TOM MORELLO: RONNIE JAMES DIO 'Stood Up For Hard Rock And Heavy Metal In A Very Unapologetic Way'

May 21, 2015

Members of STONE SOUR, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, THEORY OF A DEADMAN and others were on hand this past weekend to mark the fifth anniversary of the death of legendary heavy rock vocalist Ronnie James Dio. The BLACK SABBATH and RAINBOW frontman died on May 16, 2010 from gastric cancer at the age of 67.

RAGE guitarist Tom Morello, former GUNS N' ROSES drummer Steven Adler, THEORY OF A DEADMAN vocalist Tyler Connolly, Lita Ford, STONE SOUR's Christian Martucci and Roy Mayorga, TENACIOUS D's Jack Black and Kyle Gass and many more were involved in the weekend's events, which included a Bowl For Ronnie celebrity bowling tournament on Friday (May 15),a public memorial service on Saturday (May 16) and the inaugural Ride For Ronnie motorcycle ride and barbecue on Sunday (May 17).

Speaking to Artisan News at the event, Morello said about Ronnie (see video below): "First of all, my first memory is buying the [BLACK SABBATH] 'Heaven And Hell' album and thinking there was no way that there could be a BLACK SABBATH without Ozzy [Osbourne] that I was gonna like, and being completely wrong; there was a BLACK SABBATH without Ozzy that I absolutely loved, and it stood up with the best work of SABBATH previously. And then I enjoyed all the incarnations… 'The Mob Rules', one of my favorite songs and records of all time. [Dio's] solo work I just loved. And I got to meet him. Later on, when I was in AUDIOSLAVE, we got to spend a little bit of time together, and he was always a gentleman. He accepted praise with humility, and he always stood up for hard rock and heavy metal in a very unapologetic way, and I always appreciated that."

All funds raised over the weekend will go to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund.

The fund issued a statement saying, "Monies raised have been committed to the cancer research work of the TJ Martell Foundation for cancer, AIDS and leukemia research, the gastric cancer research unit of the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, where Ronnie was treated for gastric cancer during the last six months of his life, and other cancer research projects."

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