DIO: Early Doo-Whop Years

[annericelover]

Ronnie James Dio was a pioneer in all that he did, from the Blues work we might have first heard him from with his first mainstream group The Electric Elves(later renamed The Elves, than Elf), to giving us a ray of hope after the departure of Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath when he joined the band all the way to his reunion with them to form Heaven & Hell. Dio has always been able to awes us and make us want more. Well now that he has passed away, many of you may think there's no more of Dio left to listen too, than what we already have heard. Well I have come to find out that is wrong.
Before Elf, Dio was a Doo-Whop(or early Rock)singer. If you are able to find them at all, as they only appear on old Vinyls, here are the bands(note they are different names, but except for a tiny change they are the same people):

The Vegas Kings{which is considered Rockabilly, he was on trumpet and French Horn and Billy DeWolfe on vocals}
Ronnie & the Rumblers{first vocals gig}
Ronnie & the Redcaps
Ronnie Dio & the Prophets
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Eric

[The Masterstroke]

I really love that old stuff.It shows how great this man has been.I wonder , why ronnie never has been mentioned within the same breath as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.If you need to know what I am talking about , listen here: http://www.padavona.com/mp3.html

[annericelover]

[Driftin Elf]

It amazes me how many 'Dio' fans don't know anything about RJD's past music. I see people in this very site who think 'this is your life' is some unique ballad. To those I say go back a few years.
Mornin Sunshine, Simple Man, Smile for me Lady, You Felt The Same Way are but a few of his awesome early ballads.
His later version of Driftin is one of my very favorite songs, and updated it would have fit right on a late Dio album.
It's frustrating that no-one has made the effort to remaster, and re release these songs, or anything pre Elf.
Dio truly was one of the start up roots of rock-n-roll.
I have found a early Dio site which has tons of cool early music, Dio history, and pic's...

http://www.padavona.com/mp3.html
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...and the time had come for the one to go to the temple of the king...RIP Ronnie.

[Rainbow]

I have a Ronnie Dio and the Prophets single ( called love pains) it's been kicking around in the family for ages, I only just found it the other day. The music is very different but you can clearly hear that it is Ronnie singing. I think it's amazing that Ronnie had such a long carrier

[DioInfinitum]

It's so beyond intriguing hearing these early recordings....

The composite of time and life well spent, it leaves me speechless and amazed.

Driftin'....how interesting.

Crosseyed Mary...very interesting.

All very interesting. It's like hearing the 'unknown beginning.'

You can hear the 'potential' in Ronnie in these recordings.

[Lord Cody]

One thing with Dio's "Doo-Whop" stuff is that Dio said in an interview from about 2001 or so that if anyone had any of that stuff he wished they would through it in a pit with a stick of dynamite. The reason why is that while Dio argued it was hard and heavy for its time, he would would have a hard time trying to explain that to others.
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+ Cody +

[Driftin Elf]

Lord Cody...
Seems reasonable that Ronnie didn't want his early stuff out there, or else it would have been.
That's a shame because these were the years when hard rock/ heavy metal were being born, and this is a whole era of expermentation thats really interesting to many of us. Some of it actually is pretty good considering the poor recording conditions.
Dio in my opinion deserves to be included as one of the founders/pioneers of heavy metal. Black Sabbath are widely credited with 'inventing heavy metal'. During these same Elves years Black Sabbath was a blues band(Earth). What does that say about them?(no disrespect to the Sab)
All I know is that if a remastered/ cleaned up album version of these early songs becomes available I would buy it!
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...and the time had come for the one to go to the temple of the king...RIP Ronnie.

[Lord Cody]

Yeah, I would probably buy one of those Dio albums as well--mostly just for the sake of owning one.
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+ Cody +

[alitivity]

[The Masterstroke]

"Personally my favorite is I Left My Heart in San Fransisco"Yeah ! ,great song. I also like Ronnie's versiom of Love potion no Nine . Much better than the original.

[Jeffrey]

Yes, the old Dio recordings. I gave some of them on mp3 to my mother for Mother's Day years back. She had known Dio from my youth as a metal singer. She was surprised to hear how different he sounded.

One of my favorites is "Red TOp" . So many people I show do not believe it is Dio. They can't believe he has been around that long, and somehow they think he should have been playing metal even back in the 1960s, before it even started.

Lots of funny pictures from how different he looked back then, too.

Jeffrey
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Ronnie James Dio is a legend

[LindaJeanne]

I love the name "Ronnie & the Red Caps", because it sounds like such an innocent, Doo-Wop kind of name--

--unless you know anything about old faerie lore, in which case it becomes much more sinister.

(The name "Ronnie and the Tiny, Deadly Goblins Who Always Keep their Caps Moist with Fresh Human Blood" probably wouldn't have gone over quite so well with the management at the local sock-hop, but if you read "Red Caps" as "Redcaps", then it means essentially the same thing).

[olivious the drummer]

............interesting slant!
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Stand up and Shout!!!!!

[LindaJeanne]