10 minutes on the phone with Ronnie James Dio during the Sacred Heart Tour of 1985

By Steve Newton

Last night on Crave I watched the Ronnie James Dio documentary Dio: Dreamers Never Die, which I thought did a fine job of detailing the heavy-metal singer’s career in music.

I especially enjoyed hearing the commentary from metal musicians like Deep Purple’s Roger Glover, Quiet Riot’s Rudy Sarzo, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, and Dio’s old bandmate in Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell, Tony Iommi.

But I was really surprised when the two-hour film was over and the credits were rolling and I saw my own name on the list of people the filmmakers wished to thank.

Although I had interviewed Ronnie James Dio on the phone back in 1985, I hadn’t heard any of the audio from that conversation used in the documentary, so I wasn’t sure what I was being thanked for.

But hey–I’ll take it. Especially since my name appeared directly above that of legendary Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice!

I haven’t gotten that close to Paicey since he signed my copy of Made in Japan backstage in Vancouver 20 years ago.

So in recognition of getting my name in the credits of a Ronnie James Freakin’ Dio doc, here’s the first half of my phone conversation with him from ’85, when he called from his home in L.A. during a break in the Sacred Heart Tour.