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Addio, Ronald James Padavona

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Ronnie James Dio of Black Sabbath, Rainbow, and Dio fame, has passed away. He lost his battle with stomach cancer yesterday morning, 16 May 2010. He was 67.

 

You may not believe this, but Ronnie Dio started making music in 1958, and you can hear all of his early material on MusicMaster Oldies. He’s another example of what we call Future Superstars. The future metal rocker started out playing the trumpet as a kid in Cortland, New York. His Italian Catholic parents moved there from Portsmouth, New Hampshire when he was very young. While still in high school, he joined a rockabilly band called the Vegas Kings. Eventually, he became the lead singer and the band became Ronnie And The Rumblers. They changed names once more to Ronnie And The Red Caps and cut their first record in 1958. Here is the very first record ever made by Ronnie James Dio, Lover by Ronnie And The Red Caps:

This was issued on Reb 59-45-105 in 1958. Billy DeWolfe is the lead vocalist on this song, with Ronnie singing the background part and playing bass. They had a second record planned, Judy I Love You, but that was never released. Billy left the band shortly after this recording was made and the group became Ronnie Dio And The Red Caps. In 1960, they cut their second record on the Seneca label.

In 1962, the group became Ronnie Dio And The Prophets and cut another record on the Canadian subsidiary of Atlantic Records. This one was called (Do The) Ooh-Poo-Pah-Do backed with Love Pains. They cut an Audiodisc acetate demo for Swan Records that same year with Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow backed with Bad Man In Town. This was never officially released. They moved to the Lawn label in 1963 to cut Gonna Make It Alone backed with Swingin’ Street.

Then it was back to Swan for Mr. Misery b/w Our Year. Mr. Misery is a nice Teener collectable now that had a pretty good shot at success. Ronnie even recorded that song in Italian for release on the Derby label as Che Tristezza Senza Te. The English version was even issued in India on the Stateside label!

Here’s Mr. Misery on Swan 4615 from 1963:

In 1964, the band recorded this obscure record on Valex 001. It’s a great garage rock cover version of Love Potion Number 9.

 

Here’s Ronnie Dio And The Prophets doing Love Potion Number 9:

Ronnie made four more singles before 1970, and we play them all on MusicMaster Oldies. It’s hard to tell from listening to these early records what the future held for Ronald James Padavona.

Goodbye, Ronnie. We loved your music — all six decades worth!

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14 thoughts on “Addio, Ronald James Padavona”

  1. every single news article of ronnie dio's passing,from all the newswires,
    doesn't mention his band called Elf in the early 70's. The self-titled
    LP was killer hard rock. Ronnie on the front cover in diguised as an Elf.

    My favorite Ronnie Dio LP hands down. It flat Rocks.

    The Old Rocker

  2. Agreed! He cut one single in 1967 as the Electric Elves on MGM 13839 called Hey Look Me Over b/w It Pays To Advertise. Then in 1969-1970 he issued three more singles as just The Elves. Walking In Different Circles b/w She's Not The Same on Decca 732507, and Amber Velvet b/w West Virginia on Decca 732617. This last one was also issued in Sweden and the UK on MCA 1114. Walking In Different Circles was actually a remake of a song he'd issued on Parkway in 1967 while his band was still called Ronnie Dio And The Prophets. The Elf album came out on Epic 31789 in 1972. They released a song called Gambler Gambler from that album on a single on the Eastern Artists label, then another called First Avenue on Epic 10933. You'll hear them all on MusicMaster Oldies!

  5. I have the Italian version on a 45, but unfortunately, I have not recorded it yet. Since I just moved all my records across the country last week, it is now buried in a mountain of 300,000 45's in a storage locker. I'll be getting everything reorganized again over the summer, but it may take a while to find this one. When I do find it, I'll post it for everyone to enjoy. I did find a very good source of Ronnie Dio's early music that seems to have every song he made — except the Italian version of Mr. Misery! You can find that site here: http://www.padavona.com/mp3.html

  6. Hi Joe!
    Thank you for your prompt response. It's amazing that you have 300,000 singles! I know the page, as you wrote. I have it all recorded on CD's. I only need the Italian version of Mr.Misery. I do not know whether you know Deep Purple Hub. I am a moderator there in Dio section.
    Greetings
    Wieslaw from Poland

  7. Hey Joe
    Your material is wonderful with an excellent presentation. Listening to Ronnie Dio definitely takes me back to early days when I used to play sax with various "garage" bands, as we were all starting out, in our teens. The big dream was that maybe one day we'd be discovered by some roaming talent scout and we would be signed to a major record label… Ha ha – dream on!
    – Russ
    p.s. Thanks for the link to our Post on The Orlons

  8. Hi Joe !
    I would like to recall. You promised that you look for after the holidays in your collection single Dio "Che Tristezza Senza Te" and thrown it on the Music Master Oldis. Waiting impatiently for this one song which I have not heard.
    Greetings
    Wieslaw

  9. I must apologize. I have about 300,000 records crammed into two storage units and it is impossible for me to find anything in there at the moment. I'm thinking about getting some office space where I can get the records organized into shelves again. This is a high priority for me, but it must always wait behind running my software company. I wish I could just work on records all day long because I love sorting them, cleaning them, playing them, and just looking at them! Maybe I'll have more time for this once I retire. At least that's something I can look forward to! You'll know when I'm getting close to finding that record because I'm sure I'll have a sudden flurry of blog posts as I dig out some of the really cool stuff that's buried in that stack!

  11. Excellent! Thank you! I'm just about to close the deal on an office space where I can finally unpack and organize my record collection. That's going to be a big job, but also a lot of fun!

  12. Hi Joe!
    Thanks for the quick response. I know the page, as you write. I think I have everything ever recorded Ronnie (as mp3 and flac). I have not only the Italian version of Mr.Misery.
    I would be very grateful if you do not forget to post it later.

    Greetings

    Wieslaw from Poland

  14. no posts since 2010…been a HUGE FAN of rjd since the 70's and id lovet to hear and have every the man ever recorded…Originally from Syracuse NY…Ronnie played here alot…I saw ..and met him once..every time he was in town. Id love to hear ALL of his early stuff..the only cd i have is Elf…The Early Years..and i love it…can someone help me to hear the rest ??

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