Anthrax’s Scott Ian tells a heartwarming story about metal god Ronnie James Dio: “He was just the nicest person you could ever meet”

Ronnie James Dio, one of metal’s most celebrated singers, would have turned 80 yesterday, July 10th. The singer passed away in 2010.

Scott Ian, guitarist of thrash metal legends Anthrax, told Metal Hammer magazine a heart-warming story about the late singer ahead of his birthday.

“I first met Ronnie in 1982, when he was with Black Sabbath. Sabbath were playing Meadowlands in New Jersey on the Mob Rules tour, and I got to meet him quickly after the show that night. We’d started Anthrax a year or so before, so I said, ‘I have a band, called Anthrax, we’re going to do an album, blah blah blah.’ He was really friendly and polite even though he had no idea who I was”, Ian tells and continues:

“So we’re backstage at Donington, and I see Ronnie standing there, and I’m, like, ‘Holy shit, it’s Ronnie James Dio. So I went over to him and we start talking. I say, ‘Actually, we met before…’ And he looks at me and goes, ‘New Jersey, Meadowlands, the Mob Rules tour, after the show, right?’ And I’m, like, ‘You remember that?’ And he went, ‘Yeah, you told me about your band Anthrax, how can I forget? It’s good to see you guys made it.

‘I had that energy in me even before we went onstage. Just the fact that Ronnie remembered meeting me and remembered the name of the band. He was just the nicest person you could ever meet.”