10 Best Replacement Singers Of All Time
9. Ronnie James Dio - Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath's journey to the top of the hard rock scene in the early '70s almost seems like an accident in retrospect. Compared to the more blues based players like Led Zeppelin, Sabbath's dark and oftentimes macabre storytelling felt like the perfect storm of weirdness, with Tony Iommi's riffs pairing perfectly with the shriek of Ozzy Osbourne's vocals. While Ozzy definitely benefited from going solo, Sabbath really did have the ultimate trade up story with Ronnie James Dio.
The best part about drafting Dio into the mix was that Sabbath didn't intend to get an Ozzy clone. These were clearly different players than they were on their debut, so Dio's bellowing voice was just the ticket for writing more grandiose material. Across every track on Heaven and Hell, you can hear Dio settling into the groove that Iommi is laying down, almost going full on power metal in places with songs like Neon Knights.
Though Ronnie only stuck around for another handful of records before deciding to strike out on his own, Sabbath remained friendly with him up until his final days, putting out one of the greatest retro metal albums of the modern age a few months before Ronnie's death with The Devil You Know. With fans in everyone from Dave Grohl to Lzzy Hale, this is the Sabbath that most metal fans deserve to have.