According to Blabbermouth, Ronnie James Dio’s wife and manager Wendy recently opened up about his experience joining Black Sabbath following Ozzy Osbourne’s departure in 1979. Dio joined the band in 1980 and went on to record Heaven And Hell,  Mob Rules and Live Evil before departing in 1982.

“Ronnie made a difference; he was different. He was more melodic, his songs were different, his stage performance was different. But it was very hard. He got spat on and he got booed and a lot of things in the beginning, but Ronnie, he carried on and did his thing,” she explained in a recent interview with Danny Stoakes. She went on to say that Osbourne had “very hard shoes to fill” but Ronnie was up to task, taking the band into a new musical direction that warranted fans of its own. 

“…Some kids I talk to don’t even know about Black Sabbath before ‘Heaven And Hell’, but that’s the younger generation,” She continued, praising both frontmen for their contributions to the band, “”I’ve always said: there’s Black Sabbath [with Ozzy] and there’s Black Sabbath [with Ronnie], and they’re both as good. One is not better than the other; it’s just they’re different.”

Dio tragically passed away in May 2010 after a battle with stomach cancer, he was 67 years old. In January, it was announced that a new documentary about his life will be released this sometime year. In 2021, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, Tenacious D and more made appearances on Dio’s birthday livestream event.