Frontiers Music Srl is pleased to announce the signing of Last In Line, featuring original Dio members, Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice, Jimmy Bain and Claude Schnell, along with vocalist Andrew Freeman.
When he left Black Sabbath in early 1982 to form his own band, the late, great Ronnie James Dio took powerhouse Black Sabbath drummer, Vinny Appice with him.
Ronnie knew that he wanted a European flavor 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 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. Beginning 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 Andrew 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.
Frontiers plans to release the new recording in the spring of 2015.
31 Responses
Hold on a second, doesn’t Vivian HATE the music he did with Dio. Hasn’t he taken every opportunity to put down both Dio and the music? I can’t really stomach this one.
Angus calls the shots in AC/DC, I’m sure Malcom signed off the duo final say word because of his condition. Right about most bands, the original guy/guys get the big percentage and final say on anything, the rest are smaller percentages or just weekly waged like Jake with Ozzy or anybody in Dio.
I am not sure if Viv could have reached the levels of stardom he did without being in a band like DIO. One will never know, to be sure. Sweet Savage might have gotten signed with him in the band, or maybe he might have found another original band and gotten signed. But would it have as big as DIO was? Personally, I doubt it. He had a chance in the mid 80s to put something new together, instead he joined Whitesnake. How long did that last? 1 year? I wish him the best, and he is talented. He is also his own worst enemy.