Ronald James Padavona, better known by his stage as Ronnie James Dio, was born on July 10, 1942, in the United States. He fronted and founded numerous bands over his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, and Heaven & Hell.

Ronnie James “Dio” Padavona was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Patrick and Anna Padavona, two Italian Americans from Cortland, New York.

His family moved from Cortland to Portsmouth as part of his father’s World War II military service, although they only stayed there for a short time before returning to Cortland. Padavona grew up listening to a lot of opera and modeling his vocal technique after American tenor Mario Lanza.

He received his first formal musical training when he was five years old, learning to play the trumpet. At his high school, Padavona participated in the band program and was one of the youngest students selected to play in the group that gave performances at school dances.

Padavona also formed his first rock ‘n’ roll group, The Vegas Kings, in high school. Later, the group changed its name to Ronnie and the Rumblers, and then to Ronnie and the Red Caps.

Despite beginning his rock ‘n’ roll career on the trumpet, Padavona later expanded his skill set and began playing bass guitar for the bands.

Who is Ronnie James Dio wife Wendy Dio?

Dio and Wendy Walters, his second wife, whom he wed in 1978 after divorcing his first wife Loretta Berardi (born in 1941), who he married in 1963.

1945 marked Wendy Walters’ birth year. She was married to guitarist Ricardo Gaxiola and drummer Aynsley Dunbar previously.

She oversaw the Los Angeles rock bands Rough Cutt, NuHaven, Cold Sweat, and Hellion in the 1980s.

In 2012, after Ronnie’s passing in 2010, his widow wed Omar Gimenez.

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