On July 10, 1942, in the United States, Ronald James Padavona, best known by his stage name Ronnie James Dio, was born. Over the course of his career, he fronted and created a large number of bands, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, and Heaven & Hell.
Patrick and Anna Padavona, two Italian Americans from Cortland, New York, gave birth to Ronnie James “Dio” Padavona in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
As part of his father’s World War II military service, his family relocated from Cortland to Portsmouth; however, they only lived there for a brief while before moving back to Cortland. Padavona grew up listening to a lot of opera and modeled American tenor Mario Lanza’s singing style after him.
When he was five years old, he had his first official musical instruction and began learning how to play the trumpet. Padavona played in the band at his high school and was one of the youngest students chosen to play in the group that performed at school dances.
In high school, Padavona also started his first rock and roll band, The Vegas Kings. Later, the band adopted the names Ronnie and the Red Caps and Ronnie and the Rumblers.
Padavona started his rock ‘n’ roll career playing the trumpet, but as his skill set grew, he started playing bass guitar for the bands.
What is Ronnie James Dio’s heritage?
He was given birth to by Italian-American which therefore makes him an Italian-American.
