There’s no denying that when it comes to metal vocalists, the shortest man had the largest voice. Ronnie James Dio (Dio, Black Sabbath, Rainbow) was one of metal’s purist singers of all time, with a booming voice that could fill out an amphitheater whether he had a mic in his hands or not. Ever since has passing away fromback in 2010, metal has felt a major loss.
Ever his cheerleader, Dio’s widow and manager Wendy Dio said in a recent interview with Radio Forrest (transcribed by Blabbermouth) that she’s thinking of making her massive collection of Ronnie James Dio memorabilia may be extremely interesting to metalheads around the world.
“I had a storage locker full of stuff — it was years and years and years of his stuff there — and I was, like, suddenly, ‘What if I pass away? People will just chuck this stuff out. Let’s just put it up for auction, sell it’ and get the fans or whoever wanted it… Some people bought things. I don’t know where it went. A lot of it went to different museums in different countries. But, obviously, I still have [a lot of stuff]. I would never part with the original artwork of [Dio’s] ‘Holy Diver’ [album]; I have that hanging in my office. And a lot of the gold records I wouldn’t part with. And then some of the awards he got and things, some of his stage clothes — those are things I kept. And obviously we’ll put them in a museum one day.”
To say Wendy Dio’s collection should be large would probably be an understatement. In September 2018 ,she collaborated with Jullen’s Auctions to sell 666 items from the late rocker’s personal collection, including medieval art, swords, and various instruments he owned over the years.
Who knows what will be featured in a proposed Dio museum, but we do know a documentary on the man’s life is coming out very soon. Spanning his entire career, Dio: Dreamers Never Die will release in more than 500 cinemas on Wednesday, September 28 and Sunday, October 2.