Dio

Ronnie James Dio made his name with Elf and Rainbow, then took over as Black Sabbath's singer in 1979 for Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. In 1982 he started his own band, Dio, with Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and the then twenty-year-old guitarist Vivian Campbell. Holy Diver (1983) and The Last in Line (1984) set the template: an operatic voice over mid-tempo riffs, and lyrics full of dragons, rainbows and moral combat. Sacred Heart, Dream Evil, Lock Up the Wolves and the rougher Strange Highways followed, with the line-up shifting constantly around Dio himself. He returned to Black Sabbath briefly in the early nineties for Dehumanizer, and from 2006 that same line-up carried on under the name Heaven & Hell. Ronnie James Dio died on 16 May 2010, aged 67. The hand sign he picked up from his Italian grandmother, the devil horns, has been the whole metal scene's calling card ever since.

This collection brings together Dio on vinyl, LP and CD: the studio albums, official live recordings from Donington, box sets and individual reissues.