Ronnie James Dio Tribute to Include Dave Grohl, Rob Halford, More

Ronnie James Dio's widow Wendy has been very active in keeping the legacy and memory of her iconic late husband alive, including the Stand Up And Shout fund that benefits cancer research. But what she's done so far is just the beginning.

While at a press Feb. 23 conference to announce the nominees for Revolver magazine's third annual Revolver Golden Golds Awards, Wendy -- who was on hand to celebrate the unveiling of the Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achievement Award -- told Noisecreep there is a tribute album in the works, among other things.

"Then we have a tribute record, which probably won't come out this year, but everybody signed up," Dio told Noisecreep. "Even today they were picking songs for which songs they're gonna do."

So, who's signed on thus far? "Rob Halford, Glenn Hughes, Dave Grohl, Lemmy," she said, adding Grohl will do the Black Sabbath hit 'Mob Rules,' and Halford will be taking on 'Long Live Rock 'n' Roll.' And artists keep coming on. "I just talked to Alice [Cooper], roped Alice in and Sebastian [Bach] and Chris [Jericho]," she said, referring to fellow attendees at the Golden Gods press conference. And Cooper already has a song in mind, going back to the Elf days, according to Wendy.

Before the tribute album, though, an auction will likely be held in October, where several signed guitars, among other items, will be sold by either Christie's or Sotehby's to raise money for the fund (Wendy has a goal of at least $10 million). The guitars and tribute album are part of the tremendous outpouring she's received from the music world.

"Oh, absolutely yes. I have a lot of support; everybody in the music business has been so amazingly supportive. I just couldn't tell you how much they've meant," she admitted. "Rob [Halford] called all the time -- all the time. It's like somebody puts their arms around me, it feels like that; so much love and so much caring for Ronnie. It's amazing."

Other friends of Ronnie's, Mötley Crüe, are receiving the first Ronnie James Dio Lifetime Achivement Award. "I don't think Ronnie could've chosen someone better," she said. "They were his friends. He loved them. He would've been proud."

Wendy said Ronnie would've been moved by the honor of having an award named after him. "He would have been humble about it; said, 'It shouldn't be me, it should be somebody else.' That's definitely what he would've said, but he would've been so very proud," she said.

But she admits being there, where he made his last public appearance before passing away last year, was hard for her. "Yeah, I miss Ronnie every single day, but I think of him a lot of times as he's on tour, 'cause a lot of times he's away all the times. So he's still on tour," said Wendy. "So it's kind of hard to think that he's actually gone, and I don't think about it, but when I come to these kind of events that he's not coming back, which is why we're talking about he's not here and he should be."

Watch Dio's 'Wild One' Video