In what appears to be a first for rock’n’roll, a dead artist is set to embark on a headlining world tour. Ronnie James Dio, the former Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio singer who died in 2010, is to embark on a worldwide trek in holographic form, fronting the Dio Disciples.

Dio Disciples features former members of Dio, alongside three additional singers, but for part of the show Dio will front the band himself. The Dio hologram first performed at last year’s Wacken Open Air festival in Germany and made its US debut at the Pollstar Live! awards in Los Angeles.

The hologram was created by the company Eyellusion, with the backing of Dio’s widow and manager, Wendy Dio.

Eyellusion’s Jeff Pezzuti told axs.com that a new Dio hologram would be created for the tour. “The tour is currently being routed and we are hoping to make an announcement for an end-of-year kickoff in the coming months,” he said. “This is not just about the US. It is truly a world tour. Ronnie’s fans are spread around the world and we intend to bring this exciting show to as many as we can. The show will not only feature Ronnie and his band but also live singers like Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens [formerly of Judas Priest] and others to complete the overall show vision.”

At the Wacken Open Air festival last summer, the Dio hologram made its live debut, performing the song We Rock. “It was very surreal,” the Dio Disciples guitarist Craig Goldey told Rolling Stone of his first encounter with the hologram, at a rehearsal. “I could see him – he was moving and singing – but I couldn’t touch him. It was surreal almost to have him here again.”

Hologram world tours have previously been announced, but never come to fruition. In 2015 it was announced that Whitney Houston would go on the road in holographic form, but a leak of a duet with Christina Aguilera, which suggested the hologram was not up to scratch, led to the withdrawal of the Houston hologram by her estate.

Last April it was announced that a Judy Garland hologram would tour the world in 2017, but tour dates have been conspicuous by their absence.