A memorial Ronnie James Dio gala is being planned for next year to mark the 10th anniversary of the iconic Dio, Rainbow and Black Sabbath singer's death, according to a recent interview with his widow, Wendy Dio. The musician died in 2010 from metastasized stomach cancer.

As revealed during the festivities at last week's 5th Annual Bowl for Ronnie event, the proposed gala will be somewhat of an award show involving the people closest to the late singer. It's also being planned to include a comedian, musical performances, as well as an appearance by the Ronnie James Dio hologram from the recent "Dio Returns" tour. Watch the video interview with Wendy and others down toward the bottom of this page.

"On 2/20/20, which is February 20th, 2020, we'll be doing the 10th memorial anniversary gala, and we'll be going through a lot of people that were in Ronnie's life and giving them an award," Wendy told The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show, as transcribed by Blabbermouth.

She continued, "We'll also have the [Ronnie James Dio] hologram. We'll have other bands playing. We'll have a comedian. It's gonna be a fun night at the Wiltern, off of Wilshire in Los Angeles. And we've got a lot of treats going on. In fact, tomorrow we get the first invitation out for the award show."

Elsewhere in the interview, Wendy offered an update regarding the upcoming documentary about Ronnie James Dio. While she warned that it would "probably take over a year to get through" all of the material involved, she did share some specifics regarding footage and photos recently uncovered.

"I found just recently a bunch of Super 8s from 1976 when Ronnie was in Rainbow, in Japan and in Australia," Wendy said. "I haven't seen 'em yet; I'm just having 'em redone. We've got photos of all of us when he was in [Black] Sabbath, when we were in Hawaii together. Because Geezer [Butler] and Ronnie were best friends, and we were best friends. So we all hung out together all the time."

That notion seems prescient, as Butler's wife, Gloria Butler, was present during the talk with Blair. Artist manager Adam Parsons also jumped in on the chat. Earlier this week, it emerged that rocker Dave Grohl was surprised to learn that Ronnie James Dio was once his neighbor. Further, next year will find four classic Dio records reissued.

Wendy Dio, Gloria Butler and Adam Parsons Talk to Eric Blair

Ronnie James Dio Albums Ranked

More From KZCD-FM