THE HARD STUFF BOOKS & DVDs
Rainbow In The Dark
Ronnie James Dio with Mick Wall & Wendy Dio CONSTABLE
A story, rather than the story, about the late, great singer leaves a lot still to be told.
Ronnie James Dio wasn’t just the guy who popularised the ‘devil’s horns’ sign. As the singer with Rainbow and Black Sabbath he dealt with some of rock’s trickier band leaders. As a band leader himself he captained his own ship with pragmatic ruthlessness.
Yet today, 11 years after his death from stomach cancer, doubts linger. He was dismissed from Rainbow for not writing love songs. His departure from Sabbath was so muddy a hippopotamus could have wallowed in it. And did he and wife (and band manager) Wendy underpay their on-stage employees, as former Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell claims? In response, they offer precise, albeit unverified, details of remuneration.
Understandably, is unashamedly the couple’s side of the story. It stops in June 1986, with Dio (the band) about
