldn't want him to know it was me because he's the kind of guy that would get together a bunch of friends and weapons and try to mangle me, or worse, go after my sister. He died of an overdose last August at 29 yrs old.

The crazy thing about that story is, LITERALLY 2 days before he died, I was telling friends of mine about him and how I better not see him. After he died, I made a joke to another friend of mine and said, shit, I just wanted to kick some sense into him, I didn't ask for him to die lol. He was a piece of shit though with a lot of demons. But for some reason I still felt bad



Sorry for turning this into a death rant, SM. I'm just really getting sick of this shit