Ronald James "Dio" Padavona was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Italian-American parents from Cortland, New York. His family moved to Portsmouth from Cortland as part of his father\'s service in the U.S. Army during World War II and they resided there for only a short time before returning to Cortland. Padavona listened to a great deal of opera while growing up, and was influenced vocally by American tenor Mario Lanza. His first formal musical training began at age 5, learning to play the trumpet. Padavona participated in his high school\'s band program and was one of the youngest members selected to play in the school\'s official dance band.[citation needed] It was also during high school that Padavona formed his first rock-n-roll group, The Vegas Kings. He soon changed the name of his band to "Ronnie and the Rumblers" and shortly thereafter to "Ronnie and the Red Caps". Though Padavona began his rock-n-roll career on trumpet, he added singing to his skillset and also assumed bass guitar duties for the groups.[citation needed]\n', '

Padavona graduated from Cortland High School in 1960. He was allegedly offered a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music but did not take up the offer due to his interest in rock music. Dio instead attended the University at Buffalo to major in pharmacology. He played trumpet in the university\'s concert band; however, he only attended university from 1960 to 1961 and did not graduate.\n', '

Despite being known for his powerful singing voice, Padavona claimed to have never received any vocal training. He instead attributed his singing ability to the use of breathing techniques he learned while playing trumpet.\n', '

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