Elf was a blues-rock band formed in upstate New York, USA, in 1967. The band was founded by vocalist/bassist Ronnie James Dio, guitarists David Feinstein and Nick Pantas, keyboardist Doug Thaler, and drummer Gary Driscoll. The band's original name was
The Electric Elves, which was later shortened to
The Elves (3), and, finally, Elf. In 1968, Pantas was killed in a car accident. Following the accident, Doug Thaler moved to rhythm guitar and Mickey Lee Soule joined as keyboardist. In 1972, Thaler dropped out of the group. The same year, the band cut their self-titled debut album, which was produced by
Ian Paice and
Roger Glover and saw Dio credited under his real name, Ronald Padavona. The following year, Craig Gruber was recruited on bass so that Dio could concentrate solely on vocals. At the same time, David Feinstein quit and was replaced by Steve Edwards. This line-up recorded two studio albums. In 1975,
Ritchie Blackmore recruited the entire band, minus Edwards, to join him in his new act,
Rainbow, effectively ending Elf.
Ronnie James Dio went on to a successful career in heavy metal, fronting
Rainbow,
Black Sabbath,
Heaven & Hell (2), and his own band,
Dio (2). David Feinstein also found a career in metal, leading the band
The Rods for a number of years. Original keyboardist Doug Thaler went on to a career in music management. Drummer Gary Driscoll was found murdered in his home in 1987. The crime remains unsolved.
In the 2000s, Dio spoke about the possibility of reuniting the band but this never came to pass as the singer succumbed to stomach cancer in 2010
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