Has anybody actually nailed down exactly what Dio's range is?
The other day I decided to look online and I just laughed. There were people claiming he had 4-octaves, 6-octaves, 8-octaves.... I just had to laugh. He actually didn't use a very wide range, and he smoked cigarettes. He claimed he had no real vocal training, although he learned to breathe correctly from playing the Trumpet as a child, and he spent YEARS imitating the famous Italian tenor Caruso from his parents records as a child and teenager. When he was younger he definitely had a much higher range and tone if you will listen to the Butterfly Ball material (Roger Glover). This material was recorded during the tail end of Elf and the start of Rainbow.
They could have potentially recorded it a little slower and sped it up during mastering, which was a fairly common practice during the 70's and 80's, to allow singers to hit certain notes.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sn1UqbbbqQ

(I couldn't get the video to post.)


I'm just wondering if anybody has actually figured out his range. IIRC, Robert Lunte posted on Facebook around the time that RJD was eaten by a dragon, that the range that Dio sang in for most of his career was fairly limited - but his range was strongest where the rest of us tend to be weakest, right through the Passagio.... which is kind of funny if you think about it.



Tim

Well, there is range video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvaeHL6KgKQ

Look up therangeplace on youtube and watch the elitist ******* tell you his range (and how they are the greatest singers in the world).

He pretty much sticks between that C4-C5 zone 99% of the time, but boy does he own that octave!