Ronnie James Dio left this world almost 14 years ago, but despite that time, he remains in the memory of those who came to collaborate with him. Among them, Vinny Apice, who shared moments with the singer in both Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell.
In particular, the drummer recalled the last recording sessions he shared with the singer. «I didn’t know he was so sick. “He was complaining about his stomach,” he said in relation to the days before Dio’s diagnosis.
«Then we found out he had cancer. For shit. Phase four. They told Ronnie: You have stage four stomach cancer. But he thought it was at 10″, he mentioned in conversation with The Double Stop podcast.
Appice noted that Dio initially “seemed to respond” to treatment. Thus, their last studio session together occurred when the singer had to record some overdubs for a live release of Heaven & Hell.
«He had to replace some part – like a little of a part, not much. “A couple of words,” Vinny explained. «It was just me, the engineer, Wyn Davis, and Ronnie. We were in the studio and we said: I wonder how this will go. Because she had not been singing, she has been doing chemo.
However, once behind the microphone, Dio managed to blow up everyone’s expectations, including his own.
“It was crazy,” Appice recalled. “It was incredible. It was just a couple of words, but he had to fix a couple of parts. But he was like: ‘Yeah! Good news«.
Heaven & Hell’s truncated tour
Not long after, Dio contacted the drummer to resume rehearsals focused on the upcoming Heaven & Hell tour dates.
“Ronnie called and said: Look, I would like to meet -because Geezer [Butler] I lived in Los Angeles at the time – with you, Geezer and I and go over some things so I can sing«.
“That never happened,” Appice commented crestfallen. Ronnie James Dio ended up passing away on May 16, 2010.
