Wendy Dio, the wife and manager of the late Ronnie James Dio, said that the officially sanctioned band Dio Disciples are planning to record their debut album soon.

Tim “Ripper” Owens, Oni Logan, Craig Goldy, Brjorn Englen, Scott Warren and Simon Wright are expected to start studio sessions in the near future.

“We’re just about to sign a record deal with BMG for them to start making a new record,” Wendy Dio told 96.7 KCAL-FM in a new interview. “All new material. They’re written about five songs already.” No release date has been set yet, but he said she's "going for a meeting with them next week, so I will know in a few weeks ... to go over the marketing plan and when they think that they should have the record out.”

You can listen to the interview below.

Dio was there to talk about the annual Ride for Ronnie, which takes place to mark Ronnie James Dio’s death in May 2010, while raising funds and awareness of cancer precautions, particularly among men. “Early detection does save lives,” Wendy said. “If we’d have caught it early, maybe he would have been with us today.”

She also confirmed that the Dio hologram would tour the U.S. in 2019, noting that “new tracks” would be included in the performance. Last month, she said that the European tour had been “very, very well received,” but added that she’d been unhappy with some of the details of the projected image. “His eyes and his eyebrows are not quite right to me," she explained. "So we're back on the drawing board right now. And we're hoping it will go out again probably the beginning of next year, and we will hit Canada and America. But it has to be right first.”

More From 100.7 KOOL FM