DIO FAQ
Ronnie James Dio bio/discography June 2nd, 1995
===============================================
Tapio Keihanen
Servin-Maijan tie 6 B 31
02150 Espoo
Finland
Tel. +358 0 468 2901
E-mail dio@snakemail.hut.fi
Lists available
---------------
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Bio/discography Ronnie James Dio bio/discography
Extra List of my spare copies of Ronnie James Dio items
FAQ list Ronnie James Dio frequently asked questions (*)
History My Ronnie James Dio related history (*)
Instructions How to read my lists (*)
Memorabilia List of my Ronnie James Dio-related memorabilia (*)
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Tour dates List of all known Ronnie James Dio tour dates
Video tapes List of my live and interview etc video tapes (*)
Wanted List of Ronnie James Dio records I'm looking for
(*) = not ready yet, pre-release versions may be available.
===============================================================================
This is combined biography and discography for Ronnie James Dio.
It contains information about Ronnie James Dio, the bands he has
worked with, as well as about the persons he has worked with.
The information in this bio/discography can be used in all
non-commercial publications, as long as the source is stated.
If you're going to publish something from this in some commercial
publication, please contact me first.
===============================================================================
========
Contents
========
Contents
Version history
Main Bio/Discographies
The Vegas Kings, Ronnie & The Rumblers, Ronnie & The Red Caps 1957-1961
Ronnie Dio & The Prophets 1961-Autumn 1967
The Electric Elves late 1967-mid 1969
The Elves mid 1969-mid 1970
Elf mid/late 1970-early 1973
Elf early 1973-December 1974
Elf December 1974-February 1975
Rainbow February 1975-July 1975
Rainbow July 1975-August 1975
Rainbow August 1975-September 1975
Rainbow September 1975-October 1975
Rainbow October 1975-January 1977
Rainbow January 1977-July 1977
Rainbow August 1977-November 1978
Black Sabbath May 1979-August 1980
Black Sabbath August 1980-October 1982
Dio October 1982-May 1983
Dio May 1983-March 1986
Dio March 1986-1988
Dio 1988-June 18th, 1989
Dio August 1989-September 1989
Dio September 1989-December 1989
Dio January 1990-Early 1991
Black Sabbath Fall 1991-October or November 1991
Black Sabbath October or November 1991-November 13th, 1992
Dio November 1992-March 1993
Dio March 1993-Summer 1993
Dio Summer 1993-November 1993
Dio November 1993-
Compilation discographies
Soundtrack discographies
Video discographies
Radio show discographies
Rainbow February 1975-November 1978
Black Sabbath May 1979-October 1982, Fall 1991-November 13th, 1992
Dio October 1982-Fall 1991, November 1992-
Interview discographies
Dio October 1982-Fall 1991, November 1992-
Bootleg discographies
Rainbow February 1975-November 1978
Black Sabbath May 1979-October 1982, Fall 1991-November 13th, 1992
Dio October 1982-Fall 1991, November 1992-
Side projects
Roger Glover And Guests: The Butterfly Ball Spring 1974-March 1976
David Coverdale: Northwinds March 21st, 1977-1978
Kerry Livgren: Seeds Of Change 1980
Rock Relief For Africa 1985
Hear 'N Aid 1985-1986
Rock Against Drugs 1987-1988?
Children Of The Night 1987-
References
Credits
===============
Version history
===============
June 2nd, 1995 - Lots of additions, corrections and removings, well
over 1000 lines added
- New release expected to be soon with some little
updates and re-arranged things
- Linecount 8181
Version 1.00 - March 4th, 1995
- First major release, with lots of changes from the
pre-release versions throughout the text
- Old version histories have been removed, if you
want to get them, feel free to ask me via e-mail
- Linecount 6943
======================
Main Bio/Discographies
======================
=============================================================
The Vegas Kings, Ronnie & The Rumblers, Ronnie & The Red Caps 1957-1961
=============================================================
Band members
============
Ronnie Dio vocals, bass - join 1957
Billy De Wolf vocals - join 1957, left 1961
Nick Pantas guitars - join 1957
Tom Rogers drums - join 1957
Jack Musci sax - join 1957, left 1961
Ronnie Dio
----------
According to the US Authoritives, Dio's original name is Ronald James
Padovana. He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but was raised in
Cortland, near Syracuse in New York State in the USA. Nowadays in Cortland
there is a road named after Ronnie James Dio - namely the "Dio Way". There
is a Rubbermaid, Inc. plant on the Dio Way, as well as some private homes.
Ronnie James Dio's main interests already in his childhood were music and
romantic fantasy literature, such as works of Sir Walter Scott and the
Arthurian legend. He has also always liked science fiction literature, as
well as sports - that is probably because his father played softball at
some local team when Ronnie was a child and the whole family always went to
watch the games.
Dio's birthday is publicly unknown - as he himself says, the age is not
important, the only thing that matters is the music. The press has always
been curious and sceptical about Dio's age, just like about his height.
Before forming Ronnie & The Red Caps, Dio had played both trumpet
and bass. His father bought him a trumpet when he was a child
and Dio changed it to bass later. Ronnie himself credits his voice
to that trumpet, he says that without the breath excercise with
trumpet he wouldn't have his voice. Dio quitted his studies around
1957 or 1958 for a musical career - some sources say that he studied
pharmacy.
Billy De Wolf
-------------
Billy De Wolf's history before 1957 is unknown. In 1961 he left
the music scene.
Nick Pantas
-----------
It is unknown what Pantas did before 1957.
Tom Rogers
----------
It is unknown what Rogers did before 1957.
Jack Musci
----------
It is unknown what Musci did before 1957. He left the band in 1961 and
became a schoolteacher afterwards.
Band history
============
This group was originally started as a school band in Cortland,
New York in 1957. First they went under name "The Vegas Kings" but
they changed their name soon to "Ronnie & The Rumblers" and finally
to "Ronnie & The Red Caps". The name changes took place in 1957-1958,
as they released their possibly only recording under name Ronnie & The Red
Caps in 1957 or 1958. There is at least rumored recording by the band,
released in 1959.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Lover
B: Conquest
- Reb Records, USA, 1957 or 1958
7" A: What'd I Say
B: An Angel Is Missing
- Seneca 178-102, USA, 1959
- Existence not confirmed
=========================
Ronnie Dio & The Prophets 1961-Autumn 1967
=========================
Band members
============
Ronnie Dio vocals, bass
Dick Bottoff guitars - join 1961, left 1967
Nick Pantas guitars
Tom Rogers drums - left 1967
Dick Bottoff
------------
It is unknown what Dick Bottoff did before 1961. After he split his
ways with the band, he disappeared from the music scene.
Tom Rogers
----------
It is unknown what Tom Rogers has done since he left in Autumn 1967,
except that he supposedly moved to Florida after Ronnie Dio & The Prophets
split up.
Band history
============
After "Ronnie & The Red Caps" quitted, three members of the band
continued together with a new guitarist. The line-up lasted for
quite a long time and produced several singles and one album. Some
sources state that some of the single releases would've been made
by Ronnie Dio solo, but others, for example Ronnie James Dio himself,
state that all of those singles were made as "Ronnie Dio & The
Prophets."
Singles
-------
7" A: The Ooh-poo-pah-doo
B: Love Pains
- Atlantic 2145, USA, 1961 or May 1962
- Record company sleeves
- Some sources suggest that this may've been released in
1961, but most likely it is from May 1962
7" A: Gonna Make It Alone
- Lawn Records 45, USA, 1963
- Rumored release, existence not confirmed
7" A: Swingin Street
B: Gonna Make It Alone
- Lawn Records 218, USA, August 1963
- Lawn Records, USA, 1963
- Promo release
- Record company sleeves
7" A: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow
B: ?
- This might have been done by Ronnie Dio solo
- Swan, USA, 1963
- The record company might not be Swan, since
this release is not listed in Swan catalogue
7" A: Mr Misery
B: Our Year
- This might have been done by Ronnie Dio solo
- Swan 4165, USA, November 1963
- Swan, USA 1963
- Promo release
- Record company sleeves
7" A: Love Potion #9
B: Love Potion #9
- Valex, USA, January 1964
- This might be promo release since both sides
are the same
7" A: Say You're Mine Again
B: Where You Gonna Run To Girl
- Kapp 697, USA, July 1965
7" A: Smiling By Day (Crying By Night)
B: Dear Darling (I Won't Be Comin' Home)
- This might have been done by Ronnie Dio solo, at least the
labels mention only Ronnie Dio instead of Ronnie Dio & The
Prophets
- Kapp 725, USA, November 1965
- Kapp K-725, USA
- Promo release
- Release date unknown, probably also 1965
7" A: The Way Of Love
B: Walking Alone
- This might have been done by Ronnie Dio solo
- Kapp 770, USA, 1965
- Record company sleeves
- Some sources suggest that this would've been released
in 1966
7" A: Walking In Different Circles
B: 10 Days With Brenda
- Parkway 143, USA, April 1967
- Some sources suggest that this would've been released
in 1966, but the release date has most likely been in
April, 1967
- Parkway P-143, USA, 1967
- promo release
- Record company sleeves
Long plays
----------
LP Dio At Dominoes
- Track list unknown, but contains several cover versions of
various famous rock 'n' roll songs like Great Balls Of Fire
- The album was recorded live at a small club called Dominoes,
although it is currently unknown whether the audience was
present there at the time of the recording
- Lawn, USA, 1963
- Might be on Jove label under Lawn Records
- Album cover should feature a photo of the band
==================
The Electric Elves late 1967-mid 1969
==================
Band members
============
Ronnie Dio vocals, bass
David Feinstein guitars - join 1967
Nick Pantas guitars
Gary Driscoll drums - join 1967
Doug Thaler keyboards - join 1967
David Feinstein
---------------
It is unknown what Feinstein did before joining The Electric Elves.
Feinstein is Dio's cousin.
Gary Driscoll
-------------
It is unknown what Driscoll did before joining The Electric Elves.
Doug Thaler
-----------
It is unknown what Thaler did before joining The Electric Elves.
Band history
============
Soon after "Ronnie Dio & The Prophets" was gone, Dio and Pantas formed
another group with three new members. The band was called "The Electric
Elves".
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Hey, Look Me Over
B: It Pays To Advertise
- MGM K 13939, USA, December 1967
- MGM K 13839 (103,662 / 103,663), USA, 1967
- promo release
- Record company sleeves
=========
The Elves mid 1969-mid 1970
=========
Band members
============
Ronnie Dio vocals, bass
David Feinstein guitars
Nick Pantas guitars - left 1970
Gary Driscoll drums
Doug Thaler keyboards - left 1970
Nick Pantas
-----------
Pantas died in a car crash in mid 1970.
Doug Thaler
-----------
After spending several months in hospital after the car crash, Thaler
left the band after the car crash because of both musical and personal
disagreements. After leaving, Thaler disappeared for quite a long time,
but then appeared in 1980s as one of the managers for "Motley Crue".
Some sources suggest that Thaler would've neen a part of "Elf" too for
a short time, not as a keyboardist but a guitarist.
Band history
============
The band remained the same, but they shortened their name to "The Elves"
before releasing their second single. The band lineup remained the
same until mid 1970, when they all were involved in a car crash. The car
crash killed Nick Pantas, and it ended also the band.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Walking In Different Circles
B: She's Not The Same
- It is uncertain whether the "Walking In Different Circles"
is the same song or not as on Ronnie Dio & The Prophets
single from April 1967.
- Decca 32507, USA, November 1969
7" A: West Virginia
B: Amber Velvet
- Decca 32617, USA, February 1970
- MCA MV 1114, UK, February 1970
- This is probably the very first non-US Ronnie Dio
release. The songs are the same, but some sources
suggest that they were flipped so that the Amber
Velvet would've been on side A.
===
Elf mid/late 1970-early 1973
===
Band members
============
Ronnie Dio vocals, bass
David Feinstein guitars - left 1973
Gary Driscoll drums, percussion
Mickey Lee Soule piano - join 1970
David Feinstein
---------------
Feinstein quit in early 1973. The reason was that he didn't like
touring. After Elf, he formed a band called The Rods. The Rods
released seven albums before 1988. Around 1978 he supposedly
had a band called David Feinstein's Funk - they played mainly or
only in Upstate New York. He also had a band called Hollywood.
Nowadays Feinstein is a retired musician and he owns a restaurant
called "The Hollywood" on the Groton Avenue in Cortland. Although he
has retired from the music scene, he still sometimes plays guitar
at the local summer festivals around Cortland.
In Spring of 1995 Feinstein was about to open another restaurant.
Mickey Lee Soule
----------------
It is unknown what Soule did before joining Elf in 1970.
Band history
============
After recovering from the car crash and getting new pianist to
replace Thaler, the band changed their name to Elf. They played
at clubs, colleges and bars looking for a record contract. Roger
Glover and Ian Paice of Deep Purple happened to see them
auditioning for Columbia in January 1972 and offered to produce an
album for them.
In April 1972 the band went with Glover and Paice to record an album
at Studio One in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The studio sessions yielded
band's first LP and it was called simply "Elf". After the release of
it, the band played as the support band for Deep Purple on two
US tours (August - September and November - December 1972).
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Hoochie Koochie Lady
B: First Avenue
- Epic EPC S 1127, Germany, 1972
- Picture sleeves
- Epic S 10933 (or Epic 5-10933), USA, September 1972
- No picture sleeves
7" A: Hoochie Koochie Lady
B: Hoochie Koochie Lady
- Epic, USA, 1972
- Record company sleeves
- different sides have mono and stereo versions
- promo release
7" A: Sit Down Honey
B: Gambler, Gambler
- Eastern Artists 5015 29B, USA, 1972
- Record company sleeves
- Gambler, Gambler might be on A side
- Epic
- Existence only rumored
Long plays
----------
LP Elf
A: Hoochie Koochie Lady / First Avenue / Never More / I'm Coming
Back For You
B: Sit Down Honey / Dixie LKee Junction / Love Me Like A Woman /
Gambler, Gambler
- Epic KE 31789 (or Epic EK 31789?), USA, August 1972
- Epic, Canada, 1972
- Epic EPC 65389, UK
- The existence of this release is rumored
- Epic 26910, Germany, August 1986
- Has probably text "Featuring Ronnie James Dio"
on the sleeve.
- Epic EPC 26910 (KE 31789/EPC 65389), Holland, probably
August 1986
- Epic, Holland
- Has probably text "Featuring Ronnie James Dio"
on the sleeve.
C tapes
-------
C Enfer Magazine presents Elf
- Freebie with a magazine called Enfer
- Epic 40-26910, probably around 1986
Compact discs
-------------
CD Elf
Hoochie Koochie Lady / First Avenue / Never More / I'm Coming
Back For You / Sit Down Honey / Dixie Lee Junction / Love Me
Like A Woman / Gambler, Gambler
- Epic EK 21789, USA, possibly 1991
- Epic, Japan, possibly 1991
- Includes lyrics
===
Elf early 1973-December 1974
===
Band members
============
Ronnie Dio vocals
Steve Edwards guitars - join 1973
Craig Gruber bass - join 1973
Gary Driscoll drums
Mickey Lee Soule keyboards, vocals
Steve Edwards
-------------
It is unknown what Edwards did before joining Elf.
Craig Gruber
------------
It is unknown what Gruber did before joining Elf.
Band history
============
After losing Feinstein in early 1973, the band got a new guitarist,
as well as a new bassist. Dio had decided to quit playing bass and
concentrated only on singing. Lee Soule also began singing with
Dio.
In the summer of 1973, Elf signed a new record contract with
MGM Records in USA and with Purple Records in the UK. In early
1974 the band travelled to UK to record their second album at
The Manor Studios. It was produced by Roger Glover and was called
as Carolina County Ball. However, the USA release was under
different name, it was called L.A. / 59 and had totally different
sleeve.
After release of Carolina County Ball, Elf toured supporting Deep
Purple on their UK tour in April 1974. At the same time Dio and
Lee Soule participated also the Roger Glover's project called
"Butterfly Ball And The Grasshopper's Feast". Dio sung three songs
on that album. In the summer of 1974 Elf travelled to USA to support
Deep Purple on their US tour. At least some of the shows featured
also Aerosmith - this happened at least in August 1974 at Dillon
Stadium in Connecticut, USA.
Elf also went to studio with Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple to record
a single called Black Sheep Of The Family. There were other musicians,
for example keyboardist Matthew Fischer from Procol Harum, besides Elf
and Ritchie Blackmore in the studios, and the song was supposedly
originally written by a band called Quartermass.
After some time Ritchie Blackmore contacted Ronnie James Dio again and
asked if Dio was interested in doing a track together with him. Dio wrote
a song in the same night and went to record it with Ritchie. The song was
called Sixteenth Century Greensleeves. It was meant to be released as a
B side for the Black Sheep Of The Family, but for some reason the single
was never released and at least the version of Black Sheep Of The Family
should be different version than the one on Rainbow's first album.
Existence of an acetate of the original recording has been rumored, but
at least this far no-one has come up with one.
Right after the recording of Sixteenth Century Greensleeves Ritchie
Blackmore asked Ronnie James Dio whether he and Elf would be interested
in putting a band together with him. Elf was supposedly already recording
Trying To Burn The Sun at this time, and they decided to form Rainbow
with Ritchie Blackmore right after the album was recorded.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: L.A./59
B: Ain't It All Amusing
- Purple PUR 118, UK, April 8th, 1974
- Purple, UK, 1974
- Record company sleeves
- Promo release
- MGM 14752, USA, April 1974
- Purple, France, 1974
- Picture sleeves
- Might have been released in 1975
7" A: L.A./59 (stereo)
B: L.A./59 (mono)
- MGM M 14752, USA, 1974
- Record company sleeves (?)
- Promo release
7" A: L.A./59
B: Carolina County Ball
- Purple 1C 006 96 447, Germany, 1974
- Picture sleeves featuring the band on the sleeve
7" A: Rockin' Chair Rock 'N' Roll Blues
- A side recorded live in 1973
Long plays
----------
LP Carolina County Ball
A: Carolina County Ball / L.A./59 / Ain't It All Amusing / Happy
B: Annie New Orleans / Rocking Chair Rock 'N' Roll Blues /
Rainbow / Do The Same Thing / Blanche
- Purple TPS 3506, UK, April 1974
- Line Records 66.23042-01 (OLLP 5334), Germany
- Line Records 4.00115, Germany, 1983
- white vinyl
- Safari LONG 7, UK, August 1984
- Includes a text "Featuring Ronnie James Dio" on the
front sleeve
LP L.A./59
A: Carolina County Ball / L.A./59 / Ain't It All Amusing / Happy
B: Annie New Orleans / Rocking Chair Rock 'N' Roll Blues /
Rainbow / Do The Same Thing / Blanche
- MGM M3G-4974, USA, 1974
- Safari MWF 1039, Japan, 1974 (year not certain)
- Promo release
- Safari MWX 4029, Japan, 1974 (year not certain)
- Promo release (possibly re-release)
Compact discs
-------------
CD Carolina County Ball
Carolina County Ball / L.A./59 / Ain't It All Amusing / Happy /
Annie New Orleans / Rocking Chair Rock 'N' Roll Blues / Rainbow /
Do The Same Thing / Blanche
- Line Records LICD 9.00115 O, Germany, 1991
===
Elf December 1974-February 1975
===
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Steve Edwards guitars - left 1975
Craig Gruber bass
Gary Driscoll drums
Mickey Lee Soule keyboards
Mark Nauseef percussion - join 1974, left 1975
Steve Edwards
-------------
When Edwards left Elf in 1975, he travelled to Florida and disappeared
from the music scene.
Mark Nauseef
------------
Before joining Elf, Nauseef played in Velvet Underground. Besides the
following, he was an active studio musician for several artists after
leaving Elf.
Known history after leaving Elf
- Ian Gillan Band
- Mark Nauseef (percussion) / Ian Gillan (vocals) / etc
- Jon Lord
- Mark Nauseef (percussion) / Jon Lord / etc
- The band played combined rock 'n' roll and classical music
- Recorded album
- Sarabande (1976)
- Recorded single
- Bouree
- Thin Lizzy 1978
- Mark Nauseef (percussion)
- G-Force
- Mark Nauseef (drums)
Band history
============
After Elf recorded Black Sheep with Ritchie Blackmore, they returned
back to UK in early 1975 with one new man, Nauseef, who had joined
the band in December. Elf went to record their third album at Kingsway
studios, again with producer Roger Glover. This was the last album
Elf made in studio; there are some rumors about Elf live album but
no-one seems to have that album.
After recording the album, Elf splitted up immediately, even before the
album was actually released. Nauseef left on his own and Edwards was
fired, since the band formed Rainbow with guitarist Ritchie Blackmore.
Ritchie had followed the recording process of the third Elf album but
he didn't play on it.
This third album, Trying To Burn The Sun, was not released in the UK
because the band wanted to avoid a clash with Rainbow album which
was released shortly after the release of Trying To Burn The Sun in the
USA. There are some rumors around about a live album released in 1976,
but those rumors have not been confirmed as no-one seems to have a copy
of the album.
Trying To Burn was the first album where Ronnie James Dio used his second
name. He started to use it when Ritchie Blackmore once asked him 'What's
your second name? Why don't you use it as a part of your name?'
Discography
===========
Long plays
----------
LP Trying To Burn The Sun
A: Black Swampy Water / Prentice Wood / When She Smiles /
Good Time Music
B: Liberty Road / Shotgun Boogie / Wonderworld / Streetwalker
- MGM M3G 4994, USA, June 1975
- Safari, Japan, 1975 (release year not known for sure)
- Title strip and lyrics included
- Safari LONG 8, UK, August 1984
- Text "Featuring Ronnie James Dio" on the sleeve.
LP Live
Track list unknown
- Live recording by Elf
- V.I.P., 1976
- Rumored release, it is possible that this has been
released only in Japan
Compact discs
-------------
CD Ronnie James Dio The Elf Albums
Carolina County Ball / L.A./59 / Ain't It All Amusing / Happy /
Annie New Orleans / Rocking Chair Rock 'N' Roll Blues / Rainbow /
Do The Same Thing / Blanche / Black Swampy Water / Prentice
Wood / When She Smiles / Good Time Music / Liberty Road / Shotgun
Boogie / Wonderworld / Streetwalker
- Connoisseur Collection VSOP CD 167, UK 1991
- Carolina County Ball and Trying To Burn The Sun
fitted on one CD
CD Gargantuan
Track list unknown, probably same as on Ronnie James Dio The
Elf Albums.
- Safari, UK
- Carolina County Ball and Trying To Burn The Sun
fitted on one CD
=======
Rainbow February 1975-July 1975
=======
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Ritchie Blackmore guitars - joined 1975
Craig Gruber bass - left 1975
Gary Driscoll drums
Mickey Lee Soule piano, mellotron,
clavinet, organ
Ritchie Blackmore
-----------------
Ritchie Blackmore was born as Richard Harold Blackmore on April 14th, 1945
in Weston-Super-Mare, UK. He started to play guitar when he was nine and
his father forced him to take classical guitar lessons.
Harold Blackmore started to play his recording career when he was 18. He worked
at the same time as a studio musician for produced Joe Meek, for artists
like Glenda Collins and Tom Jones. He played in several different bands, too,
they are listed below.
- 2 IUs Coffee Bar Junior Skiffle Group, Early 1960s
- The Dominators, Early 1960s
- The Satellites, Early 1960s-1961
- Mike Dee & The Jaywalkers, 1961-April 1962
- The Condors, April 1962-May 1962
- Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages, May 1962-October 1962
- The Outlaws, October 1962-April 1964
- Heinz & The Wild Boys, May 1964-December 1965
- The Outlaws, February 1965
- Ritchie Blackmore Orchestra, February 1965-March 1965
- Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages, March 1965-May 1965
- Jerry Lee Lewis & The Savages, May 1965
- The Three Musketeers, December 1965-January 1966
- Neil Christian & The Crusaders, April 1966-June 1966
- Ricky Maiocchi & The Trip, 1966
- The Trip, 1966
- Lord Caesar Sutch & The Roman Empire, December 1966-April 1967
- Neil Christian & The Crusaders, April 1967-May 1967
- Mandrake Root, September 1967-November 1967
- Roundabout, February 1968-March 1968
- Deep Purple, March 1968-May 1975
- Jon Lord, September 1969
- Green Bullfrog, March 1970-April 1970
- Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends, June 1971
- Jon Lord, September 1971
- Randy Pie & Family, 1973
- Adam Faith, 1974
Craig Gruber
------------
After leaving Rainbow, it is unknown what Gruber did before 1984.
In 1984 he joined Gary Moore's band for Victims Of The Future tour.
He didn't appear on Victims Of The Future album, but he can be heard
on We Want Moore live album recorded on that tour. The band members
besides Gruber and Moore were Ian Paice and Neil Carter. After the tour
Moore and Gruber left to different directions.
It is claimed that Gruber would've played bass on Black Sabbath's Heaven
And Hell album, as well as he would've co-written much of the material,
especially Die Young has been mentioned with him. This haven't ever been
certified. The same rumor tells that Gruber decided himself that he don't
want to be mentioned at all on the album.
Band history
============
Right after the split-up of Elf, four members of Elf (Dio, Driscoll,
Gruber and Lee Soule) and ex Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore
formed band called Rainbow. The name supposedly came from the Rainbow
bar located in Los Angeles, where Elf and Ritchie Blackmore used to
spend their free time.
This band is also known as Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, as it appears
under that name on their first album, but that name was used only to
get people to notice the band. Generally, everyone except Blackmore felt
bad about the name, so on the later albums the band was called simply
Rainbow. The band moved from the East Coast of USA to California, USA.
The band went to the Musicland Studios, in Munich, Germany on February
20th and finished the album recording on March 14th. The album was
produced by Blackmore, Martin Birch and Dio. The album didn't have
any special name, it was just called Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow.
Even before the album was released, bassist Gruber was fired because
he didn't meet the musical requirements set by Blackmore. Blackmore
fired the rest of the band soon after that, leaving only Dio and himself
in the band from the original line-up.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Man On The Silver Mountain
B: Snake Charmer
- Oyster OYR 103, UK, 1975
- no picture sleeves
- Polydor, Japan, 1975
- Oyster, Germany, 1975
- Oyster, France, 1975
- Oyster, Belgium, 1975
- Oyster OYR 103, Spain, 1975
- Oyster, Yugoslavia
- Oyster, Portugal, 1976
- EMI, Belgium
7" A: Man On The Silver Mountain (stereo)
B: Man On The Silver Mountain (mono)
- Polydor PD 14290, USA, 1975
- Record company sleeves
- Promo release
7" A/B: Man On The Silver Mountain / Snake Charmer / If You Don't
Like Rock 'N' Roll / Sixteenth Century Greensleevs
- Polydor 2835 035, Germany, 1975
7" A: Still I'm Sad
B: Temple Of The King
- Oyster 3C 006 97224, Italy, 1975
7" A/B: The Temple Of The King / Self Portrait / Man On The Silver
Mountain / Snake Charmer
- Express Songs Records EXP 225, Thailand, 1975
7" A/B: Man On The Silver Mountain / Black Sheep Of The Family /
The Temple Of The King / Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
- 4 Track Records FT 313 197, Thailand, 1975
Long plays
----------
LP Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
A: Man On The Silver Mountain / Self Portrait / Black Sheep Of
The Family / Catch The Rainbow
B: Snake Charmer / The Temple Of The King / If You Don't Like
Rock 'N' Roll / Sixteenth Century Greensleeves / Still I'm Sad
- Reached #30 in US charts.
- Oyster OYA 2001, UK, August 1975
- Gatefold sleeves, colored Oyster label
- Distributed via EMI
- Polydor/Oyster, Greece, 1975
- Year not certain
- Polydor/Oyster, Argentina, 1978
- Polydor/Oyster, Canada, 1981
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor/Oyster, Germany, 1981
- Polydor/Oyster, UK, 1983
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor/Oyster 2490-141
- Gatefold sleeves with Polydor label
- Polydor, Korea, 1975
- Oyster MP2502, Japan, 1975
- Includes title strip and lyrics
- Gatefold sleeves
- UNI, Taiwan, 1975
Compact discs
-------------
CD Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
Man On The Silver Mountain / Self Portrait / Black Sheep Of The
Family / Catch The Rainbow / Snake Charmer / The Temple Of The
King / If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll / Sixteenth Century
Greensleeves / Still I'm Sad
- Polydor 825 089-2, Germany, 1975 (CD date unknown)
- Polydor, Japan, 1975 (CD date unknown)
- Includes lyrics
- Polydor 825 089-2, USA, 1975 (CD date unknown)
=======
Rainbow July 1975-August 1975
=======
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Ritchie Blackmore guitars
Jimmy Bain bass - joined 1975
Gary Driscoll drums
Mickey Lee Soule piano, mellotron,
clavinet, organ
Jimmy Bain
----------
Jimmy Bain was born in Newtonmore in Scotland, UK. He played in various
Scottish bands before moving to Vancouver, UK.
Known history before Rainbow:
- Street Noise, before January 1974
- Resided in Vancouver
- Jimmy Bain played bass in the band until he moved to London to
form Harlot
- Harlot, January 1974-August 1975
- Mick Dyche (guitars) / Mike Japp (guitars) / Ricky Munro (drums) /
Jimmy Bain (bass, vocals)
- Ricky Munro was Ritchie Blackmore's friend from the past, they
played together in a band called Mandrake Root in Hamburg, Autumn
1967
- Harlot's peak was a concert at Marquee Club. Ritchie Blackmore was
in the audience at Marquee and spotted Jimmy Bain there and invited
him to replace Craig Gruber's spot in the band. Bain was invited
at the same time to play in a band called The Babys, but he decided
to join Rainbow in August 1975.
Band history
============
After Gruber was fired, new bassist was invited to the band. The
band didn't stay together for a too long time, as within a month
two members left it.
=======
Rainbow August 1975-September 1975
=======
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Ritchie Blackmore guitars
Jimmy Bain bass
Gary Driscoll drums - left 1975
Cozy Powell drums - joined 1975
Mickey Lee Soule piano, mellotron, - left 1975
clavinet, organ
Gary Driscoll
-------------
Driscoll played with Gary Moore in the early 1980s, but left before
Gruber joined the band. Driscoll was murdered in his home in New
York around 1990 or so.
Cozy Powell
-----------
Ritchie Blackmore had seen Cozy Powell, born on December 29th, 1947, on
stage in 1972. Right after Gary Driscoll was fired, Cozy Powell was
invited to join the Rainbow.
Cozy Powell had started to play drums at school. However, he got thrown
out of the school for causing trouble. After that, he has played in
various bands:
- Sorcerers, 1965-February 1968
- Ken Aston (vocals) / Cozy Powell (drums) / Dennis Ball (bass) /
Pete Ball (keyboards) / Roy Black (guitars)
- Played mainly in clubs in Germany, usually at K52 and Storeyville
in Frankfurt
- Casey Jones & The Engineers, February 1968-April 1968
- Sorcerers, Youngblood, Ace Kefford Stand, April 1968-Mid 1969
- Ace Kefford (vocals) / Cozy Powell (drums) / Dennis Ball (bass) /
Dave Ball (guitars)
- After a two-month trip to Casey Jones & The Engineers, Powell rejoined
Sorcerers, who changed their name soon to Youngblood and then again to
Ace Kefford Stand
- Powell started to play also as a session drummer for several musicians,
including Mickie Most
- Unnamed band, September 1969
- Cozy Powell (drums) / Dave Clempson / Dave Pegg
- Played only one concert at Leeds University.
- Big Bertha, October 1969-summer 1971
- Mac Poole (drums) / Cozy Powell (drums) / Dennis Ball (bass) / Dave
Ball (guitar) / Pete French (vocals) / Dave McTavish (vocals)
- Released singles:
- The World's An Apple / Gravy Booby Jamm (Atlantic 584 298, October 1969)
- Munich City (UA)
- Powell played only a couple of concerts before leaving the band
- Jeff Beck Group, April 1970-July 1972
- Clive Chaman (bass) / Jeff Beck (guitar) / Max Middleton (keyboards) /
Bobby Tench (vocals) / Cozy Powell (drums)
- Although Powell joined the band already in April 1970, he continued
in Big Bertha and didn't get a permanent place until in April 1971.
- Released albums:
- Rough And Ready (Epic 64619, October 1971, reached #46 in the USA)
- The Jeff Beck Group (Epic 64899, July 1972, reached #19 in the USA)
- Spirit, September 1972-October 1972
- Cozy Powell (drums) / John Locke / Staehely brothers
- Beast, Bedlam, November 1972-April 1974
- Frank Aiello (vocals) / Cozy Powell (drums) / Dennis Ball (bass) /
Dave Ball (guitars)
- The band changed it's name from Beast to Bedlam in May 1973
- Powell was approached by Johnny Winter in July/August 1972, but
he refused to join his band
- Released single (solo):
- Dance With The Devil (reached #3 in November 1973)
- Released album:
- Bedlam (Chrysalis CHR 1048, August 1973)
- Cozy Powell's Hammer, May 1974-April 1975
- Don Airey (keyboards) / Clive Chaman (bass) / Bernie Marsden (guitars) /
Frank Aiello (vocals) / Cozy Powell (drums)
- In late 1974, Cozy Powell decided to quit rock scene for motor racing.
He raced for a couple of months for Hitachi in England and had his
solo project going on at the same time.
- Released singles:
- Man In Black (reached #18 in May 1974)
- Na Na Na (reached #10 in August 1974)
- Strange Brew, July 1975-August 1975
- Greg Ridley (bass) / Dave Clempson (guitars) / Cozy Powell (drums)
- Clempson contacted Powell about forming the Strange Brew. Although
Powell had quit the rock scene, he decided to return to it via Strange
Brew. However, the band quit before it even found a vocalist.
Mickey Lee Soule
----------------
After leaving Rainbow, Soule played a while with Ian Gillan in Ian
Gillan Band. Rest of Soule's history is unknown, except that he
might've died around 1990. This is unknown though.
Band history
============
Ritchie Blackmore fired the rest of the Elf remains except Ronnie James
Dio in September 1975, because they didn't fulfill Blackmore's
requirements. Blackmore saw Cozy Powell on stage at the last Jeff Beck Group
concert in 1972 and remembered him when he wanted to change Rainbow's
drummer. After getting Powell into the band, the band kept on searching
for a new keyboardist.
=======
Rainbow September 1975-October 1975
=======
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Ritchie Blackmore guitars
Jimmy Bain bass
Cozy Powell drums
Tony Carey keyboards - joined 1975
Tony Carey
----------
Tony Carey joined the band in October 1975. There are some rumors that
he might've joined the band already in May 1975, but those rumors haven't
been confirmed. Before joining Rainbow, Carey played in a group called
Blessings - a country band in Los Angeles.
Band history
============
After several changes in the band during a relatively short time,
the band started touring in November 1975. On this tour the band
had only 8 dates in North America and then went to record a new album.
=======
Rainbow October 1975-January 1977
=======
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Ritchie Blackmore guitars
Jimmy Bain bass - left 1977
Cozy Powell drums
Tony Carey keyboards - left 1977, join 1977
Jimmy Bain
----------
Jimmy Bain was fired because he "did not complement the style
and direction of the founder members." It has been also stated
that Bain had problems with alcohol, as well as that he was playing
out of tune. According to Ronnie James Dio, Bain definitely wasn't
playing out of tune, though.
Tony Carey
----------
Carey was fired in January 1977, but was almost immediately invited
back to the band.
Band history
============
The band stayed the same for quite a long time, especially when it
is compared to Rainbow's first couple months. They toured in USA,
Europe, Japan and Australia. Their stage show featured a huge computer
operated rainbow, which supposedly caused lots of problems as it couldn't
fit in many concert halls and it broke up every now and then.
Besides Rainbow, Cozy Powell played drums on Jon Lord's album "Sarabande"
in 1976.
In early 1995 in US TV there were commercials about a movie called SFW.
The commercial featured a couple of seconds of Rainbow's A Light In The
Black song, but supposedly the movie itself didn't have music from Rainbow.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Starstruck
B: Run With The Wolf
- Polydor 2066 709, Germany, 1976
- Oyster, USA, 1976
- No picture sleeves
- Oyster, Yugoslavia, 1976
7" A: Starstruck (mono)
B: Starstruck (stereo)
- Oyster/Polydor, USA, 1976
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
7" A: Tarot Woman
- Japan, 1976
- One-sided flexi disc, comes free with a magazine
7" A/B: Kill The King / Man On The Silver Mountain / Mistreated
- Live recordings from Japan and Germany, 1976
- Oyster 2066 845, Germany, 1976
- Front cover has picture from On Stage cover
- Polydor 2066 845, UK, 1977
Long plays
----------
LP Rising
A: Tarot Woman / Run With The Wolf / Starstruck / Do You Close
Your Eyes
B: Stargazer / A Light In The Black
- Reached #48 in US charts, #11 in UK charts
- Polydor/Oyster 2490 137, UK, May 17th, 1976
- Gatefold sleeves with lyrics to Stargazer
- Oyster OY-1-1601 (2391 224), USA, 1976
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor/Oyster, Canada, 1976
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor/Oyster, Germany, 1976
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor/Oyster MPX4024, Japan, 1976
- Gatefold sleeves
- Includes a title strip and lyric sheet
- Polydor/Oyster, Greece, 1976
- Polydor/Oyster, Mexico, 1976
- Polydor/Oyster, Argentina, 1976
- Titled in Spanish as Sale El Arco Iris on the sleeves
- Polydor/Oyster, Brazil, 1976
- Polydor/Oyster, UK, 1984
- Polydor, Brazil, 1985
- Rerelease
2LP Rising / Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow
A/B/C/D: Man On The Silver Mountain / Self Portrait / Black Sheep
Of The Family / Catch The Rainbow / Snake Charmer / The
Temple Of The King / If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll /
Sixteenth Century Greensleeves / Still I'm Sad / Tarot Woman
/ Run With The Wolf / Starstruck / Do You Close Your Eyes /
Stargazer / A Light In The Black
- Polydor, Germany, 1977
- Polydor 268 3078, UK
- Gatefold sleeves
2LP On Stage
A: Intro: Over The Rainbow / Kill The King / Medley: Man On The
Silver Mountain/Blues/Starstruck/Blues/Man On The Silver Mountain
B: Catch The Rainbow
C: Mistreated
D: Sixteenth Century Greensleeves / Still I'm Sad
- live recordings from Japan, December 1976 and Germany, 1976
- Reached #65 in the US charts, #7 in the UK charts
- Oyster/Polydor 2672 038, June 11th, 1977
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor 2657 016, 1977
- Oyster/Polydor SPDLP6, UK, 1977
- Gatefold sleeves
- Inner sleeves
- Polydor, Japan, 1977
- Includes a title strip, lyric sheet and a booklet
- Polydor, Japan, 1977
- Includes a title strip and a lyric sheet
- Polydor, Argentina, 1977
- Titled in Spanish as En Vivo on the sleeves
- Different pictures on the sleeve than in the other
countries' releases
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor, Germany, 1977
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor, USA, 1977
- Polydor, Korea, 1977
- Oyster, USA, 1978
- White labels
- Promo release
LP Guitar Technique Of... Part 2
- guitar teaching LP
- Toho, Japan, 1977
C tapes
-------
C Rising
A/B: Tarot Woman / Run With The Wolf / Starstruck / Do You Close Your
Eyes / Stargazer / A Light In The Black
- Polydor, Japan, 1976
Compact discs
-------------
CD Rising
Tarot Woman / Run With The Wolf / Starstruck / Do You Close
Your Eyes / Stargazer / A Light In The Black
- Polydor 823 655-2, Germany, 1976 (CD date unknown)
- Lyrics to Stargazer
- Polydor 823 655-2, USA, 1976 (CD date unknown)
CD On Stage
Kill The King / Medley: Man On The Silver Mountain/Blues/
Starstruck / Catch The Rainbow / Mistreated / Sixteenth Century
Greensleeves / Still I'm Sad
- live recordings from Japan, December 1976 and Germany, 1976
- Polydor 823 656-2, Germany, 1977 (CD date unknown)
- Polydor 823 656-2, USA, 1977 (CD date unknown)
2CD Live In Germany
CD1: Kill The King (*) / Mistreated (*) / Sixteenth Century
Greensleeves (**) / Catch The Rainbow (***)
CD2: Man On The Silver Mountain (****) / Stargazer (**) / Still I'm
Sad (**) / Do You Close Your Eyes (*)
- (*) recorded live at Circus Krone, Munich, Germany on September
29th, 1976
- (**) recorded live at Sporthalle, Cologne, Germany on September
25th, 1976
- (***) recorded live at Philipshalle, Dusseldorf, Germany on
September 27th, 1976
- (****) recorded live at Multihalle, Mannheim, Germany on September
28th, 1976
- Connoisseur Collection DP VSOP CD 155, UK/France, 1990
- Includes a booklet with list of 1976 Germany tour dates
=======
Rainbow January 1977-July 1977
=======
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Ritchie Blackmore guitars
Matt Clarke bass - join 1977, left 1977
Cozy Powell drums
Tony Carey keyboards - join 1977, left 1977
Matt Clarke
-----------
Matt Clarke joined the band after Jimmy Bain was fired in January 1977.
He had previously played with Colosseum, Uriah Heep and Natural Gas.
He didn't stay for too long time in the band, since he was fired in
July 1977 with Tony Carey because of the lack of inspiration. After
this, Clarke joined Henry Gross band.
Tony Carey
----------
Tony Carey was given an another chance with Rainbow in January 1977,
when he was fired from the band but then taken back. However, just like
Matt Clarke, he was fired in July 1977 because of the lacking inspiration.
However, although he doesn't appear in the credit list for the Long Live
Rock And Roll album, released in 1978, he played keyboards on some parts
of it.
History after leaving Rainbow
- Moved to Germany and played there under his own name and in a band
called Planet P. The musical style is apparently poppish rock. He
had a TOP-10 hit in Germany with a song called "Room With A View"
around 1990-1991. He had also a hit song called "Kacke" in Germany.
Band history
============
The band went into the Le Chateau Studio in Paris in May 1977, but
couldn't finish the forthcoming album. Firings of those two members,
Carey and Clarke, caused the recordings to be postponed in to the future.
=======
Rainbow August 1977-November 1978
=======
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals - left 1978
Ritchie Blackmore guitars - continued in Rainbow
Bob Daisley bass - joined 1977, left 1978
Roger Glover bass - joined 1978
Cozy Powell drums - continued in Rainbow
David Stone keyboards - joined 1977, left 1978
Bob Daisley
-----------
History before joining Rainbow
- Chicken Shack
- Broken Glass
- Widowmaker, July 1975-July 1977
- Bob Daisley (bass) / Paul Nicholls (drums) / Ariel Bender (guitars)
/ Huw Lloyd Langton (guitars) / Steve Ellis (vocals until November
1976) /John Butler (vocals from November 1976 on)
- Released albums:
- Widowmaker (Jet 2310 432, April 1976)
- Too Late To Cry (Jet UAG 30038, April 1977)
History after leaving Rainbow
- Ozzy Osbourne, 1980-1981, 1983-1985, 1988-1991
- Uriah Heep, 1982
- Gary Moore, 1985-1986
- Black Sabbath, 1987
- Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, 1988
Cozy Powell
-----------
After Dio left Rainbow, Cozy Powell continued in it with Ritchie Blackmore.
He left Rainbow after they played at the first Monsters Of Rock concert in
Castle Donington, UK in August 1980. He participated some different
projects already when he still was in Rainbow
History during and after leaving Rainbow
- Cozy Powell solo, 1979
- Cozy Powell (drums) / etc
- Recorded album
- Over The Top (1979)
- Gary Moore, 1979
- Cozy Powell (drums) / Gary Moore (guitars) / Don Airey / Philip Lynott /
Scott Gorham
- Cozy Powell played drums on a couple of tracks on the Gary Moore album
- Recorded album
- Back On The Streets (1979)
- Michael Schenker Group, 1980-?
- Cozy Powell (drums) / Michael Schenker / etc
- Recorded albums
- MSG (1981)
- One Night At Budokan (2LP)
- Cozy Powell solo, 1981-1982
- Cozy Powell (drums) / etc
- Recorded albums
- Tilt (1981)
- Octopuss (1982)
- Whitesnake, 1983-1984
- Cozy Powell (drums) / David Coverdale (vocals) / etc
- Recorded album
- Slide It In
- Emerson, Lake & Powell (ELP), 1984-1986
- Cozy Powell (drums, percussion) / Keith Emerson (keyboards) / Greg Lake
(guitars, bass, vocals)
- Powell joined ELP because ELP's normal drummer Carl Palmer met an accident
with his motorbike, broke his arm and therefore couldn't play on the album
- The band recorded one album and had a short US tour
- Released album
- Emerson, Lake & Powell (ELP) (1986)
- Cinderella, 1988
- Cozy Powell (drums)
- Powell made a guest appearance on one of Cinderella's albums
- Black Sabbath, October 1988-October or November 1990
- Cozy Powell (drums) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Neil Murray (bass) / Geoff
Nicholls (keyboards)
- Cozy Powell was originally meant to be only a recording member of
Black Sabbath, but in February 1989 Black Sabbath announced that he's
a full member of the band
- Gary Moore, Late 1988-April 1989
- Cozy Powell (drums) / Gary Moore (guitars)
- Gary Moore asked Powell to help him on his album and the tour after that.
Powell agreed to do it, but he left Moore quite soon - most likely
because of musical and personal difficulties. He played on some tracks
on the Gary Moore album though
- Recorded album
- After The War (1989)
- Forcefield, 1986-1990?
- Cozy Powell (drums) / Neil Murray (bass) / Laurence Cottle (bass) /
Tony Martin (vocals) / Ray Fenwick (guitars, keyboards) / Jan Akkerman
(guitars) / Chris Cozens (keyboards) / Nick Maghus (keyboards) / Mo Foster
(bass) / Pete Prescott (vocals) / Barry St. John (vocals)
- Neil Murray made a guest appearance on the Forcefield's first album
- Laurence Cottle joined the band for their second album
- Recorded albums
- Forcefield (Vemsa VLP-267, 1987)
- Forcefield II - The Talisman (Vemsa VLP-330, 1988)
- To Oz And Back (1990)
- Let The Wild Run Free (1990)
- Sanne Salomonsen
- Cozy Powell (drums) / Sanne Salomonsen
- Cozy appeared on Danish female singer Sanne Salomonsen's album, with
probably Mickey Moore
- Guitar Speak II
- Cozy Powell (drums) / etc
- Released album
- Guitar Speak II
David Stone
-----------
Stone left school in 1969 and got involved with studio and bar work
as a keyboardist. His first bigger band was Canadian band called
"Symphonic Slam", which existed from 1975 to 1976. Other band members
were John Lowry (drums) and Timo Laine (guitars, vocals). Timo Laine
must've been originally from Finland because of his name. The band
released one self-titled album in April 1976 (Symphonic Slam, A&M
SP9023) before facing monetary problems. Soon after release of the
album the band decided to quit before losing more money.
Stone got involved with Rainbow when Ritchie Blackmore heard him on
the radio. Stone was flown to Los Angeles to do an audition for Rainbow
- at the same time there were Matthew Fisher (ex Sutch and Procol Harum
keyboardist), Eddie Jobson (ex Roxy and Frank Zappa keyboardist) and
Mark Stein (ex Vanilla Fudge and Tommy Bolin keyboardist). He wrote the
middle part of the Gates Of Babylon song on the Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
album, but sold his share of the song to Ritchie Blackmore.
It is unknown what Stone did after leaving Rainbow.
Roger Glover
------------
Roger Glover's best-known band was Deep Purple, where he played until
June 1973 - at that time he was thrown out of the band because Ritchie
Blackmore didn't want him in the band. After being kicked out of Deep
Purple, Glover produced albums for several artists, including Status Quo,
Judas Priest, Roy Gallagher and Ian Gillan. He released also a solo album
called Elements in April 1978 on Polydor (2391 306).
Ritchie Blackmore
-----------------
Ritchie Blackmore continued for several years in Rainbow after Ronnie
James Dio left the band. These days Blackmore lives in Long Island, NY, USA.
History after Ronnie James Dio left Rainbow
- Rainbow, November 1978-March 1984
- Jack Green, April 1980-May 1980
- Deep Purple, April 1984-November 17th, 1993
- Rock Aid Armenia, 1990
- Rainbow, November 1993-
- Ritchie Blackmore (guitars) / Douglas White (vocals) / John O'Reilly
(drums) / Greg Smith (bass)
- The project was originally called as Ritchie Blackmore's solo project,
but then it was named Rainbow Flow and Rainbow Moon and after those names,
Blackmore chose Rainbow as the name for the band
- Album expected to be released in the Fall of 1995
Band history
============
After finding a new keyboardist, Rainbow finished their forthcoming album
and did a tour in Japan before releasing it. After touring, Ritchie
Blackmore moved the band from California back to East Coast, more exactly
to New York. The band started to write the forthcoming album, already
titled as Down To Earth. At this time, Bob Daisley had left the band and
got replaced by Roger Glover - the exact dates are unknown.
Ronnie James Dio was asked to leave wizards and witches and medieval
times in general out of the album and write more love songs. In the evening
of the day Glover joined the band, in November 1978, Ritchie Blackmore
decided to fire everyone except Cozy Powell from the band. The reasons
behind this are not known for sure, as quite many different stories exist.
The most common story tells that Ritchie wanted to change Rainbow's
musical direction to more commercial than what it used to be and as
the other band members, especially Dio, did not want to do that, he
splitted up the band. The reason why Blackmore wanted to commercialize
Rainbow was the USA; Rainbow did well, but not extremely well in States
and he wanted to change it.
Other stories tell about monetary problems, some ex Rainbow members claim
that Blackmore didn't give them their money, or gave too small proportion
of the money.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: L.A. Connection
B: Lady Of The Lake
- Polydor 2066 968 / POSP 275, Germany, 1978
- Limited edition on red vinyl
- Polydor, UK, 1978
- Polydor, UK, 1978
- Limited edition on red vinyl
- Polydor POSP 275 (2066 968), France, 1978
7" A: Long Live Rock 'N' Roll (mono)
B: Long Live Rock 'N' Roll (stereo)
- Polydor PD 14481, USA, 1978
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
7" A: Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
B: Sensitive To Light
- Polydor 2066 913, Germany, 1978
- Polydor 2066 913, UK, 1978
- Polydor POSP 276, France, 1978
- Polydor, Italy, 1978
- Polydor, Holland, 1978
- Polydor, UK, 1978
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
Long plays
----------
LP Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
A: Long Live Rock 'N' Roll / Lady Of The Lake / L.A. Connection /
Gates Of Babylon
B: Kill The King / The Shed (Subtle) / Sensitive To Light / Rainbow
Eyes
- Reached #89 in the US charts, #7 in the UK charts
- Polydor 2490 142, UK, April 13th, 1978
- Gatefold sleeves with lyrics
- Polydor POLD 5002, 1978
- Polydor MPF 1156, Japan, 1978
- Gatefold sleeves
- Includes a title strip and lyric sheet
- Polydor MPF 1156, Japan, 1978
- Includes a title strip and lyrics sheet
- Promo release
- Polydor, Germany, 1978
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor, Canada, 1978
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor, USA, 1978
- Polydor, USA, 1978
- Promo release
- Promo labels
- Gatefold sleeves
- Polydor, Spain, 1978
- Polydor, Greece, 1978
- Polydor, Spain, 1978
- Different sleeves
- Polydor 2929 097, Holland, 1978
- Re-release, date unknown
- Polydor 2929 097, Germany, 1978
- Re-release, date unknown
- Polydor, UK, 1983
- Polydor 2391 335 (2929 097), Germany, 1978
- Catalog number 2929 097 on white sticker glued over the
2391 335 catalog number on the back sleeve
- Polydor, USSR, 1978
- Bit more yellowish sleeves than on the Western releases
C tapes
-------
C Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
A/B: Long Live Rock 'N' Roll / Lady Of The Lake / L.A. Connection /
Gates Of Babylon / Kill The King / The Shed (Subtle)/ Sensitive To
Light / Rainbow Eyes
- Polydor 3199 293
Compact discs
-------------
CD Long Live Rock 'N' Roll
Long Live Rock 'N' Roll / Lady Of The Lake / L.A. Connection /
Gates Of Babylon / Kill The King / The Shed (Subtle) / Sensitive
To Light / Rainbow Eyes
- Polydor 825 090-2, Germany, 1978
- CD date unknown
- Polydor 825 090-2, USA, 1978
- CD date unknown
- Polydor, Japan, 1978
- CD date unknown
=============
Black Sabbath May 1979-August 1980
=============
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals - joined 1979
Tony Iommi guitars
Geezer Butler bass - left 1979, joined 1979
Bill Ward drums - left 1980
Geoff Nicholls keyboards - joined 1979
Bill Ward
---------
Bill Ward was born as William Ward on May 5th, 1948 in UK. Before forming
Black Sabbath with the other original Black Sabbath members, he played
together with Tony Iommi in at least two bands.
Bill Ward left Black Sabbath suddenly in August 1980, only a day before they
were supposed to play in Hawaii to a sold-out audience. The reason Ward gave
was the family problems, as well as health problems. Ward had serious drug
and alcohol problems. After parting his ways with Black Sabbath, he rejoined
them in 1983 for a while and then continued on solo career.
History besides Black Sabbath
- Mythology, before Autumn, 1967
- Bill Ward (drums) / Tony Iommi (guitars)
- Cumbria, before Autumn, 1967
- Bill Ward (drums) / Tony Iommi (guitars)
- Black Sabbath, 1983-1984?
- Bill Ward (drums) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geezer Butler (bass) / Ian
Gillan (vocals)
- Recorded album
- Born Again (1983)
- Solo career
- Bill Ward (drums) / Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) / Zakk Wylde (guitars)
- Ward recorded a solo album, which featured a number of different
musicians, including Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde guesting on two
tracks.
- Recorded album
- Ward One: Along The Way
- Biohazard
- Bill Ward appears on a cover video of Black Sabbath's After Forever
Tony Iommi
----------
Frank Anthony Iommi was born on February 19th, 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, UK.
He played in at least two bands with Bill Ward before teaming up with the other
Black Sabbath members. In 1969 he joined Jethro Tull for a very short while,
but was supposedly thrown out from it because of his drug abuse. He appeared
on one BBC TV broadcast with Jethro Tull though.
- Mythology
- Tony Iommi (guitars) / Bill Ward (drums)
- Cumbria
- Tony Iommi (guitars) / Bill Ward (drums)
Geezer Butler
-------------
Terence "Geezer" Butler was born on July 17th, 1949 in UK. Before forming
Black Sabbath with the other three original members, he played for some time
together with singer Ozzy Osbourne in a band called Rare Reed.
In 1979 Butler left the Black Sabbath for a short while, because the band
seemed to be falling apart. He rejoined them shortly afterwards, when Ronnie
James Dio had already joined the band, too.
Geoff Nicholls
--------------
Geoff Nicholls was born on February 29th, but the year is not known. He
joined the band originally to replace Geezer Butler, but when Butler
rejoined the band, Nicholls became the keyboardist for them. He had
previously played with a band called Quartz.
Band history
============
Between Rainbow and Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio considered to put
his own band together, but before he could get a record deal or even
a band together, he got a call from Tony Iommi asking Dio to put a band
together with him, as he was very unhappy with Black Sabbath's then-singer
Ozzy Osbourne. Dio supposedly talked a few times with Iommi about the
band and after they finally decided to put a band together, he didn't
heard anything from Iommi any more. At that point Dio decided to move from
New York to Los Angeles, as he disliked New York very much.
In Los Angeles Dio was contacted by Tony Iommi again when Iommi invited Dio
to replace Ozzy Osbourne. Dio got invited to Iommi's home in Beverly Hills,
Los Angeles. During the night he spent there, he wrote Children Of The Sea
with Black Sabbath and got the singer spot in the band right away. The
band went to Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, Florida, as well as to
Studio Ferber in Paris, France with producer Martin Birch, to record Heaven
And Hell.
It is rumored that when the band started writing material for Heaven And
Hell album, the bassist would've been Craig Gruber, previously from Elf
and Rainbow, but this has not been confirmed. Gruber himself claims that
he has played bass on all of the tracks on Heaven And Hell, and written
most of those songs. The band would've been called Sabbath at this point,
but when Geezer Butler rejoined the band, its name changed back to Black
Sabbath. This has only been rumored, no official words about this has
been said.
Recording of Heaven And Hell became rather difficult, as Black Sabbath's
management wanted Black Sabbath to continue their final ten year tour to
go ahead. Tony Iommi refused to do it and management therefore stopped to
help Black Sabbath's recording process.
Heaven And Hell was received really well by both critics and the fans,
as it sold really well. Black Sabbath was even invited to play at the Top
Of The Pops show on British TV'. The band didn't play on it though, but
they used video of two Black Sabbath songs (Neon Knights and Die Young)
filmed at The Roxy, Harlesdon (probably in the UK). Some sources suggest
that these videos would've been filmed in London, but it has not been
confirmed.
Around June, 1980, when the band were looking for Heaven And Hell at some
magazine's charts, they suddenly noticed a Black Sabbath album called
"Live At Last" in the charts too. The band was not told about it previously
- Black Sabbath had given the rights for the material several years before.
More information about Black Sabbath can be received from Alexander Rack,
see contact information in the Credits section.
History of Black Sabbath before Ronnie James Dio
- Polka Tulk/Earth, Autumn 1967-January 1969
- Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geezer Butler (bass) /
Bill Ward (drums)
- Black Sabbath, January 1969-May 1979
- Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geezer Butler (bass) /
Bill Ward (drums) / Rick Wakeman (keyboards) / Don Airey (keyboards) /
Jeff Woodruffe (keyboards) / Dave Walker (vocals)
- Ozzy Osbourne left the band for a couple of months in October, 1977 and
was replaced by Dave Walker. Walker appeared live with the band only once
in January 1978 on BBC Midlands TV broadcast in UK and was fired from the
band immediately afterwards. Ozzy Osbourne returned back to the band in
the same month.
- Recorded albums
- Black Sabbath (February 13th, 1970, various re-releases, including
December 1973 and January 1976. Reached #8 on UK charts and #23 on US
charts)
- Paranoid (September 18th, 1970, various re-releases, including December
1973 and January 1976. Reached #1 on UK charts, #2 in German charts
and #12 on US charts)
- Master Of Reality (July 1971, various re-releases, including December
1973 and January 1976. Reached #5 on UK and German charts and #8 on
US charts)
- Volume 4 (September 1972, various re-releases, including December 1973
and January 1976. Reached #8 on UK charts and #13 on US charts)
- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (December 1973, various re-releases, including
June 1980. Reached #4 on UK charts, #49 on German charts and #11 on US
charts)
- Sabotage (July 1975, various re-releases, including June 1980. Reached
#7 on UK charts and #28 on US charts)
- Technical Ecstasy (October 1976, re-released in June 1980. Reached #13
on UK charts)
- Never Say Die (October 1978, reached #13 on UK charts)
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Children Of The Sea
B: ?
- Australia, 1980
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
7" A: Lady Evil (edit)
B: Children Of The Sea
- Warner Bros, Canada, 1980
- White label promo release
- No picture sleeves
- Warner Bros WBS 49549, Canada, 1980
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
- Warner Bros WBS 49549, USA, 1980
- No picture sleeves
7" A: Lady Evil (mono)
B: Lady Evil (stereo)
- Warner Bros WBS 49549, USA, 1980
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
7" A: Neon Knights
B: Walk Away
- Vertigo, France, 1980
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
7" A: Neon Knights
B: Children Of The Sea (live)
- Vertigo SAB 3, UK, 1980
- Reached UK top 30
- Vertigo SAB 3, UK, 1980
- No picture sleeves
- Existence not confirmed
- Vertigo 60 00 461, Spain, 1980
- Vertigo 7-PP-5, Japan, 1980
- Different sleeves
- Vertigo 7-PP-5, Japan, 1980
- Promo release
- Different sleeves
7" A: Die Young
B: Heaven And Hell (live)
- Vertigo SAB 4, UK, 1980
- Reached UK top 30
- Vertigo, France, 1980
- No picture sleeves
- Vertigo, Ireland, 1980
- No picture sleeves
12" A: Die Young
B: Heaven And Hell (live)
- Vertigo SAB 412, UK, 1980
- Vertigo SAB 412, France, 1980
- No picture sleeves
Long plays
----------
LP Heaven And Hell
A: Neon Knights / Children Of The Sea / Lady Evil / Heaven And Hell
B: Wishing Well / Die Young / Walk Away / Lonely Is The Word
- Vertigo 9102 752, UK, April 1980
- Reached #9 in UK charts
- Vertigo 6302 017, Norway, 1980
- Warner Bros 3372, US, 1980
- Reached #28 in US charts, stayed in the top 40 for 9 weeks
from June 21st, 1980 on, sold over 1000 000 copes and got
platinum award
- Vertigo, 6302 017, Holland, 1980
- Vertigo, Japan, 1980
- Title strip and a lyric sheet
- Vertigo, Japan, 1980
- White labels
- Promo release
- Title strip and a lyric sheet
- Philips RTB 2220377, Yugoslavia, 1980
- Brown picture sleeves, front sleeve has the picture from
other releases' back sleeve, back sleeve has a black/white
photograph of the band
- Vertigo PRICE 10, 1983
C tapes
-------
C Heaven And Hell
A: Neon Knights / Children Of The Sea / Lady Evil / Heaven And Hell
B: Wishing Well / Die Young / Walk Away / Lonely Is The Word
- Vertigo 7144 017, Holland, 1980
Compact discs
-------------
CD Heaven And Hell
- Vertigo, Japan, 1980
- CD date unknown
- Vertigo 830 171-2, Germany, 1980
- CD date unknown
- Warner Bros 3372-2, USA, 1980
- CD date unknown
- Metal, Japan, 1980
- CD date unknown
=============
Black Sabbath August 1980-October 1982
=============
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals - left 1982
Tony Iommi guitars - continued in Black Sabbath
Geezer Butler bass - continued in Black Sabbath
Vinny Appice drums - joined 1980, left 1982
Geoff Nicholls keyboards - continued in Black Sabbath
Vinny Appice
------------
After Ward had quit, Vinny Appice - the brother of Carmine Appice -
joined the band, playing his first concert on August 31st, 1980 in
Honolulu, Hawaii. He was playing as session drummer when he got a call
from Black Sabbath. Before Black Sabbath Vinny Appice had appeared in
the following bands:
- BOMF
- 9 band members, played funky music, managed by Roy Cicala
- Vinny Appice joined the band when he was 16
- Band rehearsed at Record Plant owned by Roy Cicala, met and worked
briefly with John Lennon
- Appice quit the band and travelled to Louisiana to join Axis
- Axis, Mid 1975-Late 1975
- Vinny Appice (drums) / Jay Davis (bass, vocals) / Danny Johnson (guitars,
vocals)
- Derringer, January 1976-August 1977
- Vinny Appice (drums) / Danny Johnson (guitars) / Rick Derringer (guitars,
vocals) / Kenny Aaronson (bass)
- The band toured extensively, as well as recorded some albums
- Recorded albums:
- Derringer (Blue Sky, 1976)
- Sweet Evil (Blue Sky, 1977)
- Live (Blue Sky 1977 or 1978)
- Axis, August 1977-mid 1978
- Vinny Appice (drums) / Danny Johnson (guitars, vocals) / Jay Davis
(bass, vocals)
- Axis reformed after they got a record deal from RCA and record one
album before splitting
- Out, 1978-1979
- Vinny Appice (drums) / Alphonso Johnson (bass) / Jesse Harms
(keyboards)
- Recorded one album which was never released
Tony Iommi
----------
After Dio and Appice left the band in October 1982, Tony Iommi and Geezer
Butler continued in it.
History besides Black Sabbath after Ronnie James Dio left the band
- Diamond Head
- Tony Iommi (guitars) / etc
- Tony Iommi appeared on one track on Diamond Head's album
- Released album
- Death And Progress
- Guitar Speak
- Tony Iommi (guitars) / etc
- Tony Iommi appeared on a track called 'Miranha' on the Guitar Speak album
- Released album
- Guitar Speak (No Speak Label EIRSA 1025)
- Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, April 20th, 1992
- Tony Iommi played guitar solo on one of the songs at the Queen's Freddie
Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium in London, UK
Geezer Butler
-------------
After Dio and Appice left the band in October 1982, Tony Iommi and Geezer
Butler continued in it.
History after Ronnie James Dio left the band
- Black Sabbath October 1982-1984
- Geezer Butler (bass) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Bill Ward (drums) / Ian
Gillan (vocals) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
- Released album
- Born Again (1983)
- Geezer Butler Solo 1984-?
- Geezer Butler (bass) / Ritchie Callison (vocals) / Pedro Howse (guitars) /
John Mee (drums)
- Ozzy Osbourne ?-Fall 1991
- Geezer Butler (bass) / Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) / etc
- Released albums
- Just Say Ozzy
- No Rest For The Wicked
Band history
============
After Black Sabbath had lost their drummer, Bill Ward, they started to
audition a number of drummers and found all of them unsuitable. Supposedly
someone gave a demo tape with Vinny Appice to Tony Iommi who listened
the tape and called to Ronnie James Dio immediately and recommended
Vinny Appice to him. Appice was auditioned and invited to join the band.
Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult decided to do a tour together in the USA
in the fall of 1980. Both of the bands played as the main band of the
shows, Black Sabbath on every second night and Blue Oyster Cult on every
other night. At least some of the shows included other bands too. The
tour was called as 'Black & Blue' US tour.
On October 9th, 1980 at Mecca Arena in Milwaukee the Black & Blue show
produced a riot. The riot started when Black Sabbath ended their show
in the middle when someone threw a beer bottle in Geezer Butler's face.
Eight policemen, several fans and Geezer Butler were injured and 160
people were arrested in the riot, which required police forces from all
over the city before it was under control. The Mecca Arena was destroyed
rather badly.
When the Heaven And Hell tour was finished, Black Sabbath went to record
a new album to Record Plant studios in Los Angeles, USA, with producer
Martin Birch again.
In 1982 Dio left Black Sabbath with the drummer Vinny Appice. After
the split there was a huge amount of press releases and interviews
from Black Sabbath where both Geezer and Tony Iommi accused Ronnie
and Vinny for sneaking into the studios during nights to mix bass and
especially guitar volume lower and to mix up vocals and drums on the
Live Evil album. Later, rather quietly, Tony Iommi said that he was
wrong with his accusations. Live Evil was produced by Tony Iommi
and Geezer Butler.
Ronnie and Vinny didn't like those accusations and decided to leave
together and form Dio (the band). This happened in October 1982. There
were other reasons behind the split too, like the way how Tony and
Geezer left the concert venues right after the show without meeting
the fans backstage etc. Tony and Geezer mixed the rest of the Live Evil
album themselves.
The reason for Iommi's beliefs was the fact that he and Geezer couldn't
ever appear at the studios at the same time with Ronnie and Vinny. So
either of those parties didn't know too well what the others were doing.
History of Black Sabbath after Ronnie James Dio left the band
- Black Sabbath, January 1983-January 1984
- Ian Gillan (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geezer Butler (bass) /
Bill Ward (drums) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
- Recorded album
- Born Again (August 1983, reached #4 on UK charts and #39 on US charts)
- Black Sabbath, January 1984-March 1984
- Ian Gillan (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geezer Butler (bass) / Bev
Bevan (drums) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
- Black Sabbath, March 1984-?
- Dave Donato (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geezer Butler (bass) / Bev
Bevan (drums) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
- Black Sabbath, July 13th, 1985
- Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geezer Butler (bass) /
Bill Ward (drums)
- The band rejoined in the original line-up for Live Aid show and disbanded
again after that
- Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi, September 1985-March 1986
- Glenn Hughes (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards)
/ Dave Spitz (bass) / Eric Singer (drums)
- Tony Iommi wanted this to become his solo effort, but the record company
wanted it to be called Black Sabbath. Eventually they agreed that the
project will have name Black Sabbath Featuring Tony Iommi.
- Recorded album
- Seventh Star (February 1986, reached #27 on UK charts)
- Black Sabbath, March 1986-October 1986
- Ray Gillen (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards) /
Dave Spitz (bass) / Eric Singer (drums)
- Black Sabbath, October 1986-August 1987
- Ray Gillen (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards) /
Bob Daisley (bass) / Eric Singer (drums)
- The band tried to release an album, but after the recordings of it they
decided to discard the recorded tapes and fired Ray Gillen. The tapes
started to circulate later among the Black Sabbath fans as The Eternal
Idol demos.
- Black Sabbath, August 1987-January 1988
- Tony Martin (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards) /
Bob Daisley (bass) / Eric Singer (drums)
- The band used the tapes recorded with Ray Gillen, and the new singer Tony
Martin sung on them.
- Released album
- The Eternal Idol (November 1987, reached #66 on UK charts)
- Black Sabbath, February 1988-March 1988
- Tony Martin (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards) /
Jo Burt (bass) / Terry Chimes (drums)
- Toured in UK for The Eternal Idol
- Black Sabbath, October 1988-May 1989
- Tony Martin (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards) /
Laurence Cottle (bass) / Cozy Powell (drums)
- Released album
- Headless Cross (April 24th, 1989. Reached #31 on UK charts and appeared
in top-20 in Germany)
Black Sabbath, June 1989-October 1990
- Tony Martin (vocals) / Tony Iommi (guitars) / Geoff Nicholls (keyboards) /
Neil Murray (bass) / Cozy Powell (drums)
- Released album
- TYR (August 20th, 1990. Reached #24 on UK charts and #12 in Germany)
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Mob Rules
B: Die Young (live)
- Vertigo SAB 5, UK, 1981
- Vertigo SAB 5, Ireland, 1981
- No picture sleeves
12" A: Mob Rules
B: Die Young (live)
- Vertigo SAB 512, UK, 1981
7" A: Mob Rules
B: Voodoo
- Vertigo 60 00 763, Spain, 1981
7" A: Turn Up The Night
B: Lonely Is The Word
- Vertigo SAB 6, UK, 1981
- Vertigo SAB P6, UK, 1981
- Picture disc
- Plastic sleeves
12" A: Turn Up The Night
B: Lonely Is The Word
- Vertigo SABP 612, UK, 1981
- Picture disc
- No sleeves
7" A: Turn Up The Night
B: Country Girl
- Vertigo 6837 722, France, 1981
- Promo release
- No picture sleeves
Long plays
----------
LP Mob Rules
A: Turn Up The Night / Voodoo / The Sign Of The Southern Cross /
E5-150 / Mob Rules
B: Country Girl / Slippin' Away / Falling Off The Edge Of The World /
Over and Over
- Vertigo 6302 119, UK, October 1981
- Reached #12 on UK charts
- Vertigo 1144 119, Holland, 1981
- Vertigo, Japan, 1981
- Includes title strip and a lyric sheet
- Vertigo, Canada, 1981
- Vertigo, Brazil, 1981
- Vertigo, Mexico, 1982
- Vertigo 6302 119, France, 1981
- Black labels
- Vertigo logo in the lower left corner of the front
sleeve
- Warner Bros, USA, November 1981
- Reached #29 on US charts, stayed in top-40 for 8 weeks.
Sold over 500 000 copies and
got the gold award
- Vertigo, Japan, 1981
- White labels
- Promo release
- Includes title strip and a lyric sheet
2LP Live Evil
A: E5150 / Neon Knights / N.I.B. / Children Of The Sea / Voodoo
B: Black Sabbath / War Pigs / Iron Man
C: Mob Rules / Heaven And Hell
D: The Sign Of The Southern Cross / Heaven And Hell (continued) /
Paranoid / Children Of The Grave / Fluff
- live recordings from Seattle, San Antonio and Dallas
- Vertigo 6650 009, Holland, 1982
- Gatefold sleeves
- Vertigo SAB 10, UK, 1983
- Gatefold sleeves
- Reached #13 in the UK charts
- Warner Bros, USA, 1982
- Gatefold sleeves
- Reached #37 in the US charts, stayed in top-40 for 4 weeks
from February 19th, 1983 on
- Vertigo, Japan, 1982
- Gatefold sleeves
- Includes title strip and a lyric sheet
- Vertigo, Japan, 1982
- Gatefold sleeves
- Includes title strip and a lyric sheet
- White labels
- Promo release
- Vertigo, Korea, 1982
- Different back sleeve
- Vertigo, Brazil, 1982
- Gatefold sleeves
- Vertigo, Greece, 1982
- Gatefold sleeves
LP Live Evil vol. 1
Track list unknown, probably A and B sides of normal 2LP Live Evil.
- Vertigo, Venezuela, 1982
LP Live Evil vol. 2
Track list unknown, probably C and D sides of normal 2LP Live Evil.
- Vertigo, Venezuela, 1982
LP Live Evil
Track list unknown
- Vertigo, Guatemala, 1982
- Vertigo, Peru, 1982
C tapes
-------
C Mob Rules
A/B: Turn Up The Night / Voodoo / The Sign Of The Southern Cross /
E5150 / Mob Rules / Country Girl / Slippin' Away / Falling Off
The Edge Of The World / Over And Over
- Vertigo 7144 119, UK, 1981
C Live Evil
A/B: E5150 / Neon Knights / N.I.B. / Children Of The Sea / Voodoo /
Black Sabbath / War Pigs / Iron Man / Mob Rules / Heaven And Hell
/ The Sign Of The Southern Cross / Heaven And Hell (continued) /
Paranoid / Children Of The Grave / Fluff
- Vertigo 7565 009, 1982
- Vertigo PRIDC 11
Compact discs
-------------
CD Mob Rules
Turn Up The Night / Voodoo / The Sign Of The Southern Cross / E5150 /
Mob Rules / Country Girl / Slippin' Away / Falling Off The Edge Of The
World / Over And Over
- Vertigo 830 777-2, Germany, 1981
- CD date unknown
- Vertigo, Japan, 1981
- CD date unknown
- Warner Bros 3605-2, USA, 1981
- CD date unknown
- Metal, Japan, 1981
- CD date unknown
CD Live Evil
E5150 / Neon Knights / N.I.B. / Children Of The Sea / Voodoo /
Black Sabbath / Iron Man / Mob Rules / Heaven And Hell / The Sign
Of The Southern Cross / Heaven And Hell (continued) / Paranoid /
Children Of The Grave / Fluff
- Vertigo 826 881-2, Germany, 1983
- CD date unknown
- Vertigo, Japan, 1982
2CD Live Evil
CD1: E5150 / Neon Knights / N.I.B. / Children Of The Sea / Voodoo /
Black Sabbath / War Pigs / Iron Man
CD2: Mob Rules / Heaven And Hell / The Sign Of The Southern Cross /
Heaven And Hell (continued) / Paranoid / Children Of The Grave /
Fluff
- Warner Bros 9 23742-2, USA, 1982
- CD date unknown
- Vertigo, Japan, 1982
===
Dio October 1982-May 1983
===
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals, keyboards
Vivian Campbell guitars - joined 1982
Jimmy Bain bass, keyboards - joined 1982
Vinny Appice drums - joined 1982
Vivian Campbell
---------------
Before joining Dio, Campbell had played from 1980 to October 1982 in
a band called Sweet Savage. Sweet Savage was from Belfast, Ireland,
and consisted of Raymond Haller (bass, vocals), Trevor Fleming (guitars),
David Bates (drums) and Vivian Campbell (guitars). They supported
Wild Horses (see Jimmy Bain's history) on some Irish dates on their
tour and so Jimmy Bain met Campbell.
Jimmy Bain
----------
Jimmy Bain was invited to play together with Ronnie James Dio and
Vinny Appice.
Known history after Rainbow and before Dio
- Wild Horses, August 1978-October 1981
- Jimmy Bain (bass) / Brian Robertson (guitars, vocals, left in June
1981) / Neil Carter (guitars, left in August 1980) / Dixie Lee
(drums, left in December 1978) / Clive Edwards (drums, joined in
January 1979, left in June 1981) / John Lockton (guitars, joined
in October 1980) / Reuben Archer (vocals, joined in June 1981) /
Laurence Archer (guitars, joined in June 1981) / Frank Noon (drums,
joined in June 1981)
- Recorded two albums with Wild Horses
- Bain did sessions with at least Roy Harper, John Cale, Kate Bush,
Philip Liner and Phil Lynott, as well as wrote songs with Lynott and
Roger Chapman
- Bain also toured with Phil Lynott and John Cale
Vinny Appice
------------
Appice's history before Dio has been discussed earlier.
Band history
============
Right after Dio and Appice had quit Black Sabbath, they formed their
own band, titled Dio already in the beginning. Despite the name, the band
was not meant to be Ronnie James Dio's solo project, but a whole band.
They travelled together to England to search guitarist and bassist for
the band. After three days of wandering around the clubs, Dio remembered
Jimmy Bain from his Rainbow days, got in touch with him and asked him to
join Dio. Bain agreed to join and the band kept on searching a guitar
player. Dio wanted a British guitarist and Bain recommended two to Dio;
namely John Sykes, ex Tygers Of Pan Tang and Vivian Campbell. Dio listened
some tracks recorded by those guitarists and became interested in Campbell.
They arranged a rehearsal room at a place called John Henry's and recorded
Holy Diver and Don't Talk To Strangers with Campbell. Dio and Appice took
the tape, listened it through, and invited Vivian Campbell the next day
to the band.
The band started to work on their debut album. Before starting to work on
the album, Ronnie James Dio supposedly spent a week in a small town called
Plint in Cornwall, UK, and visited several times an old castle there. The
album was recorded at the Sound City studios in Los Angeles. Before touring
for the album, the band wanted to get a keyboard player and started to search
for one - on the album keyboards were played by both Ronnie James Dio and
Jimmy Bain. Apparently the song Don't Talk To Strangers was originally made
by Sweet Savage with a different name and different lyrics. The album was
named as Holy Diver, and it sold platinum in the USA.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Holy Diver
B: Evil Eyes
- Vertigo DIO 1, UK, August 1983
- Vertigo DIO 1, UK, August 1983
- Thick sleeves
- Vertigo DIODJ 1, UK, 1983
- Thick sleeves, catalog number on sleeve DIO 1
- Promo release
- Mercury 814 252-7, Holland, 1983
- Mercury 814 252-7, Spain, 1983
12" A: Holy Diver
B: Evil Eyes / Don't Talk To Strangers
- Vertigo Dio 112, UK, August 1983
- Vertigo Dio 112, UK, August 1983
- Misprinting, white label on side A
12" A: Holy Diver
B: Stand Up And Shout
- Vertigo DIODJ 12, UK, 1983
- Plain white sleeves
- Promo release
Long plays
----------
LP Holy Diver
A: Stand Up And Shout / Holy Diver / Gypsy / Caught In The
Middle / Don't Talk To Strangers
B: Straight Through The Heart / Invisible / Rainbow In The
Dark / Shame On The Night
- Vertigo VERS 5, UK, May 1983
- Vertigo VERS 5, UK, 1983
- Promo release, promo stamp on cover
- Mercury 811 021-1, Holland, May 1983
- Mercury 811 021-1, France, May 1983
- Mercury 811 021-1, Finland, 1983
- Warner Bros 92 38361, Canada, May 1983
- Mercury, Holland, 1983
- Includes a Heavy Metal sticker
- Mercury, Holland, 1983
- Misprinting, both sides had the A side label
- Mercury, Japan, 1983
- Includes a title strip and lyric sheet
- Mercury, Japan, 1983
- Promo release
- Mercury, Mexico, 1983
- Mercury, Germany, 1983
- Mercury, Greece, 1983
- Mercury, Argentina, 1983
- Titled as Buzo Sagrado on the sleeve
- Mercury, Argentina, 1983
- Titled as Buzo Sagrado on the sleeve
- Promo release
- Warner Bros 23836-1, USA, 1983
- Warner Bros, USA, 1983
- Promo release
C tapes
-------
C Holy Diver
A: Stand Up And Shout / Straight Through The Heart / Gypsy /
Caught In The Middle / Don't Talk To Strangers
B: Holy Diver / Invisible / Rainbow In The Dark / Shame On
The Night
- Vertigo VERSC 5, UK, May 1983
- Mercury 811 021-4, Germany, May 1983
- Mercury 811 021-4, Holland, May 1983
- Mercury, Greece, 1983
- Mercury, Argentina, 1983
- Titled as Buzo Sagrado on the sleeve
- Warner Bros 23836-4, USA, 1983
Compact discs
-------------
CD Holy Diver
Stand Up And Shout / Holy Diver / Gypsy / Caught In The
Middle / Don't Talk To Strangers / Straight Through The
Heart / Invisible / Rainbow In The Dark / Shame On The Night
- Mercury 811 021-2, Germany, 1983
- CD date unknown
- Warner Bros 23836-2, USA, 1983
- CD date unknown
- Comes in a long cardboard box with a jewel case
- Mercury PPD-3070, Japan, 1983
- CD date unknown
- Includes a title strip and lyrics to the songs
- Warner Bros, Canada, 1983
===
Dio May 1983-March 1986
===
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Vivian Campbell guitars - left 1986
Jimmy Bain bass
Vinny Appice drums
Claude Schnell keyboards - joined 1983
Vivian Campbell
---------------
Vivian Campbell left the band after the Sacred Heart US tour in
March 1986.
Known history after Dio
- Trinity, May 1986-March 1987
- Vivian Campbell (guitars) / Pat Waller (drums) / Davy Watson (bass)
- Formed by Campbell
- Supposedly did not manage to get a record deal, although some sources
say that they recorded an album in Ireland in May 1986.
- Whitesnake, 1987?
- Vivian Campbell played guitars on Whitesnake tour in 1987, but didn't
participate on any albums
- Riverdogs, October 1989-Autumn 1990
- Vivian Campbell (guitars) / Rob Lamothe (vocals) / Nick Brophy
(bass) / Marc Danzeisen (drums)
- It has been stated that Vivian Campbell might've left the band before
their first and only album was released
- Released album:
- Riverdogs (CSCS-5228, 1990, Japan)
- Shadow King, December 1990-April 1992
- Vivian Campbell (guitars) / Lou Gramm (vocals) / Bruce Tagon (bass)
/ Kevin Valentine (drums)
- Played only once concert, at London Astoria Theatre, UK.
- In March 1992 Campbell worked on a solo album with Shadow King, set
to be released on Epic later in 1992, but the plans were discarded when
Campbell joined Def Leppard.
- Released album:
- Shadow King (Eastwest, September 30th, 1991, UK; AMCY-310, 1991, Japan)
- Def Leppard, April 1992-
- Vivian Campbell (guitars) / Joe Elliott (vocals) / Phil Collen
(guitars) / Rick Savage (bass) / Rick Allen (drums)
- Vivian Campbell joined the band after they had recorded the
Adrenalize album, he stepped in to the place left empty by Steve
Clark's death
Claude Schnell
--------------
Claude Schnell was born in Paris, France, but moved to Brooklyn, New
York when he was 6 years old. He studied music at Julliard and moved
then to Los Angeles to start his musical career by forming his first
band called Magic.
History:
- Magic, 1980-1981
- Claude Schnell (keyboards) / Joey Cristo (bass) / Joey Belfiore
(drums) / Mark Mogavero (guitars) / Bill Pratt (vocals)
- Band consisted of unemployed musicians from New York
- Band never became certain about their name
- Rough Cutt, November 1981-January 1983
- Claude Schnell (keyboards) / Joey Cristo (bass) / Jake Lee (guitar)
/ Paul Shortino (vocals) / David Alford (drums)
- Magic evolved to Rough Cutt and changed some members at the
same time
- Musical style Journey / Toto -like
- Hughes Thrall, early 1983
- Claude Schnell (keyboards) / Glenn Hughes (bass, vocals) / Pat
Thrall (guitars) / various studio musicians
- Claude Schnell joined the band after they had released an album
- Glenn Hughes Band, Spring 1983
- Glenn Hughes (bass, vocals) / Claude Schnell (keyboards) / Mark
Craney (drums) / Mike Miller (guitars) / various studio musicians
- Hughes Thrall evolved to Glenn Hughes Band and recorded one album
or at least a part of it with Claude Schnell before he left the
band for Dio
Band history
============
Dio originally hired their keyboardist only for the Holy Diver tour, but
in the end he stayed as a permanent member in the band. He played off-stage
on both Holy Diver and The Last In Line tours, but was let to appear on
stage on Sacred Heart tour.
After the Holy Diver tour was completed, Dio returned back to studios to
record a new album. It was titled as The Last In Line and after its release
in July 1984, it has sold platinum in the USA.
Dio's tours always featured big stage shows. On Holy Diver tour they
had mountains from Holy Diver album cover on stage, as well as a tunnel
in the middle. On The Last In Line tour they had Egyptian theme on the
stage, as well as had pyrotechnics. Sacred Heart tour featured a huge
castle and a 18-foot tall fire-breathing dragon called Denzil - he was
first called Dean - as well as two 8-foot tall armored knights battling
with laser swords. This stage set was one of the biggest tour stage sets
ever, apparently only Pink Floyd had had a bigger stage set on their tour.
The stage show costed supposedly US$250 000 to build and transfer around.
In March 1986, two months after completing the North American leg of
the Sacred Heart tour and one month before the European leg started,
Vivian Campbell left the band. He was fired because of the musical
disagreements. In various interviews, various Dio members have also
said Campbell assumed that Dio's popularity was only because of him,
but this has not been confirmed.
Dio was invited to play again at the Top Of The Pops show in British
TV - the previous time was with Black Sabbath in 1980 - because Rock
'N' Roll Children song did so well. However, Dio refused to play there
because they didn't consider themselves as a Top Of The Pops type band.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" A: Rainbow In The Dark
B: Stand Up And Shout (live)
- Live recording from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983.
- Vertigo DIO 2, UK, October 1983
- Vertigo DIOP 2, UK, October 1983
- Includes a patch saying "Dio Castle Donnington '83"
and a sticker
12" A: Rainbow In The Dark
B: Stand Up And Shout (live) / Straight Through The Heart (live)
- Live recordings from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo DIO 212, UK, October 1983
12" A: Rainbow In The Dark / Holy Diver / Evil Eyes
B: Stand Up And Shout (live) / Straight Through The Heart (live)
- Live recordings from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Mercury 15PP-41, Japan, 1984
- Includes a title strip and lyrics
- Mercury, Japan, 1984
- Promo release
7" A: Rainbow In The Dark (mono)
B: Rainbow In The Dark (stereo)
- Warner Bros 7-29527, USA, 1983
- Record company sleeves
7" A: Rainbow In The Dark
B: Gypsy
- Warner Bros, USA, 1983
- Record company sleeves
7" A: The Last In Line
B: Stand Up And Shout (live)
- Live recordings from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo 880 084-7, Holland, 1984
- Vertigo 880 084-7, Spain, 1984
- Front sleeve includes Spanish text 'El Ultimo En
La Fila'
- Black & white back sleeve
12" A: The Last In Line
B: Stand Up And Shout (live) / Straight Through The Heart (live)
- Live recordings from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo 880 084-1, Holland, June 11th, 1984
- Front sleeve from Rainbow In The Dark single
- Front sleeve contains Pinkpop '84 logo
- Was sold only at Pinkpop '84 festival on June 11th,
1984
- Vertigo 880 084-1, Holland, 1984
- Vertigo, Holland, 1984
- Promo release
12" A: The Last In Line (LP Version)
B: The Last In Line (Edit)
- Warner Bros PRO-A-2166, USA, 1984
- Promo release
- Promo sleeves
7" A: We Rock
B: Holy Diver (live)
- Live recording from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo DIO 3, UK, August 1984
- Vertigo DIO 3, UK, August 1984
- Includes a poster and a sticker on the front sleeve
12" A: We Rock
B: Holy Diver (live) / Rainbow In The Dark (live)
- Live recordings from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo DIO 312, UK, August 1984
- Vertigo DIO 312, UK, August 1984
- Includes a sticker on the front sleeve
- Vertigo DIO 312, UK, August 1984
- Plain black sleeves
12" A: We Rock
B: One Night In The City
- Vertigo DIODJ 312, UK, 1984
- Promo release
- Plain white sleeves with a sticker on the front sleeve
- white labels with big numbers on them
12" A: We Rock
B: Breathless
- Warner Bros PRO-A-2220, USA, 1984
- Promo release
- Promo sleeves
7" A: Mystery
B: Eat Your Heart Out (live)
- Live recording from Spokane Coliseum, Spokane, USA July 24th, 1984
- Vertigo DIO 4, UK, September 1984
- Vertigo DIO 4, UK, September 1984
- Includes a UK Tour 1984 pass and a sticker on the
front sleeve
- Vertigo DIOP 4, UK, September 1984
- Picture single
- No sleeves
- Includes a sticker on the plastic sleeve
- Vertigo 880 261-7, Holland, 1984
- Has a list of tour dates on the back sleeve
- Different back sleeve from UK release
- Vertigo 880 261-7, Spain, 1984
- Similar front and back sleeves, except that back sleeve
contains catalog number and Vertigo logo
- Contains a Spanish text saying 'Misterio'
12" A: Mystery
B: Eat Your Heart Out (live) / Don't Talk To Strangers (live)
- Live recordings from Spokane Coliseum, Spokane, USA July 24th, 1984
- Vertigo DIO 412, UK, September 1984
- Contains a sticker on the front sleeve
- Includes a UK Tour poster
- Vertigo 880 261-1Q, Germany, 1984
- Has a list of tour dates on the back sleeve
- Different back sleeve from UK release
- Sleeves made of thick paper
- Vertigo 880 261-1, Holland, 1984
- Has a list of tour dates on the back sleeve
- Different back sleeve from UK release
- Vertigo, UK, 1984
12" A: Mystery / We Rock
B: Eat Your Heart Out (live) / Don't Talk To Strangers (live)
- Live recordings from Spokane Coliseum, Spokane, USA July 24th, 1984
- Vertigo 15PP-45, Japan, 1984
- Different sleeves
- Includes a title strip and lyrics printed on the
back sleeve
- Includes a calendar for three months in 1984
- Vertigo, Japan, 1984
- White label promo
12" A: Mystery
B: The Last In Line
- Vertigo DIODJ 412, UK, 1984
- Promo release
- Plain white sleeves
7" A: Mystery
B: I Speed At Night
- Warner Bros, Canada, 1984
- Record company sleeves
7" A: Mystery
B: Mystery
- Warner Bros 7-29183, USA, 1984
- Promo release
- Record company sleeves
12" A: Mystery
B: Mystery
- Warner Bros PRO-A-2198, USA, 1984
- Promo release
- Promo sleeves
7" A: Rock 'N' Roll Children
B: The Last In Line (live)
- Live recording from Spectrum, Philadelphia, September 13th, 1985
- Vertigo DIO 5, UK, July 1985
- Labels have Mercury logo instead of Vertigo logo
- Back sleeve might have a Phonogram Ltd sticker, or
this may be a sign of a promo release
- Vertigo 884 063-7, Holland, 1985
- Vertigo 884 063-7, Spain, 1985
- Front and back sleeves similar except the back
sleeve has catalog number
- Different sleeves from other releases
- Vertigo, Australia, 1984
- Record company sleeves
- Vertigo, Ireland, 1984
- Record company sleeves
7" A: Rock 'N' Roll Children
B: Sacred Heart
- Vertigo DIOD 5, UK, July 1985
- Gatefold sleeves with a sticker on the front sleeve
- Includes lyrics for both songs
- Limited edition
12" A: Rock 'N' Roll Children
B: We Rock (live) / The Last In Line (live)
- Live recordings from Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA, September
13th, 1985
- Vertigo DIO 512, UK, July 1985
- Sleeves have blue as the main color
- Vertigo DIOW 512, UK, July 1985
- White vinyl
- No picture sleeves, with a sticker on the front
plastic sleeve
- Limited edition
- Vertigo DIOW 512, UK, July 1985
- Blue vinyl
- No picture sleeves
- Limited edition
- Vertigo 884 063-1, Holland, 1985
- Sleeves have red as the main color
- Vertigo 15PP-53, Japan, (November 22nd?) 1985
- Includes a title strip and lyrics printed on the
back sleeve
- Sleeves have red as the main color
- Vertigo, Germany, 1985
12" A: Rock 'N' Roll Children
B: Sacred Heart
- Vertigo DIODJ 512, UK, 1985
- Promo release
- Plain white sleeves
7" A: Rock 'N' Roll Children (Hijos Del Rock 'N' Roll)
B: We Rock (live) (Hacemos Rock)
- It is unknown where We Rock was recorded
- Vertigo 00 00152, Argentina, 1985
- No sleeves
- Might be promo release
- Song names written in Spanish
12" A: Rock 'N' Roll Children
B: Rock 'N' Roll Children
- Warner Bros PRO-A-2344, USA, 1985
- Promo release
- Promo sleeves
7" A: Hungry For Heaven
B: King Of Rock 'N' Roll
- Vertigo DIO 6 / DIOFP 6, UK, October 1985
- Includes a poster
- Vertigo DIOP 6, UK, October 1985
- Dragon-shaped picture disc
- Limited edition
- No picture sleeves, with a sticker on the front
plastic sleeve
- Vertigo, UK, 1985
- Promo release
- Includes a promo paper
12" A: Hungry For Heaven
B: King Of Rock And Roll / Like The Beat Of A Heart (live)
- Live recording from Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA September
13th, 1985
- Vertigo DIO 612, UK, October 1985
12" A: Hungry For Heaven / King Of Rock And Roll
B: A Message From Ronnie James Dio
- Vertigo DIOW 612, UK, October 1985
- White vinyl
- Limited Edition
- No picture sleeves with a sticker on the front
plastic sleeve
7" A: Hungry For Heaven
B: Rainbow In The Dark (live)
- Live recording from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo 880 675-7, Holland, 1985
- Different sleeves from the UK release
12" A: Hungry For Heaven
B: Holy Diver (live) / Rainbow In The Dark (live)
- Live recordings from Monsters Of Rock, Castle Donington, UK
August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo 880 675-1, Holland, 1985
- Vertigo 880 675-1Q, Germany, 1985
- Sleeves made of thick paper
- Vertigo 880 675-1, Brazil, 1985
- Might be a promo release
- Sleeves made of thick paper
7" A: King Of Rock And Roll
B: Sacred Heart
- Vertigo 884 690-7, Spain, 1986
- Black and white sleeves
- Back sleeve is a mirrored copy of front sleeve
12" A: King Of Rock And Roll
B: King Of Rock And Roll
- Warner Bros PRO-A-2390, USA, 1985
- Promo release
- Plain white sleeves
12" A: Like The Beat Of A Heart (live 1)
B: We Rock (live 2) / Holy Diver (live 3)
- Live 1 recording from Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA September
13th, 1985; Live 2 recording from Spectrum, Philadelphia, USA
August 24th, 1984; Live 3 recording from Monsters Of Rock,
Castle Donington, UK August 20th, 1983
- Vertigo 884 667-1, Holland, 1985
- Vertigo 884 667-1, Greece, 1985
- Vertigo, France, 1985
Long plays
----------
LP The Last In Line
A: We Rock / The Last In Line / Breathless / I Speed At Night /
One Night In The City
B: Evil Eyes / Mystery / Eat Your Heart Out / Egypt (The Chains
Are On)
- Vertigo VERL 16, UK, 1984
- Promo release, promo stamp on back cover
- Vertigo VERL 16, UK, July 1984
- Vertigo 822 366-1, Holland, July 1984
- Vertigo 822 366-1, Finland, 1984
- Warner Bros 92 51001, Canada, 1984
- Promo release, promo stamp on back cover
- Warner Bros 92 51001, Canada, 1984
- Vertigo 822 366-1 (27201), Argentina, 1984
- Titled as Los Ultimos on the sleeves
- No inner sleeves
- Balkanton BTA 12408, Bulgaria
- No inner sleeves
- Vertigo 822 366-1, France, 1984
- Vertigo, Germany, 1984
- Vertigo, Korea, 1984
- Warner Bros 25100-1, USA, 1984
- Warner Bros, USA, 1984
- Promo release
- Vertigo, Japan, 1984
- Vertigo, Greece, 1984
- Vertigo, Uruguay, 1984
- Vertigo, Brazil, 1984
- Vertigo, Venezuela, 1984
- Titled as De Lo Ultimo on the sleeves
- Vertigo, Argentina, 1984
- Promo release
- Titled as Los Ultimos on the sleeves
LP Sacred Heart
A: King Of Rock And Roll / Sacred Heart / Another Lie / Rock 'N'
Roll Children
B: Hungry For Heaven / Like The Beat Of A Heart / Just Another
Day / Fallen Angels / Shoot Shoot
- King Of Rock And Roll is not live recording although it sounds
like one.
- Vertigo VERH 30, UK, 1985
- Plain white sleeves, big 1 and 2 numbers on labels
- Promo release
- Vertigo VERH 30, UK, August 1985
- Vertigo 824 848-1, Holland, August 1985
- Vertigo 824 848-1, Finland, 1985
- Vertigo 824 848-1Q, Germany, August 1985
- Vertigo 28PP-1008, Japan, 1985
- Includes a title strip
- Lyrics printed on separate insert
- Warner Bros 92 52921, Canada, 1985
- Vertigo 27272/67272, Argentina, 1985
- Titled as Corazon Sagrado on the sleeves
- Vertigo, Greece, 1985
- Includes a sticker and an insert
- Vertigo, France, 1985
- Vertigo, Uruguay, 1985
- Vertigo, Korea, 1985
- Vertigo, Japan, 1985
- White labels
- Promo release
- Vertigo, Brazil, 1985
- Vertigo, Venezuela, 1985
- Titled as Corazon Sagrado
- Vertigo, Argentina, 1985
- Titled as Corazon Sagrado
- Promo release
- Vertigo, Japan, 1985
- Test pressing
- Warner Bros, USA, 1985
- Warner Bros, Canada, 1985
- Promo release
C tapes
-------
C The Last In Line
A: We Rock / The Last In Line / Breathless / I Speed At Night /
One Night In The City
B: Evil Eyes / Mystery / Eat Your Heart Out / Egypt (The Chains
Are On)
- Vertigo VERLC 16, UK, July 1984
- Vertigo, Germany, 1984
- Vertigo, Holland, 1984
- Vertigo, Greece, 1984
- Warner Bros 25100-4, USA, 1984
C Sacred Heart
A: King Of Rock And Roll / Sacred Heart / Another Lie / Rock 'N'
Roll Children
B: Hungry For Heaven / Like The Beat Of A Heart / Just Another
Day / Fallen Angels / Shoot Shoot
- King Of Rock And Roll is not live recording although it sounds
like one.
- Vertigo VERHC 30, UK, August 1985
- Vertigo 824 848-4, Holland, August 1985
- Vertigo 824 848-4, Finland, 1985
- Vertigo, Greece, 1985
- Vertigo, Argentina, 1985
- Titled as Corazon Sagrado on the sleeves
- Warner Bros, USA, 1985
Compact discs
-------------
CD The Last In Line
We Rock / The Last In Line / Breathless / I Speed At Night / One
Night In The City / Evil Eyes / Mystery / Eat Your Heart Out /
Egypt (The Chains Are On)
- Vertigo 822 366-2, UK, July 1984
- CD date not certain
- Vertigo 822 366-2, Germany, July 1984
- CD date not certain
- Warner Bros 25100-2, USA, 1984
- CD date not certain
- Comes in a long cardboard box with a jewel case
- Vertigo, Japan, 1984
CD Sacred Heart
King Of Rock And Roll / Sacred Heart / Another Lie / Rock 'N' Roll
Children / Hungry For Heaven / Like The Beat Of A Heart / Just
Another Day / Fallen Angels / Shoot Shoot
- King Of Rock And Roll is not live recording although it sounds
like one.
- Vertigo 824 848-2, UK, August 1985
- Vertigo 824 848-2, Germany, 1985
- Warner Bros 25292-2, USA, 1985
- Comes in a long cardboard box with a jewel case
- Vertigo, Japan, 1985
- Includes a title strip
===
Dio March 1986-1988
===
Band members
============
Ronnie James Dio vocals
Craig Goldie guitars - joined 1986, left 1988
Jimmy Bain bass
Vinny Appice drums
Claude Schnell keyboards
Craig Goldie
------------
Craig Goldie was invited for auditions for Dio in mid March 1986 and joined
Dio shortly after that. He was born around 1962 in La Mesa, California and
played quitar since he was 13. He had played in various San Diego bands
before joining Dio. He states that his main influcence has been Ritchie
Blackmore - that was noticed also by various critics who always connected
Goldie's playing to Ritchie Blackmore's style. His first live appearance
happened on April 4th, 1986, on UK TV's Live At The Tube show, less than
a month after Goldie joined the band in March 1986.
Known history before joining Dio:
- Vengeance, 1981-1982
- Pete Papps (vocals) / John Osmond (bass) / Lee Roy (drums) / Craig
Goldie (guitars)
- Rough Cutt, January 1983-January 1984
- Craig Goldie (guitars) / David Alford (drums) / Paul Shortino (vocals)
/ Matt Thor (bass) / Chris Hagar (guitars)
- Played in various clubs around Los Angeles area
- Goldie joined the band right after Claude Schnell left them
- Ronnie James Dio produced some demos for Rough Cutt at the time
Craig Goldie joined the band and brought them in contact with Warner
Bros records
- Wendy Dio became the manager for the band around the time Ronnie
introduced the band to Warner Bros
- Rough Cutt supposedly got a record deal in January 1984, just when
Goldie left the band
- Giuffria, January 1984-August 1985
- Craig Goldie (guitars) / Gregg Giuffria (keyboards) / David Eisley
(vocals) / Alan Krigger (drums) / Chuck Wright (bass) / Rick Bozo
(bass, either replaced Chuck Wright or was replaced by Chuck Wright)
- Made a record deal with MCA
- Spent most of their time writing and recording songs
- The band originally meant to be called Angel, but David Eisley suggested
name Giuffria
- Recorded album:
- Giuffria (MCA-5524 (251 531-1), Germany 1984; MCA, USA, 1984)
- Includes Chuck Wright on bass
- Driver, August 1985-March 1986
- Craig Goldie (guitars) / Rudi Sarzo (bass) / Tommy Aldridge (drums) /
Jeff Fenholt (vocals) / Perry McCarty (vocals, replaced Fenholt)
- Wendy Dio was about to become the band's manager, but in the end they
chose another manager. The manager tried to get record deals from both
Capitol Records and CBS, but as he wanted $200 000 for album recording,
and both of the record companies offered only $175 000, the record deals
didn't came true. The manager had counted that if he'd get $200 000, he
could pay his loans back. When the band realized that the manager was
supposedly fired.
Craig Goldie left Dio in 1988 because of musical differences, as he wanted
to play different kind of music than Dio. There were many, sometimes even
nasty, rumors about his and Ronnie James Dio's personal relations, but they
actually are still good friends. Dio's official fan club always tells also
news about Craig Goldie and his own band.
Known history after leaving Dio:
- Craig Goldy's Ritual, 1989-1992
- Craig Goldie (guitars) / Mike Stone (vocals) / Tom Rucci (bass) / Carl
Marelli (drums) / Doug Allen (keyboards) / David Eisley (vocals, replaced
Mike Stone)
- The band signed to Grand Slamm Records and I.R.S. in late 1990 or early
1991
- Mike Stone left the band shortly after they had finished recording
Hidden In Plain Sight but the whole album was credited to David Eisley
- Craig Goldie co-wrote song 'Lady Luck' with David Lee Roth for Roth's
album
- Craig Goldie at least planned to release an instructional guitar video
in 1991
- Released albums:
- Hidden In Plain Sight (Grand Slamm Records SLAMCD 25, September 5th,
1991, USA; Grand Slamm Records SLAMC 25, September 5th, 1991, USA;
PCCY-00301, 1991, Japan)
- Released singles:
- Over And Over (released at least as promo single to US radio)
- Hard Luck, Summer 1992
- Craig Goldie (guitars) / Frank Starr (vocals) / Tim Propearcy (guitars) /
Mark Bisstany (drums) / Terry Nails (bass)
- Recorded demos and started to look for a record deal in June/July 1992
Band history
============
Shortly after Vivian Campbell left the band, new guitarist was chosen.
The band started the Sacred Heart European tour soon after that.
Dio wanted to release a double live album from the Sacred Heart tour but
it was rejected by the record company, which thought that the double album
wouldn't sell well enough. Eventually Dio managed to get permission to do
a live minialbum with one new studio track on it. Ronnie James Dio was so
disappointed with it that he wanted it to be called Intermission.
Ronnie James Dio started to work on Dream Evil album with Craig Goldie in
December 1986. The whole band started training in January 1987 and went
to record the album in Village Recorder studios in Los Angeles around March
1987. The album was finished in May 1987.
The Dream Evil world tour began in Irvine, California with a Children Of The
Night charity concert. The band then moved to Europe, where their tour
began with an accident before the very first concert. When the roadies were
unloading the band stuff from the aeroplane at Helsinki Airport before Dio
show in Hameenlinna, Finland, they dropped a US$100 000 synthesizer to the
ground and broke it. The band played a secret rehearsal concert at the House
of Culture in Helsinki a day before the actual concert - apparently there
was no audience in the show.
The Dream Evil tour's first European leg met other accidents too, for
example when the band was on their way to Nurnberg Monsters Of Rock show,
their truck broke on the highway in Germany. After the driver had left it
to get help, 7 cars smashed into it and caused considerable damage to the
instruments and backline - they had to borrow even drum sticks from Helloween
to play the Nurnberg show.
Dio's Dream Evil tour's second European leg (first leg consisted only of
outdoor shows) as well as the US tour featured even bigger stage show than
Sacred Heart, which had won "Show Of The Year" rewards both in 1985 and 1986.
This time there were big stainless steel spider, knights and big pyrotechnics
on stage. Some shows might also have featured a firebreathing dragon. Between
the two European tours Dio apparently played in China with Yngwie Malmsteen,
George Duke and James Brown with a couple of Russian bands, on a project
called Shanghai-Aid. The goal of the project was to raise funds for victims
of nature phenomenons.
Discography
===========
Singles
-------
7" The Dio E.P. Part 1
A: Hungry For Heaven
B: Hide In The Rainbow
- Vertigo DIO 7, UK, 1986
2-7" The Dio E.P.
A: Hungry For Heaven
B: Hide In The Rainbow
C: Shame On The Night
D: Egypt (The Chains Are On)
- Vertigo DIOEP 7, UK, 1986
- Gatefold sleeves
10" The Dio E.P.
A: Hide In The Rainbow / Hungry For Heaven
B: Shame On The Night / Egypt (The Chains Are On)
- Vertigo DIO 710, UK, June 1986
- "hands holding a crystal ball" -shaped picture disc
- Limited edition
- No picture sleeves, red sticker on the front plastic
sleeve
- Vertigo DIO 710, UK, June 1986
- Misprinting, uncut picture disc (12" disc with tracks
start as on 10" disc)
- No picture sleeves
12" A: Hide In The Rainbow / Hungry For Heaven
B: Shame On The Night / Egypt (The Chains Are On)
- Vertigo DIO 712, UK, June 1986
- Dio family tree as an insert
12" A: Hide In The Rainbow
- Vertigo DIODJ 712, UK, 1986
- Promo release
- Plain white sleeves with a sticker on the front sleeve
- Side B blank
- Vertigo DIODJ 712, UK, 1986
- Promo release
- Plain white sleeves with a sticker on the front sleeve
- Side B blank
- Phonogram sticker on A side label, information filled
in handwriting
7" A: Dio: Time To Burn
B: Paganini: Get Ready
- Polygram AS 5000 763, Italy, 1986
- Promo release
- Plain white sleeves
- Red stamp on A side label
12" A: Time To Burn
B: Time To Burn
- Warner Bros PRO-A-2508, USA, 1986
- Promo release
- Promo sleeves
7" A: I Could Have Been A Dreamer
- Vertigo DIOR 8-A, UK, 1987
- Acetate made at Trident Recording Studios
- One-sided vinyl covered aluminium acetate disc
- Written in handwriting on A side label: "PHONOGRAM
DIOR 8-A", "I COULD HAVE BEEN A DREAMER", "3-40" and
"DIO"
- plastic sleeves
7" A: I Could Have Been A Dreamer
B: Night People
- Vertigo DIO 8, UK, 1987
- Vertigo DIOR 8, UK, 1987
- Promo release
- Circular sticker on the front sleeve, saying
"RELEASE DATE 20/7"; "20/7" written in handwriting
- Vertigo DIOR 8, UK, 1987
- Promo release
- Plain black sleeves
- Vertigo 888 787-7, Spain, 1987
- Front picture of Dream Evil album as the picture for
both front and back sleeves
- Vertigo 888 787-7, Spain, 1987
- Front picture of Dream Evil album as the picture for
both front and back sleeves
- White sticker on front sleeve advertising Dio concerts
in Spain
7" A: I Could Have Been A Dreamer (edit)
B: Night People