Sacred Heart

Ronnie James Dio produced the third album himself at Rumbo Recorders, and Billboard reported that it cost him less than $100,000 to make. The same five musicians played on it, but Vivian Campbell later described sessions where, unlike on the first two albums, nobody wanted to stay around, and called it a difficult record to make; by his account, the idea for the charity project Hear 'n Aid came up while it was being recorded. "Hungry for Heaven" had already appeared in early 1985 on the soundtrack to the film Vision Quest. The cover was painted by Robert Florczak from an idea by Ronnie and Wendy Dio. Warner Bros. released Sacred Heart in the US on 12 August 1985, a day before the band's world tour opened in California, and Vertigo issued it in Britain. It peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and entered the UK chart at number 4, and the RIAA certified it gold on 15 October 1985. The single "Rock 'n' Roll Children" reached number 26 in Britain. Ronnie James Dio conceived the story of its video, which has no performance footage, and its budget was less than half that of the "Last in Line" clip; he explained that Warner Bros. in America and Phonogram elsewhere shared the costs. The tour, planned as 80 dates over five months, carried a two-storey fire-breathing dragon, a castle with a working drawbridge, laser-armed knights and a crystal ball showing holograms, and Ronnie James Dio put the cost of the stage set alone at about $200,000. In May 1986 Music Week reported that, in Britain, only the NEC had been able to stage the show at full scale. Sacred Heart was Vivian Campbell's last album with the band: he left in 1986, and later said he had been fired, and Craig Goldy, formerly of Rough Cutt and Giuffria, took his place.