R.I.P. RONNIE JAMES DIO, 1942-2010

The rumors have been confirmed; Ronnie James Dio lost his battle with stomach cancer and passed away at 7:45am this morning. He was 67.

Rumors began circulating last night that Dio had passed, but his wife Wendy Dio shot them down late last night / early this morning with a statement saying “He is not doing good, but he is not dead.” Only a few hours later she posted the statement you see above at his official website RonnieJamesDio.com confirming his death. The death comes as a surprise to all of us as the announcement that he had stomach cancer came not even 6 months ago. Dio had planned to continue on with Heaven and Hell’s European Summer tour though the band recently canceled those dates; in retrospect, that could have been a sign that his condition had taken a sudden turn for the worse.

In Dio we lost an incredible man and singer whose influence on metal was undeniably profound. I don’t believe that it would be hyperbole to say that this is the biggest loss the metal world has ever experienced. Not much else to say here other than that this is incredibly upsetting news that will be felt for days, months and years to come by the worldwide metal community.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on Dio and his incredibly prolific metal career in the comments below and on Dio’s official Facebook page.

– Everyone at MetalSucks