To celebrate Ronnie James Dio’s birthday, Rob Halford, Tenacious D, Lzzy Hale and many more are getting together to hold a livestream concert, which will also raise money for The Dio Cancer Fund. The Stand Up and Shout For Ronnie James Dio’s Birthday livestream, which will take place on July 10 at 2 p.m. Pacific time, will be produced by Rolling Live Studios and can be viewed here.
Tickets for the concert are available individually or in a variety of packages and bundles. General admission tickets are priced at $20 and packages and bundles range from $25 to $350. There are also a few items that are being auctioned off on the website such as a Dio Custom Leather Jacket and a Dio Ultimate Bundle.
The Dio Cancer Fund was founded in memory of the late Dio, who is widely known for voicing Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath. Dio passed away in 2010 after he lost his battle with gastric cancer.
A rare, never-before-released track from Dio during his time with Black Sabbath surfaced in early March of this year. “Slapback,” which was shared by Geoff Nicholls’ estate, was recorded in 1979 and was featured on the Heaven & Hell rehearsal tape.
Just a few years prior, Wendy Dio was featured on a podcast where she stated that there was new music from the late metal icon that had never been released. Along with that, she had mentioned potentially finishing the autobiography that he had started. Wendy later went on to elaborate on the unreleased tracks by stating that there were at least three, potentially even five songs from Dio that weren’t completed but had lyrics, which he had already sung.
Photo credit: Kalyn Oyer