Despite the fact that Iron Maiden has had five different vocalists over the years, everyone knows that Bruce Dickinson is the true lead singer of the legendary band. For starters, the first two vocalists, Paul Day and Dennis Wilcock, appear on zero recordings, leaving them to fade into obscurity, while the other two vocalists, Paul Di’Anno and Blaze Bayley, only appeared on two albums each. Dickinson has been the vocalist for 13 Maiden albums.
In a recent interview in the latest issue of Record Collector magazine (which was reported on by Metal Injection), Dickinson talked about the experience of seeing the band live before he took over as vocalist from Paul Di’Anno. It’s an interesting look at how the band first crossed paths with their most iconic singer.
The first time I saw Maiden was at what was then the Music Machine in Camden. Samson [Dickinson’s band before Iron Maiden] were headlining because our management had bankrolled the gig and said, ‘We want the top slot,’ although we didn’t really deserve it. That became obvious when Maiden came on because the whole place was rammed. I’d heard rumors about how good they were, and I thought I’d better see them. When they came out, I thought, ‘I’ve never seen Deep Purple, but this is what it must have felt like to see Deep Purple in their prime, rocking up a storm.’”
Regarding Di’Anno’s vocal performance, Dickinson didn’t consider it the most impressive part of the band’s set:
“He was okay, but he didn’t have a lot of flex to his voice. I thought his voice had come as far as it was going to get.”
But, even still, Dickinson’s first thoughts about seeing Maiden revolved around wanting to take over as vocalist from Di’Anno, an aspiration he, obviouisly, would eventually fulfill:
“I saw what the rest of the band were capable of straight away, and I remember thinking, ‘Good God, I’d love to front that band.’ And as soon as they finished playing, everybody in the venue left and we were headlining to about three people.”
And the rest, as they say, is history. Di’Anno’s drug usage became a liability for the band, and he was ultimately fired for it with the band already having his replacement lined up. It was a very lucky break for Dickinson, but also a lucky break for Maiden as they managed to get a more dynamic vocalist who would make them a household name.
