Neon Knights

"Neon Knights" is a song by British rock band Black Sabbath from 1980's Heaven and Hell, their first album with American vocalist Ronnie James Dio.

Overview

"Neon Knights" was the last song written by the band for the Heaven and Hell album. It was quickly written and recorded at Studio Ferber in Paris during January 1980 simply to fill time on the album's first side. The lyrics were written by Dio. It is the only song on Heaven and Hell to definitely feature songwriting input from bassist Geezer Butler, the band's main lyricist during the Ozzy Osbourne era. Butler was absent for most of the songwriting process due to his own uncertainty as to whether he wanted to remain in the band.

In the UK the first 25,000 copies had a picture-bag.

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Ronnie James

Ronnie James (8 October 1917 - 12 June 1977) was a former British Lightweight boxing champion. Born in Swansea, Wales, James had over 130 professional bouts winning 114 of them, 61 through knockout. In 1946 he challenged Ike Williams at Cardiff for the NBA Lightweight title, but lost the contest in the ninth round.

Boxing career

James' first recorded professional fight was on 21 January 1936 against local fighter Sid Williams. James then went on an unbeaten run of 52 contests before being stopped by Dave Crowley at the Empire Pool on 12 January 1936. Although many if the matches in his early career were against fairly inexperienced fighters, several notable opponents were faced; including wins over Welsh champions Boyo Rees and Terence Morgan; a draw with Southern area champion Dick Corbett and a victory against future NBA World champion Jackie Wilson.

After the Crowley contest, James began to face more challenging contests on a regular basis. James fought and lost against Spaniard Baltasar Sangchili, but then knocked out fellow Welshman Phineas John in the eighth round in October 1936. These bouts were followed with another points draw with Corbett. The end of 1936 through to 1937 saw James face a dearth of experienced challengers, before he met Cuthbert Taylor at St Helen's in Swansea. The match was won by James, which was followed by another victory, this time against Douglas Kestrell. The Kestrell fight was followed by a loss to Liverpool fighter Tony Butcher, who came off a twelve-match losing streak to stop James by a technical knockout in the sixth of a twelve-round bout in the Market Hall of Haverfordwest.

Ronnie James Dio

Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona; July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010) was an American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter. He fronted and/or founded numerous groups including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell. He is credited with popularizing the "metal horns" hand gesture in metal culture and is known for his medieval themed lyrics. Dio possessed a powerful versatile vocal range capable of singing both hard rock and lighter ballads; according to Rainbow/Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore upon hearing him sing, "I felt shivers down my spine." Dio sold over 47 million albums throughout his career.

Early years, education and musical training

Ronnie James Dio was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Italian American parents who had moved to Portsmouth from Cortland, New York, where they had grown up. The family resided in Portsmouth for only a short time before Dio's parents returned to Cortland. Dio listened to a great deal of opera while growing up, and was influenced vocally by American tenor Mario Lanza. His first and only formal musical training began at age 5 learning to play the trumpet. During high school, Dio played in the school band and was one of the youngest members selected to play in the school's official Dance Band. It was also during high school that Dio formed his first rock-n-roll group, the Vegas Kings (the name would soon change to Ronnie and the Rumblers, and then Ronnie and the Red Caps). Though Dio began his rock-n-roll career on trumpet, he quickly added bass guitar to his skillset once he assumed singing duties for the group.

Neon Nights

Neon Nights is the fourth studio album by Australian singer Dannii Minogue. It was released by London Records on 17 March 2003 and was primarily produced by Ian Masterson, Korpi & Blackcell, Neïmo and Terry Ronald. It was re-issued in November 2007 with a bonus disc of remixes and different artwork.

Background

It received a generally positive reception from music critics, some of whom complimented its mix of pop sophistication, club culture and accessibility, and some of whom felt as though its 1980s retro sound was too dated. It was Dannii's first studio album in six years since 1997's Girl.

In November 2001, Minogue released the single, "Who Do You Love Now?", a collaboration with Riva. Described by Sound Generator as a "nice serene and dreamy vocal on the dance floor anthem", the song peaked at number three on the UK singles chart, and reached number one on the dance charts.The song is widely regarded as Minogue's Comeback Song. In Australia, the song peaked at number fifteen, while in the United States the song was released to dance clubs, and reached number twelve on the United States' Billboard Dance Club chart. In 2001, Minogue signed a six album deal with London Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music International.

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell may refer to:

Literature

Music

Albums