Surviving HEAVEN & HELL Members To Pay Tribute To RONNIE JAMES DIO At HIGH VOLTAGE Festival

HEAVEN & HELL's 2009 album, "The Devil You Know", was honored in the "Best Album" category at this year's Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards, which was held earlier tonight (Monday, June 14) at the IndigO2 venue in South London, England. While accepting the award on behalf of HEAVEN & HELL, guitarist Tony Iommi announced he and the other surviving members of the band will pay tribute to the group's late singer, Ronnie James Dio, at the High Voltage festival on Saturday, July 24 at Victoria Park in London, U.K. Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice will take to the stage with guest vocalists and perform a 60-minute set of songs in memory of Dio, who sadly lost his fight against stomach cancer last month. Proceeds from their concert will go to the Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up and Shout" Cancer Fund.

It was previously announced that two major tribute concerts would be held to celebrate Dio's life and music. The gigs were to take place in London and Los Angeles.

There are also plans to hold annual events in the years to follow to honor Dio's memory and to raise money for cancer awareness and support.

More than 1,200 fans attended the public memorial service for Dio on May 30 at the Hall Of Liberty at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills in California. The service featured performances by QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, former DEEP PURPLE bassist Glenn Hughes, ANTHRAX vocalist Joey Belladonna and others. There were also personal tributes from Ronnie's family members, bandmates and business associates, including his wife and manager Wendy and his son Dan Padovona, who warned everyone to take care of themselves and get screened early for cancer, saying, "(Don't) make the same mistake my dad made."

According to the Associated Press, hundreds more gathered in the scorching heat outside the auditorium to watch the memorial on monitors.

Dio, regarded as one of metal's finest and most influential voices, sang with BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW and his own self-named band.

Dio's cousin David "Rock" Feinstein, who played with him in the band ELF, told the attendees, "I know that Ronnie truly loved all of you. He had a great appreciation for your loyalty. I'm talking about all you out there, all the fans."

A planned protest at the Dio memorial by the fringe Christian congregation of Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church was, according to one eyewitness, "cordoned off outside of Forest Lawn grounds proper and were small in number with an at least equal number of counter-protesters."

(Thanks: Thrashmonger)