Long live rock and roll.

On Sunday, May 16, Ronnie James Dio died. Stomach cancer killed him. Fuck you, stomach cancer.

For those who don’t know Dio, he was an unbelievably great hard rock singer and a primary creative force behind one of my favorite albums of all time, Rainbow’s Long Live Rock and Roll. He was also the lead singer on Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell, another killer album from days gone by.

For me, Dio was everything a hard rock singer should be. He had range, power, pitch and ‘tude. And from everything I’ve read, he was a very, very warm and decent human being. What a loss.

To honor his passing, I’m going to listen to a lot of his music today. Man on the Silver Mountain, LA Connection, Wishing Well and, of course, Long Live Rock and Roll.

As Slash said, "Ronnie died at 7:45 a.m. this morning, but his music will live for eternity."