Band Line Up 2013

Ronnie knew that he wanted a European flavour to balance-out the band, so he asked his former Rainbow bandmate and Scottish native, bassist Jimmy Bain to join him. In turn, Jimmy recommended a young Irish guitarist, Vivian Campbell to complete the line-up. When the four of them met and played for the first time in a North London rehearsal room in September 1982, the magic was evident and the the classic Dio band line-up was born.

Between 1983 and
1985, in quick succession, that line-up wrote, recorded and toured the first
three Dio albums. Widely considered to be the crown jewels of the Dio
catalogue, Holy Diver, Last In Line and Sacred Heart went on to sell millions
as the band, now reinforced by keyboard player, Claude Schnell, played to
audiences worldwide.

By 1985, however,
trouble was brewing and the fabric of the band had started to unravel. Begining
with Vivian Campbell’s firing during the Sacred Heart tour, one by one the
other original band members left the fold and slowly the magic was lost.

30 years after
the recording of Holy Diver, and without trying to replace the singular sound
that was Ronnie’s voice, the original band have started playing the songs they
created together again. Joined by the passionate, powerful and unique voice of
vocalist Andy Freeman, Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude
Schnell have united under the name of their classic album, Last In Line, to
perform and tour their original songs again.

When any group of
musicians write and record together, they create a sound that becomes uniquely
theirs. Last In Line brings to life those early, classic Dio albums in a way
that only they know how. In a way that only they can.