Ok, then let's just agree that Ronnie's exact birthdate is shrouded in the mists of time! He's probably 66 in a few months ... To entice some further speculation:
"There is a long-standing dispute regarding Dio's age. His most likely birth date is listed above as July 10, 1942. Dio himself has said in the past that he was born July 10, 1949 and, at other times, outright refused to give the year of his birth. The general consensus is that the 1942 date is probably correct, due to the following:
He was in his first band in 1958, which means that if the 1949 date were correct, he would have been 9 years old. This would be unlikely, but not impossible. (Dio has also said that he started his first group around age 10). According to classmates from his high school, and reportedly also a yearbook, Ronald James Padavona graduated from Cortland High School in 1960. His first band photos, with "Ronnie and the Red Caps" from ca. 1960 or 1961[1], are also widely circulated on the Internet. In the photo, he looks to be somewhere in his mid teens, and probably older than the 12 years old he would have been, if the 1949 birth date were correct.
British/Australian singer Graham Bonnet, who replaced Dio in Rainbow, has said that Ronnie is younger than he. Bonnet was born September 23, 1947. However, in a 2005 interview, while discussing guitarist and former bandmate, Ritchie Blackmore, Dio said that Ritchie "isn't that much younger" than him. Blackmore was born in 1945. Online public records searches (done in 2005) list Dio as 64 years old under the name "Ronald Padavona" and as 57 years old under the name "Ronnie James Dio". Another search shows a "Ronald and Wendy Padavona" in Studio City, CA (presumably a business address), ages 64 and 58 (as of February, 2006), which would fit with the assumed birth years of 1942 and 1947 for Dio and his wife, Wendy. This also suggests that Dio's legal name is still Ronald Padavona. Interestingly, Blackmore has said that Ronnie is younger than him at other times, although this could easily be attributed to Dio's maintaining a false birth date that Blackmore (and others who know Dio) assumed was correct.
As a result, most of Dio's fans agree that the 1942 date is the most likely the correct one. The 1949 date is second most likely. 1944 is another possible date, and 1947, 1940, 1939, and even 1937 have been suggested[citation needed], but there is no real evidence to back these dates up. The age of Ronnie and his son also builds the case for 1942, although a 20 year age difference was not that rare in the 1960s. In one interview, Dio was very emphatic about the 1949 year, saying, "Well, I was born in '49, and I never told anybody anything other than that."
I never understood why it was an issue to him, he was hardly ever a teen idol. When I saw him with Rainbow in 1976 and 77, he certainly looked and acted in his whole demeanor more like a person well past past thirty rather than as a twenty-something. He appeared to be very much the elder of everyone on stage, including Blackmore. Neither Elf (an underrated band if there ever was one), nor Rainbow nor Black Sabbath much less Dio had ever teeny bopper appeal or potential. Dio was never in danger of having to be an eternal youth like David Cassidy.
I only saw him with Heaven & Hell last year - his voice can still carry a hall and his stage moves haven't changed either. I wish him well for his next birthday, may it be the 66th or the 57th ...
Uwe
