Since early 2011, there’s been plenty of talk about a star-studded Ronnie James Dio tribute album.

Well, it looks like 2012 will be the year it finally arrives. And the list of artists lined up to honor the late solo singer and onetime Black Sabbath and Rainbow frontman is quite impressive: Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Ian Gillan (Deep Purple), Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead) and Dave Grohl (Nirvana and Foo Fighters), among others.

Spearheading the project is Dio’s widow, Wendy, who was the singer’s longtime manager up to his death on May 16, 2010, at age 67 after a battle with stomach cancer.

Speaking about the tribute album’s participants at last month’s Dimebash (an event honoring late Pantera/Damageplan guitarist Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott), Wendy Dio said, “I’m letting them pick what songs they wanna do in the way they wanna do it.”

Halford will reportedly cover ‘Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll,’ the title track to Dio’s last album with Rainbow, while Grohl is set to tackle ‘The Mob Rules,’ the title track to the second Black Sabbath album with Dio as its singer.