Sep 17, 2023
On episode 188, we welcome Wendy Dio to discuss her marriage to and career managing Ronnie James Dio, Dio’s relationship with Ritchie Blackmore and time in Rainbow, moving on to Black Sabbath and whether he was intimidated by replacing Ozzy Osbourne, his refusal to write commercially focused music and how that caused him to form his own band, the meaning of Dio’s music and the themes of magic and good and evil, creating music for the underdogs of the world and his songs about mistreated children (including trans kids), why ‘Hungry for Heaven’ is Leon’s favorite song, Wendy’s favorite songs of his, Dio inspiring Jorn and Johnny Gioeli, Sebastian Bach discovering Dio’s version of Black Sabbath, working with Jack Black and Ronnie’s voice overpowering Tenacious D’s microphones, the contrasting parts of Ronnie’s personality (including his perfectionism), and what Wendy wants Ronnie to be remembered for.
Wendy Dio is the President and Owner of Niji Management. Over the past thirty years, she has been involved in many aspects of the music business, receiving awards from Performance and Pollstar for stage set design and concert video production, along with serving as executive producer on numerous gold and platinum albums. She was the wife and manager of the iconic Ronnie James Dio. In 2010, she co-founded the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, which has raised over $2 million for research, education, and early detection screenings. She helped contribute to the posthumous release of Ronnie James Dio’s book, Rainbow in the Dark: The Autobiography. Wendy was also one of the producers of and prominently featured in the amazing documentary Dio: Dreamers Never Die.
| Wendy Dio |
► Website | https://www.ronniejamesdio.com
► Website 2 | https://diocancerfund.org
► Twitter | https://twitter.com/officialrjdio
► Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/OfficialRonnieJamesDio
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