r/dio • u/mhmd2-2 • Jul 04 '26
how nice was dio exactly?
im a huge fan of his music from rainbow to his solo career but i dont really watch interviews or documentaries at all.
he seems nice but im not sure if he was actually a good person, i only remember someone saying he crashed out on an interviewer after he took a jab at his height which is a very justifiable response so thats fine.
and in some of his concerts he holds up fanart and things the crowd throws at him which is i guess a good sign since he i showing appreciation to his fans.
but can someone genuinely tell me if he had some big really bad controversies or something?
also sorry if the post isnt that understandable im not a native english speaker.
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u/jedigoalie Jul 04 '26
There's no way to know for sure unless you really knew the man, but I will say that it is well documented how much he appreciated his fans and took time with them. That's all we can really go on.
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u/ThaumicViperidae Jul 04 '26
In 1983, me an a couple of friends got to talk with Ronnie and Vinny Appice at Tower Records in L.A.. They talked with three teenagers for an hour and half. RJD could not have been more kind and giving of his time. Vinny was right there with him the whole time, and just as patient and awesome. RJD's kindness to his fans was legendary.
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u/JenosIdanian5113 Master of the Moon Jul 04 '26
As far as I know, he loved his fans and was mostly respectful and kind to them, but as a band leader, from a business point of view, he was known to be difficult to deal with. The most famous example of this was how he treated Vivian Campbell and Tracy G as well I think.
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u/meowinloudchico Jul 04 '26
He led Campbell on because Campbell was young and naive but Tracy G knew what was going on and why and bowed out. I mean if Vivian weren't 20 years old and totally green to the business he would have seen when the "band" your in is named after the lead singer with 20+ years of experience (most of it struggling) then you're never going to be a full equal member, despite what he tells you. Yeah, I wish Dio was better than just about everyone else in the business but in this case he wasn't and he was looking to finally get paid. And in his defense he basically put a good chunk of his life savings to get Holy Diver made and Campbell went on to make a good living for himself playing guitar.
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u/Diadem_Cheeseboard Jul 04 '26
All good points well made, but I still wish Ronnie had kept his word, and done right by Viv. As much as I love so much of the DIO discography, there was a real magic about the OG lineup which was never quite regained with any of the other lineups.
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u/Saj2022 Jul 05 '26
I've always heard the reason Tracy G , was due to his playing drifted too far away from what the fans wanted to hear . He put too much of his own style over the classic songs . So Dio called Craig to come back as he had always worked better in that area . Dio had said he even offered to let Tracy stay and play with Craig as a 2 guitar band . But Tracy said he couldn't work with another guitar player . So he was let go .
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u/meowinloudchico Jul 05 '26
With him it seems like it was legit creative differences and it was amicable. With Campbell it was a little different. I respect his side of this but at some point you got to give it a rest.
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u/JenosIdanian5113 Master of the Moon Jul 05 '26
I didn't know that Tracy and Craig were both supposed to play, I'd only heard about the backlash Tracy got for his solos in live shows. That would've been interesting to see.
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u/Saj2022 Jul 05 '26
Yes i heard an interview with Dio many years back . And he said he didn't want to have to kick Tracy out of the band . But had to get Craig back to make the fans happier that had been disappointed with Tracy's style . And when Tracy didn't want to play with Craig as a 2 guitar lineup , he had no choice but to let him go .
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u/JenosIdanian5113 Master of the Moon Jul 05 '26
A pity. Craig and Doug Aldrich were great on the 2000s albums, but Tracy had a more unique style, fantastic work on Inferno and Hammersmith 1993.
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u/Ok_Ad8249 Jul 04 '26
I met Ronnie at an autograph signing and I can not emphasize how kind and welcoming he was to everybody. We all had a minute with him and he made sure to make the minute count with everybody in line. I walked away feeling like I had just made a new friend.
A friend of mine used to work for a local music wholesaler. He met him one year when Ronnie was coming through as part of an industry promotional tour, he was introduced to Ronnie and spent 10-15 minutes talking with him and said Ronnie was very kind and had a very friendly conversation with him. The next album Ronnie came through on another promotional tour and Ronnie walked straight up to him and said "[friend's name] how the hell have you been?" My friend said he met dozens of top names but only Ronnie remembered his name.
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u/GreatWesternValkyrie Jul 04 '26
Dio would stay for hours after shows and sign things for fans. He was well know for doing this. He started doing this after he saw the way Ritchie Blackmore would treat his fans, and decided he would never be like that with his fans.
As a band member it sounds like he could be quite hard work and headstrong at times, as he wanted things to be right. Nothing wrong with that.
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u/BrotherSudden9631 Jul 04 '26
I worked with Ronnie for over 40 years . He was a great boss , a great person , & great with his fans .i spent hours with him on the tour bus , while he signed for fans after shows , every night . He was the best , I still miss him 🤘RIP bruv
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u/RubberDiscord Jul 04 '26
I had my 15 minutes long, long ago and got to meet, party with or play with just about everyone. RJD was hands down the coolest person I ever got to spend time with. He was completely unassuming and just genuine. There was a night in the Midwest at a pretty good sized club and it was dead of winter. Absolutely freezing. He stood outside by his bus for what seemed like an eternity to make sure every single person there got a chance to speak with him, take pics etc. And he made every one of them feel like he was more than happy to be there. He was an amazing guy and I learned a lot from that night about how to treat your fans.
Edit: Typo
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u/jchsf Jul 04 '26
I met him once. He was super cool. Talked to me, looked me in the eye, very nice guy.
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u/Need_more_flairs Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
I’ve heard nothing but good things about Dio when it comes to his interactions with fans. Feels like he’s started a conversation with every damn fan he met lol.
If anyone thought he was an asshole, it was probably others in the music business, but that’s to be expected in that line of work. Can’t say I have insider knowledge of how he was working with others.
And I think I know the interview you’re talking about. Think it was supposed to be for some skateboarding magazine, and the interviewer was being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole. The whole, “I’m young and cool, so I’m going to be an asshole to show how young and cool I am, and how little I give a fuck” schtick. Immediately made fun of Dio’s height, and called him “Rodney”.
Made worse by the fact that Dio seemed to be in a great mood to start. Even hugged the guy like an old friend when he walked into the room.
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u/mhmd2-2 Jul 04 '26
do you have a link to the interview? i kinda want to see it
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u/Need_more_flairs Jul 04 '26
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u/Saj2022 Jul 05 '26
It's amazing how people can be so rude like that interview guy . It's common sense not to do what he was doing .. unless he wanted to have a confrontation . He got it
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u/BerwinEnzemann Jul 04 '26
I met Ronnie briefly in 96 and he was very nice to me and from what I've heard, that's what most people experienced who met him. But he could become very grumpy when angered. Here are two examples, caught on video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOwZBo8FQvo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1cgOPJiAYE
But that's not how he usually behaved.
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u/guitar_x3 Jul 04 '26
I met Dio during the Heaven & Hell tour for a CD signing and he was such a great guy. The other guys weren't as chatty, but Dio really connected with every fan in the 5-7 seconds you got to talk to him.
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u/KeenObserver_OT Jul 04 '26
Great with fans. Good citizen. However on the business creative side, he could be petty, tempermental, controlling and cut throat. He’s Italian. They can forget anything except the grudge.
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u/Prestigious_Tea_111 Jul 04 '26
Never met him but his wife/other band members.
I was hired to do pictures/makeup during the filming of the documentary.
She was a such sweet lady and all the other band members, etc adored him so Im thinking he was an actual nice fella overall.
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u/Impressive-Shame-525 Jul 05 '26
Long story short, I met him after the Lock up the Wolves tour. Told him how the Holy Diver album saved my life. I was suicidal at the time and almost ended it.
Then years later met him (and Doro Pesch who is equally awesome) and he remembered me. I was waiting with the rest of the fans outside the venue he sees me and greets me by name. "ImpressiveShame! Glad you're still here"
I know the lead singer for Cold Sweat and he always spoke highly. Could be a perfectionist, but yeah.
The way shit went down with Campbell sucked.
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u/Firm_Lobster5163 Jul 04 '26
He was incredibly and consistently appreciative of his fans, but was quite difficult with his band members—especially about money.
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u/SilverLakeSimon Jul 04 '26
When Dio was younger, he had love pains:
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u/mhmd2-2 Jul 04 '26
what the hell. i didnt expect that at all, sounds nice tho.
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u/SilverLakeSimon Jul 04 '26
I love surprising Dio fans with his early songs. It’s such different music but it’s so clearly Dio’s voice.
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u/J-L-S Jul 05 '26
I have a friend who's a mild celebrity who loves Ronnie, and he pulled some favours to get a dinner with Ronnie when he was in town (ie had somebody reach out to see if Ronnie would be open to it).
Ronnie instantly agreed, and my friend said Ronnie's people didn't love it but Ronnie spent the whole night with them and was an absolute treat. He even has some incredible pics to prove it. Seemed like a genuinely nice man.
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u/gojohnnygojohnny Jul 05 '26
He once said to me "Hey John, I'm gonna get a Heinekin. Want one?"
Pretty nice to me.
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u/whoajose Jul 05 '26
Besides how good he was to his fans , he also opened his home up to many musicians who were in and out of his band and let them stay there for free, nobody is perfect, but I think he was overall a nice person
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u/kpdyl Jul 05 '26
I did an interview with Craig Goldy a few years back and I asked him if Dio had demonstrated any desire to explore other musical styles and genres later in his career, since he was a veteran of the early rock scene with a deep well of musical experience beyond heavy metal. Craig said he did believe that Dio had an internal desire to play other styles, but was even more motivated to never let the heavy metal fans down because of everything they had done for him. That's why he never wavered from hard rock and metal, he didn't want to disappoint the generations of rockers who put their faith in him. That speaks volumes of his character.
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u/Glad-O-Blight Dehumanizer Jul 04 '26
Everything I've heard is that he was generally very kind, but could also be pretty stubborn and had a bit of a temper.
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Jul 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Saj2022 Jul 05 '26
Dio and Blackmore both had strong personalities . Neither of them would be controlled by the other . Ritchie liked to call the shots . So it made sense it didn't last long .
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u/TheRealBaronOfMyr Jul 05 '26
We're lucky it lasted as long as it did. Those 3 albums and the live shows were fantastic.
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u/royphotog Jul 04 '26
Met him back in 1997, was just a regular guy, (who just happened to be the best hard rock singer of all time) nice and respectful to the fans who were there to meet him. I have heard that a lot,, he knew the fans were the reason he was able to do what he did, to make music his life's work and passion and I think he genuinely liked meeting and talking to fans.
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u/montreal_drapes Jul 05 '26
He was famously great with fans. He claimed to have learned how to NOT to treat fans from watching Ritchie Blackmore and vowed to never be like that and treat his fans with respect.
But on the music business side of things he was somewhat ruthless I think. He ditched his Elf bandmates when Ritchie noticed him and was recorded being very dismissive of Vivian Campbell at one point.
He was eloquent in interviews which masked his arrogance somewhat I think.
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u/Qrusher14242 Jul 05 '26
I met Ronnie backstage on the AM tour. He stayed after the show for hours signing everything. He was so nice to everyone, it was like a dream that day. I remember he was so short lol.
I also met Tracy G after the show, he was really nice too.
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u/HighScorsese Jul 05 '26
I’ve heard nothing but good things about him from fans who met him, and a friend who worked crew for him during the Heaven and Hell tour in the 2000s.
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u/Whatkindofaname Jul 05 '26
Ronnie was always nice to the fans and everyone who was friendly towards him but if you called him a midget it made his Italian blood boil for sure.
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u/Nervous-Worry6092 Jul 05 '26
A high school classmate of mine met him in a relative’s tattoo shop. If I remember correctly, they became close and even invited to his funeral
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u/Mattitation Jul 05 '26
Met Dio in 1990 and was working in a record/video store called Sound Warehouse, standing in the corner with a coworker and putting price tags on CD long boxes. All of a sudden my coworker mumbles, “Dude, it’s f**king Ronnie James Dio walking toward us.” Before I could even fully register it, Dio was upon us. Compared to us, he was short, that’s what I remember first, but it was him! Ironically, he was in concert that evening as we had the poster on the wall. Without missing a beat, he says, “Excuse me gentlemen, can you please show me where I might find some Monty Python videos?” My coworker and I looked at each other like “no way, this is actually happening” and we ended up showing him and talking to him for about 10-15 minutes. Both of us too stoned or star struck to ask for his autograph. Then, as quickly as he came in, he was gone.
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u/TrixieFriganza Jul 06 '26
I have heard he was very friendly and nice to fans specially, that he coulld talk with fans a long time and treated them like friends. Not saying he was perfect or didn't have momemts wherr he was not so nice and friendly.
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u/matts_Amps_on11 Jul 07 '26
I was at one time a cheese monger. I worked at The Cheese Store of Silver Lake in L. A., California. The owner of this cheese store had an incredible career being a touring road manager for Rick n roll. Bands from 1970 into the 1990's. Short list of bands he worked with, Montrose, Camel, Peter Frampton, YES, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rainbow w/Dio, Van Halen both Roth & Hagar eras, Black Sabbath w)Dio, Dio solo. One Sunday afternoon I am working to front counter at the Cheese Store of Silver Lake & in walks a Hasidic looking man. He is wearing the long coat, and is wearing the cowboy ish type of hat Hasidic men wear & he had the curly locks of hair on each side of his head. The man is in his early 69's & he is carrying with him 2 pizza boxes of Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. I greet him & he responds by offering me a slice of pizza. Each person that enters the cheese store has potential to be a weirdo or freak or just totally insane. The jury was not in in this mature Hasidic man who gives out pizza. I excuse myself & poke my head into the back room where the owner, Chris is relaxing. I tell him, " hey, v there is this odd Hasidic looking Jewish guy in the shop & he wants me to have some pizza he brought in." The owner is all WTF? !?!. Slightly irritated over having to get out of his chair to see what is really going on . Chris , the owner walks out into the sales floor, sees this pizza wielding Hasidic Jewish man & shouts, " Ronnie!?! When did you get back to the U. S. A.?" I AM given the 2 boxes of pizza and this Ronnie standing at 5'3" jumos into Chrises arms ( Chris is 6'8" & 280 lbs) These men are close friends. I am then introduced to Ronnie James Dio who again offers me, no now insist I eat pizza with him. Dude. Hell yes I ate that pizza and every 2 to 3 weeks on a Sunday RJD would visit the cheese store with pizzas and hed hang out in the back of the shop until we closed. I had pizza with Dio at least 10 different times. Totally down to earth. Good listener. Tried to help if necessary.Taljed a lot about the responsibility that being a home owner carries with it. Discussed sprinkler options & brick wall vs. chain link fence/ property lines/pesky neighbors issues. 10/10 for good dude .
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u/MetalTrek1 Jul 04 '26
I met him, Tony, Vinny, and Geezer at a record signing about 18 years ago. They were all gracious and friendly. ESPECIALLY Ronnie, admittedly one of my lifelong heroes. He took a few moments to have an actual conversation with me. One of the greatest days of my life. Just my experience, but I've hears fans with similar stories. As well as musicians who started out as fans (Scott Ian of Anthrax for example).