From Elf to Heaven & Hell by way of stints with Black Sabbath, Rainbow and Dio, the bad-ass great vocalist born Ronald James Padavoana was born on this day in 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and raised in Cortland, New York and earned recognition for having some of the best pipes in Rock.

 

His musical career started in his mid teens in a band dubbed the Vegas Kings that soon became known as Ronnie and the Rumblers. Elf, the group he formed in 1967, gained traction as an opening act for Deep Purple. Deep Purple veteran Ritchie Blackmore recurited Dio for his mid 70's band Rainbow and Ronnie later filled Ozzy Osbourne's role in Black Sabbath before forming his own band, Dio, in 1982.

 

Diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2009, Ronnie gave a final performance with Dio on August 29th of that year and died on May 16 the following year.

 

Other Noteworthy Classic Rock events on July 10 include...

 

1947 Arlo Guthrie born.

1949 Greg Kihn born.

1949 Kim Mitchell born.

1953 Triumph's Ric Emmett born.

1968 Eric Clapton announces Cream will break-up following fall Farewell tour.

1972 Chicago releases Chicago V

1974 David Bowie records David Live during two nights at Philadelphia's Tower Theater. 

1975 Cher and Gregg Allman file for divorce.

1978 Bill Wyman knocked out in fall off the stage during a Rolling Stones concert in St. Paul MN. 

1986 Jerry Garcia goes into a diabetic coma and is hospitalized 3 weeks.

1993 Bob Seger marries Juanita Doricott in Detroit. 

1997 Chrissie Hynde marries a Columbian sculptor.   

2010 Roger Waters and David Gilmour perform together for fist time in 5 years.   

2016 Joe Perry collapses during Hollywood Vampires concert at Coney Island.

2016 Leon Russell does his last concert in Nashville.