Dio was born as Padavona circa 1941 in New Hampshire, but raised near Syracuse New York. Very early in his career the man changes his surname to Dio (though not legally apparently) which means 'God' in Italian and drops out of the University of Buffalo. Electric Elf (Elf until mid-1970) is known for featuring Dio (and at one time his cousin David Feinstein - later of The Rods). The band played oddly and jazzy heavy rock and had opened for Deep Purple and in fact released an album on Purple Records. The debut was even produced by Glover and Paice. The entire line up, minus poor Edwards, joins Ritchie Blackmore to become Rainbow. This after Blackmore had invited Dio to join him and other musicians in the studio record for a project band. Dio had spontaneously written an early version of Sixteenth Century Greensleeves for this single - which was never released. Carolina County Ball is the original and European title for the album that was released in the USA as L.A. 59. Elf had several singles like Rockin' Chair Rock 'N' Roll Blues and L.A. 59. The band had obviously split up well before Live arrived. The band moniker, reportedly, stems from the fact that guitarist Nick Pantas (Ronnie And The Prophets) had curled up boots that looked like an elf's! Others have asserted that the word 'elf' is a play on Dio's height. Manowar's Joey DeMaio and David Feinstein were once recruited to be part of an Elf reunion which was only a few shows long!