As most metal fans know, Heaven and Hell/Black Sabbath/Dio vocalist and national treasure Ronnie James Dio has been sidelined since last year with stomach cancer. His wife and manager Wendy has issued an update as to his condition on Dio’s official Web site:

After a few hiccups between Christmas and New Year’s, such as a blood clot, a trip to the emergency room, and a three day stay at the hospital, we had a quiet holiday spent with family and close friends. Ronnie and I just returned from Houston, where Ronnie had his third chemo treatment, and all seems to be going well. Ronnie and Simon Wright went to see Avatar, which he thought was amazing! He has also been writing more chapters for his book. The support we get from all of our friends and fans is such a blessing to Ronnie and I.

She adds that along with Heaven and Hell members Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Vinny Appice, Dio will be doing interviews in the coming weeks for a 30th anniversary Heaven and Hell DVD to be released later this year. She also mentions that even though he’s been getting chemo, he hasn’t lost any hair yet.

We’re big Dio fans here. While many artists continue on way past their performance peak and relevancy, Dio still had an amazingly powerful voice when we saw him last year, and is an excellent frontman. He has our wishes for a speedy recovery.