News.RttP{Black Sabbath to begin writing new material in March.}

The official web site of legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio has been updated with the following message:

"If you've been wondering what Ronnie is up to, wonder, no longer: After taking some well-deserved time off after last year's monster world tour, Ronnie will be heading off to the UK in March to begin writing the new record with the guys. Tony Iommi [guitar] will then travel to L.A. to reunite with Ronnie, Geezer [Butler, bass] and Vinny [Appice, drums] to continue working on the record during April and May. Then Ronnie will take a break during the summer to play a few special up-close-and-personal dates for the DIO fans."

Upcoming DIO shows:

May 27 - Birmingham, UK – Academy (w/ GIRLSCHOOL)
May 28 - London, UK - Astoria (w/ GIRLSCHOOL)
May 30 - Oslo, Norway - Sentrum Scene
May 31 - Karmoy, Norway - Kopervik Festival
Jun. 02 - Malmö, Sweden - KB Halle
Jun. 03 - Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser
Jun. 04 - Gothenburg, Sweden – Tradgarn
Jun. 06 - Oulu, Finland - Teatria
Jun. 07 - Lahti, Finland - Water & Rock Festival

DIO's last release was the "Holy Diver Live" CD, featuring a performance of the classic "Holy Diver" album in its entirety, from start to finish, recorded live for the very first time in 2005 in front of a sold-out London crowd. It also includes, among others, "Heaven & Hell", "Sign of the Southern Cross" and "Mob Rules" from vocalist Ronnie James Dio's BLACK SABBATH days, "Tarot Woman", "Man on the Silver Mountain" and "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" from the RAINBOW era and "We Rock" from his solo career.

Black Sabbath played the final show of its U.S. tour with ALICE COOPER and QUEENSRŸCHE on October 6, 2007 at the Verizon Wireless in Irvine, California. Before the encore, Indie 103.1's Full Metal Jackie presented the band with gold plaques on stage to honor U.S. sales in excess of 25,000 copies of the group's "Live at Radio City Music Hall" DVD. Vocalist Ronnie James Dio thanked the fans for their support, then dedicated the encore song ("Neon Knights") to veteran KNAC DJ Tawn Mastrey, who died in early October of liver failure brought on by hepatitis C.