Ronnie James Dio: A biography of a heavy metal Icon

This book brought together so many stories from Dio's career and amazing life including from the time he sadly passed back through when his own book Rainbow in the Dark ended. I may re-read it.

What I liked about this book, besides the length of it, was that it covered many untold stories about Ronnie James Dio. Don't get me wrong, his autobiography was great, but it only goes up to 1986. And no offense to Martin Popoff, but his book on Dio (the band) was basically a cut and paste job of past news clippings.Here we get plenty of stories from Ronnie's early days. What I also liked about this book was that it contained Claude Schnell's version of how he got fired from Dio, as well as why Jimmy Bain left (the first time). Not to mention stories of other people, like Vinnie Moore and Gary Hoey, who both auditioned for Dio. I would highly recommend this book to any fan of Ronnie's or to anyone curious about his remarkable life.

I have been a Dio fan since the Holy Diver record - attended a few shows in middle of the 80s. I sort of stopped following Dio most of the middle of the 90s to his death - after which I caught up on what I had missed.This book did an amazing job in connecting all the dots together in a easy to read way. I learned lots about Dio that I didn't know.I am glad that I read some reviews before reading the book since it made me manage my expectations.Read the book for what it is - an amazing story about an amazing man with a remarkable voice. If you read it expecting something written from Dio himself then I think you would be disappointed. I am in a way glad an outsider wrote it since it gave it a certain perspective of Ronnie that someone closer to him would not have written.We Rock!!!

I enjoyed it … was a quick read , about a day or two. But, there is nothing else left of Ronnie is there? IM patiently waiting the autobiography he was working on at the time of his death. I first heard him when I was about 14 on my friends LONG LIVE ROCK N ROLL LP. I was blown away. Imagine 2 years later , I pick up Heaven and Hell, and see he is the new vocalist. Only saw him once, front row on the MOB RULES tour, and I was starstruck when he shook my hand, going down the front row. Its a fun read, but short. Lot of info I didn't know.

This book was a bit of a letdown to be honest. It doesn’t really have a target audience for fans of RJD. Let me explain.If you’re already a fan, you’ve already read 85 pct. of the material (with the exception of the youngest little dio pages). There is so much “curated material” from every article you’ve already probably read over the years. There’s countless chapters and pages that are so basic to the story of RJD that if you dont know already, you’re either not a basic fan, or you’ve never heard of the man before. (in which case you wouldn’t be buying the book). example: We already know when, why, and how his tenure with black sabbath came to be.As far as the inside info, the gems, the behind the scenes insight into the man....well... there’s a little bit. There’s some good reading of info provided by Claude Schnell as to how and why he was fired and a couple pages on why and how Tracie G was fired. But overall, there just wasnt enough revelation overall in the book for me personally.meh. Maybe Vinny Appice should write a book about his times as RJD’s best bud.

James Curl does an incredible job taking us through the life and career of Ronnie James Dio from his early years learning the trumpet through his time with Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio. It's a quick and light read with lots of great quotes from Ronnie and the people that worked with him.The book concludes with a touching eulogy by Claude Schnell.Highly recommended for any fan of Dio looking to celebrate his life and music.

I’d say this is a good book for the casual Dio fan like me. Pretty condensed, not too in-depth about any era of his career. Can easily be read in a day or two.

I liked the book. Was not a huge DIO fan. More of a VH fan. I could appreciate you vocals just not the kind of lyrics I enjoy. Found the book to be interesting and well written. I do believe RJD was a smart guy. He and I did not agree on faith.

First off, I have to declare my interest here ... I'm a massive Ronnie James Dio fan, & privileged to be connected to band members over the years, & still. More than one band member calls me mate, one calls me brother.I read this over around 4 hours; there's some incorrect information in there, & spelling errors. It's all too brief in parts.Having interviewed many of the same people quoted in the book, I had the majority of the information ... the early stuff was of interest. For the first Dio biography out there, though, it's a lovely tangible thing to include in my Dio collection.

Considering this is the first definitive account of the iconic singer's life, and also considering that this was written by a fan, not a fellow musician, not an ex. wife, not an ex. manager or a hanger on, this is an admirable effort. James Curl has interviewed family members, old band members etc. and has come up with? ... well, a diary of sorts. A timeline. A sequence of events. James has gone into great detail uncovering aspects of Dio's life which were hitherto unknown or else seldom eluded to by Ronnie himself ... i.e. the pre-Elf era.Interesting enough. But it is hard to see who the market for this book is. Most long time fans know most of these facts already and anyone new to Ronnie James Dio and wishes to find out more will find little in this book to inspire them. It is a nostalgic overview ... an homage of sorts, but based on frustratingly peripheral sources.A good effort ... but not the definitive biography of this man. Not by a long shot.

I loved this book, couldn't put it down.James Curl has done his research and has done many interviews with Ronnies friends and colleagues, so there is everything that you could want to know about Ronnie.The book is very well written, and therefore easy to read.I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would recommend this book to any fan of Dio.

Excellent book arrived promptly

Not a great read, too much hearsay, the book doesn’t flow. If you aren’t a mega fan it gives enough snippets of info but no in-depth or personal stuff.