Wendy Dio, widow and manager of Ronnie James Dio, revealed an unusual habit the late singer had: writing songs while watching sports.
During an appearance on the podcast 100 Songs That Define Heavy Metal, Wendy answered whether Ronnie only wrote the lyrics or if he also created the melodies for his songs. She confirmed that the musician did everything, especially when he watched American football and baseball games.
“People think Ronnie was just a lyricist. He wasn’t, he also wrote the music. He played trumpet for many years. He played guitar, he played bass – in ELF. He would sit and write songs, watching sports with his guitar in his lap. And he always did this while watching baseball or American football games, because he said that gave him inspiration, and without stealing someone else’s music,” he stated [transcription via Blabbermouth].
Regarding the vocalist's approach to creating verses and choruses, Wendy highlighted the literary influences and the freedom of interpretation that Ronnie James Dio liked to leave to his fans. To exemplify this, she used the hit "Holy Diver".
“He used to read a lot of science fiction books. And, I don’t know, things just came up. I mean, things like ‘Ride the tiger. You can see his stripes, but you know he’s clean.’ Whatever he was writing, it was a way for someone to interpret their own feeling about what the song was about. He knew what the song was about. But he liked people to interpret it however they wanted.”
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