Ronnie and the Redcaps
Biography and Pictures
In 1957 some local Cortland school kids got together to form a band called The Vegas Kings. The members of the band where as follows. Ronnie Dio-Vocals, Bass, Trumpet. Nick Pantas-Guitars. Tommy Rodgers-Drums. Later on that year they added Jack Musci to play Sax, and they changed their name to Ronnie and the Rumblers. They chose the name Ronnie and the Rumblers because their "theme" song was Dwane Eddy's Rumble. They played at dances every weekend and on Sunday they would rent the local American Legion Hall and sell tickets and play for 2 or 3 hours. In 1958 they had a chance to play a bigger venue in Johnson City New York. The only catch was that they had to change their name because the organizer of the show did not like the name Rumblers. To Rumble means to fight so the organizer didn't want any scuffle's to arise. So They preformed under the name Ronnie and the Redcaps and the name stayed the same until late 1961. Continuing to play dances, halls, and fraternity party's at Cornell University the band kept busy. It is said that the Musicians Union at the time was getting upset because they were requested and play so many events that the "old timers" couldn't get any shows.
In 1959 either a member of the band or Jimmy Pantas, Nick Pantas's brother and manager of the band, became friends with somebody who owned a private recording studio in Trumansberg New York. This is where they recorded their first and only single on the Reb label. At about this time there was an addition to the band, a vocalist named Billy DeWolfe. He is said not to have had an important role in the band because he came and went and wasn't with the band long. Billy was however a part of the band when they recorded the Reb single. He is the vocalist "Lover" on the A side of the single. He is also credited with writing the song. The song "Conquest" on the B side of the single is an instrumental written by Nick and Ronnie. Ronnie does play trumpet on this song. Both Ronnie and Jack play pretty good Brass on this song. It is unclear how many of these records were pressed but it is certainly under 500 and some sources say 100, even 50 is more accurate. The real recording date and release date is unknown at this time. Shortly after this record Billy Dewolfe left the band. Unfortunately Billy is in prison in Southern California, and has been there for more than half his life.
In there Freshman year in Collage in Buffalo, Ronnie and Jack were still playing on the weekends. In the Fall of 1960 Jack Musci's Father gave him an ultimatum, either quit the band or his father would stop paying for collage. In the Fall of 1960 Jack Musci left the band. Jack is currently a teacher/administrator in a Cortland area school system. After Jack left the band it is believed that Dick Bottoff joined the band as a second guitarist. In early 1961 they went into Riposo Studio's to record the second single as the Redcaps. This is the first record that Ronnie went by the name of Ronnie Dio. This would be the only single released by the current Ronnie Dio and the Redcaps line-up. It was released on the Seneca label, the A side was An Angel Is Missing and the B side was What'd I Say. This single isn't as rare as the Reb single but still limited quantities were pressed. The exact release date and recording date is unknown but it was probably released in late 1961. After this record they changed there name to Ronnie Dio and the Prophets.