Ronnie James Dio Cancer Fund To Benefit From Heavy Metal’s GATES Production in News

I know it’s an absolute cliche but it seems like only yesterday that Ronnie James Dio passed away and on the one-year anniversary of his death Heavy Metal magazine announced that the official soundtrack to its first web comic called “Gates”will be released sometime in the next few months with all proceeds going to Ronnie James Dio’s “Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund”.

Back in 1981 Ronnie James Dio while a member of Black Sabbath appeared on the soundtrack of the Heavy Metal film.

Heavy Metal Presents: Gates is the first production from heavy metal in over 10 years and they have worked with a variety of artists to create the new soundtrack and readers of the web comic are able to stream music from the comic while on their site. Simply get on over to gates.heavymetal.com to listen to the latest song “Is This Over Now?” by the hard rock band Inside The Black. The full soundtrack will be released for sale digitally on July 19, 2011. All net proceeds from the sale of the soundtrack will be donated to the Ronnie James Dio “Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund”.

“The Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund continues to work to raise money to fight cancer in Ronnie James Dio’s name and working with Heavy Metal makes perfect sense,” said Dean Schachtel, General Manager for Niji Entertainment Group.

The creator of Gates, Hal Hefner, adds, “The 1981 soundtrack, and the music of Ronnie James Dio in particular, had a significant impact on me as a young artist, and I am happy to not only be a part of paying tribute to Dio, but to contribute donations to his cancer fund. Ronnie and I are from the same area in New York and I also lost my dad to cancer, so this is very personal for me in many ways.”

Additionally, Hal Hefner and Heavy Metal are conducting a search for up and coming artists to have a song included on the soundtrack. Artists can submit their songs at this location. Submissions from a variety of genres is encouraged and will be accepted until June 10, 2011.