Heaven & Hell Biography
Heaven & Hell's journey began in 2006, when Rhino Records asked singer
Ronnie James Dio, guitarist Tony Iommi, bass
player Geezer Butler and drummer Vinny Appice to record a few new songs
for "The Dio Years", a collection spotlighting the early '80s
line-up of Black Sabbath. The impromptu
get-together quickly proved the creative spark was still burning 25 years
after the band's gold-certified album "Mob Rules".
The answer began to take shape in 2007, when the band launched a yearlong
tour. Selling out concerts around the world, the trek included the band's
triumphant return to the U.S., where they played a show in New York City
at Radio City Music Hall that was immortalized on a live CD/DVD.
When the quartet finally got off the road at the end of the year, they
all agreed that it would be a shame to call it a day.
The group convened in early 2008 at Iommi's home studio in Warwickshire,
ENGLAND, to begin writing material for what would become the first proper
Heaven & Hell studio album.
Following the initial writing session for "The Devil You Know",
the band spent the summer of 2008 on the road before relocating to Dio's
home studio in Los Angeles to finish writing. The first song they completed
there, "Bible Black" would become the album's first single.
The epic track about a book of sinister scriptures set the tone for the
rest of the session.
Released in April 2009, the aforementioned debut album "The Devil
You Know", quickly bulleted into the top 10 of The Billboard 200
and also charted in the top 20 in various European countries.
Sadly, Ronnie James Dio passed away on May 16, 2010, after a long bout with stomach cancer. He was 67.
