Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund Commemorates 10th Anniversary with Memorial Awards Gala and Live Concert

Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund Commemorates

10^th Anniversary with Memorial Awards Gala and Live Concert

at The Avalon Hollywood Hosted By

Radio and Television Personality Eddie Trunk

Awards in Eight Categories Presented to Music Industry Honorees

by Rock Music Celebrities

The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, founded in memory of the late rock music legend, commemorated the 10^th anniversary of his passing and the formation of the charity with its 10^th Anniversary Memorial Awards Gala held on February 20, 2020 at the Avalon Hollywood. Hosted by radio and television personality Eddie Trunk, the organization recognized honorees in eight categories—each named after songs written by Ronnie James Dio–who have played a role in either Dio’s legacy or that of the charity.

Eddie Trunk (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Live entertainment was provided by Ronnie James Dio’s live band Dio, featuring vocalists Tim “Ripper” Owens and Oni Logan, and band members Simon Wright, Craig Goldy, Scott Warren and Bjorn Englen, and highlighted by the vocals and visuals of Ronnie James Dio. Los Angeles comedian Brian Posehn, in addition his comedic duties, performed a song from his upcoming GRANDPA METAL album accompanied by Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Joey Vera (Armored Saint, Fates Warning), while local rockers Sadie & the Tribe opened the festivities with their set.

Dio band performs

(photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Sadie and the Tribe (photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Comedian Brian Posehn (center) performed a song with musicians Scott Ian and Joey Vera (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Magician Danny Magic (right) demonstrated card tricks during the cocktail hour (shown wowing Suzy Cole, Global Head of Metal & Hard Rock at Apple Music) and auctioned off special guest packages to the Magic Castle in Hollywood to benefit the Dio Cancer Fund (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

10^th Memorial Awards Gala honorees were as follows:

Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach (far right) presented the Master of the Moon Award to BMG executives (from left), Jeff Christian, Director, Catalog; Senior Vice-President Michael Kachko; Thomas Scherer, Executive Vice-President, Repertoire & Marketing L.A., Global Writer Services & China; and Kathy Rivkin Daum Senior Director, Films (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, Dio) presenting the Magica Award to Wyn Davis, Ronnie James Dio’s Long-Time Recording Engineer and Owner of Total Access Recording Studios (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Quiet Riot’s Frankie Banali (left) presented the Rainbow in the Dark Award to Rainbow Bar & Grill and Whisky a Go Go owner Mikael Maglieri

(Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Singer Glenn Hughes presenting the Sacred Heart Award to Dr. David Wong Professor and Associate Dean for Research, UCLA School of Dentistry and Director for UCLA Center for Oral/Head & Neck Oncology Research (COOR) for his work in developing a non-invasive saliva test for the early detection of cancer, which has been supported by the Dio Cancer Fund (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Fred Coury of Cinderella presented the Killing the Dragon Award to Laura Heatherly, CEO of the T.J. Martell Foundation, which is dedicated to funding innovative medical research focused on finding treatments and cures for cancer, leukemia and AIDS (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Doug Aldrich (Dead Daisies, Dio) presented the Holy Diver Award to Rhino Entertainment/Warner Music Group executives Mark Pinkus, President, Rhino Entertainment & U.S. Catalog; Jason Elzy, Vice President, Communications & Marketing, Rhino Entertainment; Brian Dodd, Manager, Global Artist Brand Management, Rhino Entertainment and Jason Day, Vice President, A&R, Rhino Entertainment. (Not present and Kevin Gore, Kevin Gore, President, Global Catalog, Recorded Music & Arts Music, Warner Music Group) (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Robbie Crane of Black Star Riders (left) presenting the King of Rock ‘n Roll Award to Barry Drinkwater, Executive Chairman, Global Merchandise Services Ltd. (Photo by Gene Kirkland)

A special award was presented by Terry Ilous (Great White, XYZ) to Oliver Shokouh, owner of Harley Davidson Glendale, in recognition of his continued support and dedication to the annual RIDE FOR RONNIE Motorcycle Ride and Concert, now in its 6^th year. It will take place on Sunday, May 17, 2020.

Wendy Dio greeted Oliver Shokouh of Harley Davidson Glendale before surprising him with a special award (Photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Terry Ilous on carpet prior to presenting special

award to Oliver Shokouh (Photo by Craig Newman)

Frankie Banali addressed the crowd in an impassioned speech, revealing that he had postponed his latest chemotherapy treatment in his own battle with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer in order to attend the Gala. (photo by Stephanie Cabral)

Some 300 VIP attendees, among them Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath and his wife/manager Gloria Butler, newly installed Metal Blade Records President Tracy Vera, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue, Ricky Warwick (Black Star Riders), John Bush (Anthrax, Armored Saint), Marty O’Brien (Lita Ford) and Rita Haney, who revealed her own recent cancer diagnosis in an interview, were treated to a gourmet dinner with wine pairings and luxury Dio Cancer Fund branded gift bags. A major silent auction and a raffle comprising unusual items and entertainment memorabilia created frenetic bidding and brought in additional revenue. Among the most popular were the luxury 6-night All-Inclusive South African Photo Safari for two at the 5-star Ezulwini Safari Lodges in Greater Kruger National Park, the oceanview cabin for next year’s “Monsters of Rock” cruise from Fort Lauderdale, FL, the 3-night stay at the magnificent two-acre Grand View Manor nestled amid the orange groves outside the quaint old town of Ojai, 10 hours of recording studio time to record, mix, and master a demo at Wyn Davis’ Total Access Studio, a bass guitar with a handpainted portrait of Geezer Butler and the specially designed diamond-studded one-of-a-kind vintage Rolex Datejust watch from the 1960’s dubbed DIO’s Sacred Heart Timepiece created especially for the Dio Cancer Fund Gala by www.darktriumph.com.

Paul Fazio of DarkTriumph with the one-of-a-kind Dio Sacred Heart Rolex he designed for the silent auction

Hand-painted Geezer Butler bass guitar

Supporting the evening’s festivities were (from left) Rita Haney, Metal Blade Records President Tracy Vera; Gloria Butler, Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath and musician Joey Vera (Photo by Craig Newman)

The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund would like to thank those who so generously donated to the Gala and Silent Auction, including Metallica’s Blackened American Whiskey, Road Radios, XIV Karats Ltd., 95.5 KLOS. Al Bane for Leather, Arbonne/Diana Hufford & Pam Lane, BMG, Burn Cottage Vineyards/Marquis Savage, DarkTriumph.com/Paul Fazio, Diana Lundin, Evoke Candles/Gina Glocker, Ezulwini Safari Game Lodges, Gene Kirkland, Glen LaFerman, Global Merchandising Services, Gloria and Geezer Butler, Grand View Manor/Wendy Dio, Jake Berry, Jeanette Poretta, John Wiseman, Kelly Chapman, Kings Care Foundation, Law Tigers, Marc Sasso, Monsters of Rock Cruise/Larry Morand, Niji Entertainment Group, Inc., PG Brunelli, Pinz Bowling Center, Q Prime/Warren Christensen, Quik Impressions Printing Co./Rick Smolke, Rainbow Bar & Grill/Mikeal Maglieri, Rhino Records/Warner Music Group, Rock of Ages Hollywood, Roclord Studio, Ron Sobel, Scot Kaufman, Silver Lining Music/Serena Furlan & Rod Kukla, South Bay Rocks/Lynn Ring, Studio 92/Robyn Richardson, The Strength Code, Topo Chico Sparkling Mineral Water/Cynthia Roman, TruLou Yachts, Wyn Davis/Total Access Studio AND ALL OF THE AMAZING VOLUNTEERS!!

The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund was founded in memory of the legendary rock singer Ronnie James Dio, who lost his life to gastric cancer in 2010. A privately funded 501(c)(3) charity organization dedicated to cancer prevention, research and education, the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund has already raised over $2 million in its short history. Monies raised have been committed to the cancer research work of the T. J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, AIDS and Leukemia Research, the gastric cancer research unit of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where Ronnie was treated for gastric cancer during the last six months of his life, and other cancer research projects. Since 2016, the Dio Cancer Fund has also committed funds to support the research of Dr. David Wong and his team at the UCLA School of Dentistry in developing a simple, non-invasive saliva test for the early detection of cancer, which is in keeping with the Fund’s mission of cancer prevention, research and education.