WENDY DIO Says RONNIE Never Spoke To RITCHIE BLACKMORE Again ..
After a string of four albums that are considered to be heavy metal classics (1975’s Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, 1976’s Rising, 1977’s On Stage, and 1978’s Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll) and featuring two gentlemen that are rock legends (Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore), Rainbow should have remained on course as the ‘80s approached, right? Wrong.
As you’ll read from an excerpt of a book of mine, The Other Side Of Rainbow, some people close to the band – and renowned admirers – explain what led to Dio parting ways with Blackmore. And just so you know, the book is still indeed available for purchase as a paperback version or a Kindle download.
Wendy Dio (Wife/manager of original Rainbow singer, Ronnie James Dio): “He got fired. You don’t have much choice there. I think Ronnie saw it coming.”
David Stone (Rainbow keyboardist (1977-1979)): “That was kind of sad. Ronnie was always a really nice guy – no ego, really easy to get along with. Just one of the guys.
A regular guy from Upstate New York, really. Blackmore was…he liked to control everything. So I could tell he was telling Ronnie what to sing and what to sing about.
It limited Ronnie I think, creatively, quite a lot. Ronnie was like me – ‘We’re working with a rock god here, so we have to accord him that kind of respect.’
I think Blackmore should have stuck with Ronnie. He should have probably let Ronnie have a little more leeway when it came to songwriting and creativity.
And he had a great band around him – all he had to do was let the band be a band. But he was a real control addict, and there was going to be none of that.”
Wendy Dio: “I think that’s completely false [Ritchie’s claim in The Ritchie Blackmore Story DVD that Ronnie left after he was upset about a Circus Magazine cover photo that was of just Ritchie and not the whole band].
Ronnie was fired from the band – for not writing more commercial songs. I don’t think that would ever come up. It just sounds ridiculous.”
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