Metal Icons Contribute to Dio Tribute Album, Cancer Fund
Legendary metal vocalist and band leader Ronnie James Dio died in 2010 after a battle with stomach cancer, but his legacy lives on, through not only his music, but also the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.
Both have come together in the the compilation album, This Is Your Life, which features metal luminaries performing Dio’s songs from all eras of his long career (he sang with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell and his own eponymous band, Dio) to benefit the fund.
Metal bassists abound on the record, with Lemmy and Motorhead (with Biff Byford) performing “Starstruck,” Rudy Sarzo and his fellow remaining players in Dio handling Rainbow’s “Catch the Rainbow,” and Killswitch Engage’s 2006 hit cover version of “Holy Diver” featuring bassist Mike D.
Metallica, with Rob Trujillo on bass, contributes a nine-minute medley of four Rainbow songs — “A Light In The Black,” “Tarot Woman,” “Stargazer,” and “Kill The King” — called the “Ronnie Rising Medley.”
And, Anthrax (Frank Bello, bass) does a turn with Black Sabbath’s “Neon Nights.” Other artists on the record include The Scorpions, Tenacious D, Adrenaline Mob, and Rob Halford. The album concludes with the original Dio version of the title song, “This Is Your Life,” originally released in 1996.
The album is available on CD and digital formats (iTunes and Amazon MP3.)
This Is Your Life Track List:
- Neon Knights – Anthrax
- The Last In Line – Tenacious D
- The Mob Rules – Adrenaline Mob
- Rainbow In The Dark – Corey Taylor, Roy Mayorga, Satchel, Christian Martucci, Jason Christopher*
- Straight Through The Heart – Halestorm
- Starstruck – Motorhead with Biff Byford
- The Temple Of The King – Scorpions
- Egypt (The Chains Are On) – Doro
- Holy Diver – Killswitch Engage
- Catch The Rainbow – Glenn Hughes, Simon Wright, Craig Goldy, Rudy Sarzo, Scott Warren
- I – Oni Logan, Jimmy Bain, Rowan Robertson, Brian Tichy*
- Man On The Silver Mountain – Rob Halford, Vinny Appice, Doug Aldrich, Jeff Pilson, Scott Warren
- Ronnie Rising Medley (Featuring A Light In The Black, Tarot Woman, Stargazer, Kill The King) – Metallica
- This Is Your Life – Dio