The push continues for a Ronnie James Dio statue to be erected in his birthplace of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Dio (real name Ronald James Padavona) was born July 10th, 1942, in Portsmouth, where his famiy lived briefly before moving to New York.

According to Seacoastonline.com, City Councilor Nancy Pearson is asking the council to allow a city resident to attend their next meeting and make his pitch to install a statue in Prescott Park for one-time Black Sabbath and Rainbow frontman.

    “I’m all for having the discussion,” Pearson said Monday afternoon about the proposal. “It’s a different genre of art that we haven’t commemorated in the city.”

    Pearson is bringing the proposal forward on behalf of Portsmouth resident Brian Kelly, who started a petition in support of the statue for Dio, the late heavy metal music icon who was born in Portsmouth.

    In a May 25 letter to Mayor Jack Blalock and the City Council, Kelly points out that Dio “happens to be Portsmouth born, which is why I am writing you today.”

    “Ronnie James Dio died on May 16, 2010. His passing was marked this year by the meteor that exploded over Portsmouth, picked up by the Portsmouth Harbor webcam,” Kelly said in the letter. “I do not know if you are superstitious people, but I consider that a sign.”

    Kelly points out that nearly 5,000 people have signed a petition in support of the proposal.

    Kelly’s petition is online at this location.

    As of Monday afternoon, 4,801 people had supported Kelly’s proposal.

    Supporters have also started a GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/diofund to help raise money for the project.

    “We're aiming for $50,000, which sounds like a lot, because it is a lot,” Kelly said in a post about the fundraising drive. “We're aiming high because we don't want to stumble at the finish line, and should there be an overage, excess funds would be distributed to Dio's Stand Up and Shout fund for cancer research, and possibly to fund a scholarship to help a young rock-and-roller get his start.”

“We would love to see him him to be depicted as he was in the video for Holy Diver, sword in hand, ready to fight for the Arts and what is right,” Kelly’s petition states.

(Dio live photo by Håkon Grav)