Editing Ronnie James Dio (section)

===Rainbow===
[[File:Rainbow in performance (27 09 1977 02 500b).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Dio (left) and [[Ritchie Blackmore]] performing with [[Rainbow (rock band)|Rainbow]] in 1977]]
{{main|Rainbow (rock band)}}

In the mid-1970s, Dio's vocals caught the ear of Deep Purple guitarist [[Ritchie Blackmore]], who was planning on leaving Deep Purple due to creative differences over the band's new direction. Blackmore invited Dio, along with [[Gary Driscoll]], to record two songs in Tampa, Florida, on December 12, 1974. Blackmore stated in 1983, "I left Deep Purple because I'd met up with Ronnie Dio, and he was so easy to work with. He was originally just going to do one track of a solo LP, but we ended up doing the whole LP in three weeks, which I was very excited about."<ref name="hotten">{{cite web|author=Hotten, Jon |title=The Dio Years |url=http://images.radcity.net/6340/2165303.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124161532/http://images.radcity.net/6340/2165303.pdf |archive-date=January 24, 2009 |url-status=dead |access-date=June 13, 2013 }}</ref> Being satisfied with the results, Blackmore decided to recruit more of Elf's musicians and form his own band, initially known as [[Rainbow (rock band)|Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow]]. They released the self-titled debut album ''[[Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow]]'' in early 1975. After that, Dio recorded two more studio albums ''[[Rising (Rainbow album)|Rising]]'' (1976) and ''[[Long Live Rock 'n' Roll]]'' (1978), the live album ''[[On Stage (Rainbow album)|On Stage]]'' and two archival live albums – (''[[Live in Munich 1977]]'' and ''[[Live in Germany 1976]]'') – with Blackmore. During his tenure with Rainbow, Dio and Blackmore were the only constant members. Dio is credited on those albums for all lyrical authorship as well as collaboration with Blackmore on musical arrangement. Dio and Blackmore split, with Blackmore taking the band in a more commercial direction, with [[Graham Bonnet]] on vocals and the album ''[[Down to Earth (Rainbow album)|Down to Earth]]''.