Ronnie James Dio - Interview - 2005

Where and when were you born?

“I was born in Portsmouth New Hampshire… in the early days of the renaissance [laughs]. I was born in 1944, I’m 60 years old now.”

What’s your first childhood memory?

“Seeing my first cowboy movie. Roy Rogers - king of the cowboys – has always been a big hero of mine - I have his autograph which is very important to me.”

What were you like as a child?

“I don’t think I was naughty as a kid. My father didn’t take any crap so I probably spent a lot of time getting ass paddled. I was very inquisitive: I always wanted to know ‘why?’ – and I’m the same way now.

“As a child I read quite proficiently. Anything I could gobble up that wasn’t in the realm of where I was growing up. History was very important because it made me use my imagination, so did science fiction. I’m an only child and living in that environment by myself, with no one to talk to, made me use my imagination.”

What’s your first musical memory?

“Opera [smiles]. I’m from an Italian family so we always had a lot of opera in the house, so when it came to singing – in any setting, not just professionally – I sang like opera. And it’s more or less the style I sing in today.”

When did you decide you wanted to be a singer?

“I never wanted to be a singer. I began playing the trumpet at five years old, and in my first rock band – in which I played bass - I was the last person who sang because I didn’t want to. They were so terrible that I just said ‘ok I’ll do it’. That was the The Vegas Kings. Then I sang in Ronnie and the Rumbles.”

…and then?

“And then I started singing R&B. I love Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Sam Cooke, so I had the best of both worlds: I had an R&B attitude with an operatic background. Elf was a honky tonk rock ‘n’ roll band. The piano was the main instrument, and that made us more Fats Domino/Jerry Lewis/Little Richards orientated - they were the real rockers. Later on we added more guitar. Only on the last two Elf albums did I decide I was going to a singer and not play bass.

What are your fondest memories of those days with Rainbow/Ritchie?

“The music was easy, we were great together. It was more about what we got up to on the road - especially with Cozy [Powell]. Pulling our promoter up to the rafters, naked when we played Paris; séances when we contacted some strange entities…”

Was that your favourite era?

“Elf was my favourite era. Those were my first experiences: the first time I saw Europe, first time I ate fish and chips and curry, first met someone I idolised. And I did it all with people I grew up with.

Even the ‘untouchables’ of rock fall from grace every so often. How come you haven’t? What’s your secret?

“I’m truthful, and I’m not destructive. I always remember the good things in people. And one thing I know is that I can sing my ass off! [laughs]. I’ve been fired from bands – Rainbow and Sabbath – but I didn’t run to the press and say what fools they were. I still love those guys: I saw Tony yesterday, he came to the show. It’s as though we’ve never been apart.

“But I’ve been criticised as well. You go through eras of success but after a while people – especially in Britain – think ‘oh you’ve had enough success mate. We’ve put you up here, now we’re going to chuck you down.’ That’s what happened.

“I’ve not had a holiday…er… ever. If I lay on a beach I’d bethinking I’m wasting my time. I only sleep maybe 4/5 hours a night, I eat once a day, maybe once every three days; I just find it a waste of my time.

“I’m a good person and that’s all I’ve ever tried to be. If this is an image buster then so be it: if you’re expecting me to be Blackie Lawless, well I’m not.”

How and why were you fired from Black Sabbath?

“The band had not been that big for a while and then they/we were huge - and why not? ‘Heaven and Hell’ is a great record - always will be. I think the success made them go from humble to a bit more ‘hey! Here we are again!’ and I’ve never had that attitude – I’ve always remained humble.

It is well documented that you invented the devil horn salute. Can you just run us through where it comes from?

“My grandmother used to do it as protection against the evil eye. You can also give evil with it. It’s the sign of the devil. People always say ‘oh you invented that’ but it’s just a superstitious sign to ward off evil and give evil back. I just became synonymous with it because I did it so much.”

Apparently you saw a UFO. Tell us about that.

“Wendy – Wendy Dio - and I had just moved to an old farm house in Connecticut from California. We were still unpacking when suddenly we heard this strange noise and looking out of the window we saw this big thing in the sky like the sun - way off ion the distance coming closer and closer. It got so close it nearly filled the whole sky – as if it was the moon or the sun. We saw a car coming down the hill and it was just about to intersect this thing - we thought it was going to blow up. Just as the car got to the intersection this thing was suddenly ‘swsh’… gone. There was still this noise coming from downstairs, like ‘shh-boom, shh-boom’ and I thought ‘aliens’. I crept down to the basement - the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, but it was just the oil pump on the boiler, so we started to think that it all wasn’t real. But the next day in all the newspapers, all these people saw the same thing.

“In my mind it was definitely some kind of space craft. I can’t even describe it to you it was so overwhelming”

You’re such an upbeat guy, how did you find being in Black Sabbath and their doom and gloom?

“It was great - one of my favourite times. I could be as dark as I liked. Rainbow weren’t prepared for my dark side, but Sabbath were. I never get too dark though – you can’t when you write melody the way I do. I loved being in Sabbath.

What was your favourite Sabbath era?

“Doing ‘Heaven and Hell’ - it took nearly a year and a half to make that album. There were problems from before I was in the band, changing managers, moving from LA to Florida to record, then going to France where no one spoke English. It really felt like an accomplishment.”

You’ve recently said that you’d like to work with Tony again. Is that going to happen?

“Yeah, but I doubt it will be a full album - a couple of tracks. You have to test the water and see how it goes. We wrote together in the past and it came so easy: Tony’s a riff master and I write melody – so it’s a perfect combination.”

I think you’re the nicest guy I’ve ever met… and I’ve met Michael Palin. Does everyone instantly love you, or have you ever rubbed anyone up the wrong way? 

“Of course that’s happened. I won’t tell you who they are [smiles]. It usually happens when that person is an ass-hole, and that makes it sound like I’m not an ass-hole, and you know what? I’m not an ass-hole. I can only think of one person, and that’s quite a record. And this guy’s been an ass-hole to everyone not just me, so…”

Is there anything that you’d still like to do? Be President perhaps.

“I’ll never do that. Sure I could do a better job than the guy in office right now, in fact that dog [points to a border terrier behind us] could probably do a better job.”

“I love animation. Our bass-player, Rudy Sarzo, is a great animator and I want us animate our ‘Magica’ album.”

Tell us a bit about your cameo in Jack Black’s new movie, Tenacious D.

“I met Jack on the shoot for a video for an album called ‘Killing The Dragon’ song called ‘Push’ and we became great friends. I got a letter this year saying, we are making a film, and we want you to play the part of Ronnie James Dio, and if you don’t want the part, I won’t make the film. I appear to his ten year old self from a poster of me and sing to him that he should move to LA and that he’ll meet someone very special. It was fantastic. I’m proud to call Jack a friend.

Are there any Dio stories left to be told?

“I’m sure there are some. Probably things that I’d be too embarrassed to put anyone through.”