Fabio Lione (born as FabioTordiglione 9 October 1973), is an Italian singer and lyricist who has worked with many bands in the Power metal genre. He is the current lead vocalist of Angra and Turilli / Lione Rhapsody He was also notably for 21 years as the singer of Italian Symphonic metal band Rhapsody of Fire, as well as the original singer of Labyrinth and Vision Divine.

He has been named as the best live singer in the world.

Fabio was born in Pisa. His career started in 1990 at the age of 17 when he began to sing with a small rock and roll underground group who played classics of 1950s and 1960s similar to Elvis Presley songs. He had a passion for groups such as Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, and Crimson Glory, which inspired him to form his own Heavy metal band.

His musical activities continued with a young group from Pisa, named Athena. They were a Progressive metal band with their own unique style and challenged various expressions. Fabio recorded a demotape with Athena and it was his first experience in a metal band. he did twenty shows with the band, but after two years, he left the band in 1994. Athena made their first album in 1995, "Inside the moon".

At first his stage name was Joe Terry which was the combination of his favourite heroes' names in Japanese games (Joe Higashi and Terry Bogard from Fatal Fury). His first piece of musical equipment was a Shure SM 58 microphone.

Labyrinth

Fabio met the band Labyrinth, then going under the name of "Vision". Shortly after, in 1993 the band started to work on a demotape called "Midnight Resistance". Before the album "No Limits" was released, he recorded the EP "Piece Of Time" with Labyrinth.

Fabio created the album No Limits together with Olaf Thörsen, a band member of Labyrinth, and later Vision Divine. His lyrics were mainly based on his personal experiences and his emotions. All the lyrics on the album were connected; Fabio did this as an experiment. Labyrinth's style was different from other bands because it was mixed with different music genres including Thrash metal and Progressive rock. He was the singer of Labyrinth for just more than three years.

Athena

He joined Athena in 1991 and in 1992 they recorded their first demotape. After several concerts he left the band in 1993 for a new collaboration, the one with Labyrinth. Athena called Fabio again in '97 ..so they could start work on their second album, "A New Religion" which was released in 1998. Fabio wrote the lyrics and the vocal lines for ten songs; the lyrics used religious and philosophical words and had the tendency to reflect deep meanings in their music. Fabio Lione and the other members of Athena attended on the Axel Rudi Pell Tour in December 1998 with Dreamscape, another Progressive metal band, from Germany. Shortly after the tour the band decided to break up.

Vision Divine

In 1999 he met Olaf Thorsen again and to seal their newfound friendship, they decided to create what was originally supposed to be only a side-project: Vision Divine. Fabio now found himself in the two groups: Rhapsody and Vision Divine, and this situation continued, with successes in both groups, until 2003. The first Vision Divine record, with the same name, from 1999 received excellent sales results and criticism, and took the band on tour in South America for the first time. The second album of Vision Divine, Send Me an Angel, was released in January 2002. Fabio composed eight vocal lines for this album. Their expressions became more serious and deeper, close to the reality of divinity and humanity with progressive and heavy sounds.

The first album of, Beto Vazquez Infinity, of the Beto Vazquez Infinity-project was released in February, including the song "The battle of the Past" in which Fabio was singing as a guest vocalist.

In 2003 Fabio sang at shows with Vision Divine at the biggest Italian Metal festival Gods of Metal 2003 (Milan) and at Heineken Jammin' Festival, at the Imola Autodrome, Italy in June. He then recorded four demo songs with Vision Divine in November and performed on an Italian Tour in December. Shortly after it was announced, that he had to leave the band, due to his other commitments making it too difficult to front this band as well. He nevertheless spent most of the year writing and left the band six new vocal lines for the "Stream of Consciousness" album, executed with a different singer, Michele Luppi (Whitesnake, Secret Sphere)

In 2008 Fabio took part in some shows with Vision Divine to celebrate the ten years of the band, and on May 28, they announced that Fabio had rejoined the band as the new singer. The band released the new CD "9 Degrees West of the Moon" in 2009 and did many shows, supporting the record.

In 2012 they released (with Edel/Earmusic) what is probably considered their best work so far, Destination Set to Nowhere, with many great reviews received. The band performed many shows in Italy, Spain and on a South-American tour, supporting the record.

Before the Angra concert on april 15, 2018, I had the opertunity to talk to Fabio, and he told me that all the vocals for a new Vision Divine CD where recorded, but nothing happened. -I can not do more than that, he stated. He departed from Vision Divine on April 28, 2018.

Rhapsody of Fire

In 1997, the most important and longest running moment began: becoming the lead vocalist of the Symphonic metal band Rhapsody. Rhapsody first began negotiations with Fabio at Gate Pathway Studio in Wolfsburg Germany, after hearing him in the "Piece of Time" album from Labyrinth.   Later that year, the first of many albums, Legendary Tales, was released with Fabio Lione as lead vocalist.

The second album, Symphony of Enchanted Lands, would be released in 1998, followed by Dawn of Victory in 2000.

The band participated in many concerts throughout their first years. Fabio also recorded a new EP Rain of a Thousand Flames with Rhapsody in Germany between April and August. The album was released in December 2001. Fabio performed on stages with Rhapsody at Gods of Metal 2001 (Milan) in June, during the South American Tour, (Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Chile) and at Rock Machina Festival (Spain) in July. After these concerts, Fabio and Rhapsody recorded their fourth album Power of the Dragonflame. The album was released in March 2002.

Rhapsody travelled with Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica on a successful European tour in April and May 2000 when they also had a chance to join the Wacken Festival 2000 in Germany. Fabio attended Rock Machina Festival in Spain in July. He set out on Rhapsody's first headlining tour (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan and Korea) and joined the summer festivals in Europe including the Bang Your Head Festival in Germany.

In February 2004, he finished vocals for Rhapsody's new album Symphony of Enchanted Lands II: The Dark Secret. The band went on promo tour for their new album throughout Canada, US, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, Greece, and the UK. On the album's release day, September 27, the band had a signing session with Christopher Lee in London. Fabio also appeared with Christopher Lee on a TV music program in Germany.      In 2005, because of copyright issues, the band officially changed its name to Rhapsody of Fire. Under the Nuclear Blast label they released two more albums and one EP and did a worldwide tour as well as many festivals.

Triumph or Agony was released in 2006, followed by The Frozen Tears of Angels in 2010 and From Chaos to Eternity in 2011. Rhapsody of Fire, with Fabio at its helm, went back to the studio without long time guitarist and founding member Luca Turilli, to record a new album, Dark Wings of Steel. The album was released in 2013.

In 2016, the band released the album Into the Legend. After a short tour promoting the album, Fabio announced on September 28 that he was parting ways with the band. From April 2017 to March 2018, he joined Luca Turilli and his former bandmates to tour the world as               Rhapsody Reunion on the 20th Anniversary Farewell Tour.

Kamelot

On 16 December 2010, the American power-metal band Kamelot announced that Fabio Lione would take over lead vocal duties for Roy Khan  (who suffered a burn-out) for Kamelot's tour, supporting their "Poetry for the Poisoned" release due to Khan's eventual departure from Kamelot. 70000 Tons of Metal was the last of 49 shows with them, in January 2012.

Angra

In January 2013, Fabio was again on the stage at 70000 Tons of Metal, but this time with Brazilian Progressive metal band Angra. The two shows were a great success and Fabio was again with them at the Live n' Louder Festival in São Paulo with Twisted Sister, Metal Church and Loudness. After that, the band decides to do a special tour, a commemorative one celebrating 20 years from the release of the first record "Angels Cry".      They celebrate 20 years of career with 11 shows in Latin-America and the release of a new DVD, recorded in the last show in São Paulo. After that Angra played in Japan as co/headliner at the Loud Park festival 13, with Stone Temple Pilots and Europe, and they had a very good response.       The commemorative tour continues with another 14 shows in Latin America and 4 shows in Europe, where the band performed at Hellfest in France, with Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, Aerosmith  and more. After that, they entered a studio in Sweden recording a new CD.

Angra announced that the band's new release, and the first album to feature vocalist Fabio Lione, entitled Secret Garden. The album was released by JVC in Asia on December 17, via Universal Music in Brazil and Edel Music in Europe both on January 16, 2015, and then later in USA, Canada and Russia. The album brings what the band has called "a true renewal in the style of the band." With production by legendary producer Roy Z (Judas Priest, Bruce Dickinson, (Iron Maiden) and Halford, and was recorded and produced in Sweden by Jens Bogren (Kreator, Arch Enemy, Opeth).

Eurobeat

Fabio's first Eurobeat song Eye of the Tiger was released in Japan in 2000. His name for the Eurobeat project was "J. Storm", deriving from        Joey Tempest. (Europe) He published thirteen Eurobeat songs (linked list on the videos page) under this name between 2000 and 2005 and has declared that he wouldn't be making anymore Eurobeat in the future. However, by the end of 2013 a new song was released called "Dancing into fire". One of his songs, "Dancing in My Dreams", was also used in Initial D Battle Stage.

Turilli / Lione Rhapsody

In 2018 Fabio joined the new Rhapsody-incarnation Turilli/Lione Rhapsody. While Fabio was still touring with Angra, Luca was busy with composing the new album. Luca had locked himself up for 3 months an came out with a new CD. On June 28 2019, there first album Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution) was released.

Albums

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