42 Years of Holy Diver Dio’s Metal Legacy Rocks On #music #rockmusician #dio

May 25, 1983 – Dio: Holy Diver is released. # ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 5/5 Holy Diver is the debut album from Dio, released on May 25, 1983. It reached #56 on the Billboard 200 Top Albums chart, and #13 on the UK Albums chart. Despite recording two hit studio albums with Black Sabbath (1980's Heaven and Hell and 1981's The Mob Rules) and playing throughout the world to huge crowds, Ronnie James Dio left the band in 1982-the year of his final release with Sabbath, the in-concert Live Evil. As soon as the announcement of his departure was made official, Dio began to put together his first solo project. Joining him were former Rainbow bandmate Jimmy Bain on bass, former Sabbath bandmate Vinny Appice on drums, ex-Sweet Savage guitar hero Vivian Campbell, and newcomer Claude Schnell on keyboards. The album quickly became a favorite worldwide and eventually earned the group platinum certification. The somewhat upbeat sounding "Rainbow in the Dark" was an MTV favorite, while the plodding title track proved to be another standout. Other album highlights include the opening anthem "Stand Up and Shout," "Invisible," and "Don't Talk to Strangers." Holy Diver proved that Dio's departure from Black Sabbath had not affected his spirits. In fact, he sounds most inspired here, aided by his new, hungry backing band. __________ COVER ART The cover was controversial, featuring what appears to be a devil killing a cleric. Dio was quick to argue that appearances are misleading, that it could just as easily be a priest killing a devil, wanting people not to "judge a book by its cover". The demon-like monster is the band's mascot known as "Murray" and is featured on several other Dio albums. When the "DIO" logo is viewed upside-down it can be interpreted as spelling either the word "DIE" or "DEVIL". Ronnie James Dio has called this purely coincidental. TRACKS: All lyrics written by Ronnie James Dio. Side one 1 Stand Up and Shout (Jimmy Bain, Dio) - 3:18 2 Holy Diver (Dio) - 5:51 3 Gypsy (Vivian Campbell, Dio) - 3:39 4 Caught in the Middle (Vinny Appice, Campbell, Dio) - 4:14 5 Don't Talk to Strangers (Dio) - 4:53 Side two 1 Straight Through the Heart (Bain, Dio) - 4:31 2 Invisible (Appice, Campbell, Dio) - 5:24 3 Rainbow in the Dark (Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio) - 4:15 4 Shame on the Night (Appice, Bain, Campbell, Dio) - 5:19

Added 16 Oct 2026