featuredmetalblack sabbathdioozzy osbourneronnie james diorudy sarzo
23:23 Saturday, 2 April 2022
Former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rudy Sarzo spoke to John the Ninja and shared feelings about the late Dio founder Ronnie James Dio by recalling their times.
After Black Sabbath icons Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice left the band, they founded Dio in 1982. The band went through several lineup changes due to personal and creative differences between the band members, but they preserved their success and popularity for years.
The band released ten studio albums, and almost all of them became best-sellers that hit the charts worldwide. Therefore, Sarzo felt very lucky to join this band as their new bassist when Jeff Pilson had to leave the band to focus on his career in Foreigner in 2004. The bassist stayed in the band until Dio’s death on May 16, 2010.
During his interview, Sarzo stated that he was his last bassist and was honored to play with a musician like Dio, who had healing energy of love and respect. He highlighted that the frontman saw the fans and audience as his family, so the band spent time together at their houses while they followed them from city to city.
Sarzo stated in his interview that:
“I was in awe because I was his last bass player in Dio. I started playing with Ronnie in the band Dio from 2004 until he passed away in 2010. So this is 12 years ago. I must tell you I have never seen someone like that before or since, with the exception of maybe Ozzy, but Ozzy had more of an erratic, a little bit crazy, but it’s okay.
Ronnie had a family; everybody in the audience was a family. When we were touring Europe, a lot of the audience would follow us from city to city. We’ll go to their homes for barbecues on days off. He brought people together. We did stand on stage and see him be able to like create this mass-energy of love and respect. Coming from the stage to the audience, back at us, it was just amazing.”
You can check out the interview below.
