Annual Ronnie James Dio bowling event raises more than $50,000 for charity

By Scott Munro
( Classic Rock )
published

Stars from the world of rock, metal and film gathered in California for the annual event to raise cash for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund

Ronnie James Dio
Ronnie James Dio (Image credit: Ann Summa/Getty Images)

This year’s Bowl For Ronnie event raised more than $50,000 for the the Ronnie James Dio (opens in new tab) cancer fund.

Stars from across the rock, metal and films worlds joined the late vocalist's widow  Wendy at the PINZ Bowling Center in Studio City, California, earlier this month for an evening of 10-pin bowling, fun, food and a raffle to aid the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund (opens in new tab).

The event was hosted by SiriusXM’s Eddie Trunk, who was joined by more than 300 rockers including Geezer Butler, Dave Grohl, Steven Adler, Phil Demmel, Richie Kotzen, Rudy Sarzo, Brian Tichy and Scott Warren, while no.1 bowler in the World Professional Bowling Association Jason Belmonte rolled out the ceremonial first strike.

Foo Fighter Grohl said: “Ronnie James Dio – one of the greatest singers of all time, a very generous and sweet man who would give all of his time and energy, love and attention to do good things.

“Wendy is the sweetest woman in the world. When Wendy comes to you and asks you to do something, you kinda can’t say no.”

He adds: “My father died of cancer – I know a lot of people that have passed away from cancer and to help fund research and awareness, I think is a good thing. You forget about that when you show up at a bar with all your friends and go bowling, but we’re here for a real reason – but it’s also really fun.”

On the night, the fund presented Dr David Wong with a cheque for $25,000. He and his research team at the UCLA School of Dentistry are working on a non-invasive saliva swab test for early cancer detection.

Ronnie died from stomach cancer in 2010 at the age of 67 (opens in new tab).

A video from the evening is also available and can be watched below. 

Earlier this month, it was announced that newly remastered deluxe editions of a selection of Dio’s studio albums will be released in 2020. 

The Studio Collection: 1996-2004 will bring together 1996’s Angry Machines, 2000's Magica, 2002’s Killing The Dragon and 2004’s Master Of The Moon, with all four featuring previously unreleased material (opens in new tab).

Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers and magazines as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. After initially joining our news desk in the summer of 2014, he moved to the e-commerce team full-time in 2020. He maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott grew up listening to rock and prog, cutting his teeth on bands such as Marillion and Magnum before his focus shifted to alternative and post-punk in the late 80s. His favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Drab Majesty, but he also still has a deep love of Rush.