NEW YORK – Even as he endured grueling chemotherapy treatments to rid his stomach of cancer, Ronnie James Dio showed the fiery passion that made him a metal legend, flashing his famous devil's horns signal as he lay in a hospital bed.

"This hasn't really been a problem for me. Cancer? I'll kick the hell out of you," declared Dio in March in an interview with KIAH-TV in Houston, where he was being treated for the disease. "I refuse to be beaten in any shape or form so I'm going to beat you, too."

But on Sunday, Dio — whose famous wailing vocals gave Black Sabbath a second life — succumbed to the disease, at age 67.