Dio anniversary to be marked by 3 day celebration

Three days of celebrations are being lined up to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Ronnie James Dio’s passing.

Dio died of stomach cancer on May 16, 2010 – and on May 15, 16 and 17 next year, his widow Wendy Dio is holding a series of events in Los Angeles which she hopes fans from around the world will attend.

She tells Lucas H Gordon: “Next year is five year’s since Ronnie’s passing, May 16. So we’re gonna do a very big thing for the fans. Everybody can come from all over the world. We’re gonna do a big memorial in Forest Lawn in LA where he is buried.

“The day before that, we’re going to do celebrity bowling here because we want to have things for the fans coming from all the world to do.

“And then on the 17th, after the memorial, we’re doing a Ride For Ronnie with the motorcycles. We end up in a park, with a barbecue. It’s going to be a big, big celebration of Ronnie’s life in music.”

Wendy runs the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund, which raises money for cancer research.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.