Ronnie James Dio left Black Sabbath in 1982 and put out his legendary debut solo effort Holy Diver in 1983. Though according to Dio's wife Wendy Dio, the history of heavy metal could've been very different. Wendy said in an interview with Full Metal Jackie that Dio had originally written both "Holy Diver" and "Don't Talk To Strangers" while in Black Sabbath, and took them with him when he left.
"Ronnie always did what he wanted to do. He never listened to what the record label wanted or anyone else. He always stuck to his guns in making the album. He hoped it would be successful. None of us realized how successful it was going to be. We really had been toying around with things and he had written 'Holy Diver' and 'Don't Talk to Strangers' during the time he was in Black Sabbath, so they were supposed to be Sabbath songs.
"When he left Sabbath, we had a solo deal for him and he just put those songs [on the album] and got the band together, wrote more songs and it came out. Everyone was blown away about the reception that we got and how great the album was and how it's stood [the test] of time. It'll be 40 years next year."
Dio fronted Black Sabbath between 1979 and 1982, and then again between 1991 and 1992. According to Dio-era drummer Vinny Appice in a recent interview, Dio "hated" singing the Ozzy-era songs and caught more than enough shit from fans about Ozzy's absence. "Ronnie had to put up with people in the front, like 'Where's Ozzy?' signs and all this 'Where's Ozzy?' stuff, and he had to do that. And he hated singing those songs — he hated singing 'Iron Man' and 'Sweet Leaf' and the Ozzy songs. That's why eventually Heaven & Hell years later, so we didn't play the old stuff anymore."
