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Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson in pilot outfit.
Bruce Dickinson in pilot outfit.
Background information
Birth name Paul Bruce Dickinson
Born August 7, 1958 (1958-08-07) (age 49) Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England
Genre(s) Heavy metal
Occupation(s) Musician, Author, DJ, Pilot
Instrument(s) Vocals, Guitar
Years active 1976 – present
Label(s) EMI
PHANTOM
Associated acts Iron Maiden
Samson
Website http://www.screamforme.com/
For the record producer in the Saturday Night Live skit, see More Cowbell. Events 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great. Year 1958 ( MCMLVIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Worksop is a town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest Nottinghamshire (abbreviated Notts) is an English county in the East Midlands, which borders South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created A disc jockey (also known as DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. An electric guitar is a type of Guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current which is made louder In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music – which operates several labels and is based in Kensington in For other uses see Iron maiden. Samson was a British Hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. Saturday Night Live ( SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American Sketch comedy / Variety show based in New York City " More cowbell " is an American pop culture Catchphrase originally derived from an April 8, 2000, Saturday Night Live

Paul Bruce Dickinson (born August 7, 1958 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England) is a British singer, airline pilot, radio show host, DJ, Historian, television presenter, fencer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer in the iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Events 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great. Year 1958 ( MCMLVIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Worksop is a town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest Nottinghamshire (abbreviated Notts) is an English county in the East Midlands, which borders South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland An airline provides air transport services for Passengers or Freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license A disc jockey (also known as DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience For other uses see Iron maiden. According to All Music Guide, Dickinson "was the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalist to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the early-'80s". allmusic (previously All Music Guide) is a Metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (frequently abbreviated as NWOBHM) is a heavy metal music movement that started in the late 1970s in Britain, and achieved [1]

Contents

Brief summary

Before Iron Maiden, Dickinson was the singer in a similar band called Samson from 1979 until he joined Iron Maiden two years later in 1981. Samson was a British Hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. In Samson and previous bands, he went by the name of "Bruce Bruce". During previous years, he was in Styx (1976) (not to be confused with the American band of the same name), then went on to sing for Speed (1977 - 1978). Styx ( pronounced: /stɪks/ is an American Rock band. Their hit songs have included " Come Sail Away " " Babe " " When Speed split up, he joined Shots until the summer of 1979. He made his recording debut with Iron Maiden on their Number of the Beast album in 1982. The Number of the Beast is a heavy metal Album released in 1982 (see 1982 in music) by Iron Maiden on EMI in the UK

Dickinson quit Iron Maiden in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of the metal band Wolfsbane. Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cook, 29 May 1963, Birmingham, England) is the lead singer for the Dickinson's solo work ranges from the Alternative Rock sound of 1996's Skunkworks, to the all out Metal style of Accident of Birth. Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative; known primarily in the UK as indie) is a genre of Dickinson was releasing an artistic energy he felt was suppressed by Iron Maiden's strict progressive metal format, which he claimed could not accommodate emotional reflection as evidenced in the lyrics of "Tears of the Dragon. " After releasing two traditional metal albums with former Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith (which were arguably more akin to the genre than Maiden's epic format), Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith. Adrian Frederik "H" Smith (born February 27 1957 in Hackney, East London, England) is a Guitarist and one of three Guitarists Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Both are still in the band to date. Since then, Dickinson has only released one more solo album (Tyranny of Souls) but says his solo career is not over. Tyranny of Souls is a heavy metal Album released by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson on May 23 2005 (see He has signed a contract with his label to do 3 more solo albums.

Biography

Childhood

Dickinson (middle row, 2nd from left) at Oundle, 1974
Dickinson (middle row, 2nd from left) at Oundle, 1974

Paul Bruce Dickinson was born in the small mining town of Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Worksop is a town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest His mother worked part-time in a shoe shop and his father was a mechanic in the army. Dickinson's birth hurried the young couple into marriage. NOTICE TO WOULD-BE ROMEOS ************** Initially, he was brought up by his grandparents; his grandfather was a coal-face worker at the local colliery and his grandmother was a housewife. Coal mining is the extraction or removal of Coal from the Earth by Mining. These pieces of information are actually referred to in his song 'Born In '58' from his solo album 'Tattooed Millionaire'.

When Dickinson was about to start school his parents moved from Worksop to Sheffield. Sheffield ( is a city and Metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England Dickinson's first school was Manton Primary. Of this period, he recalled "I grew up in an environment where it struck me that the world was never gonna do me any favours. And I had very few close friends, because we were always moving. I think that's partly why I grew up feeling like such an outsider. I didn't have an unhappy childhood, but it was unconventional, to say the least".

Dickinson's first musical experience was dancing in his grandparents front room to Chubby Checker's "The Twist". Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans on October 3, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter best known for popularizing the The Twist " The Twist " is a Twelve bar blues song that gave birth to the Twist Dance craze. The first record Dickinson recalls owning was The Beatles single "She Loves You" which he managed to persuade his granddad to buy him. The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 " She Loves You " is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles for release as a single in 1963 "I was only four or five but I really loved that scene, The Beatles and Gerry & The Pacemakers. . . . I noticed they had B-sides, and that sometimes I liked them even more than the A-sides. That was when I first began noticing the difference between 'good' music and 'bad'. " He believes that this marked the beginning of him thinking like a musician.

When Dickinson was six his family moved to Sheffield and set up a house and had regular jobs. He found it difficult to adapt himself to the environment. In his spare time he tried to play an acoustic guitar belonging to his parents, but it blistered his fingers. When moving to Sheffield, he had to change school. He was sent to Manor Top, which he disliked. After six months, his parents decided to move him out to a small private school called Sharrow Vale Junior. His parents earned a living from selling estate. A lot of Dickinson's childhood was spent living on a building site. His parents had reached the stage where they were making profit. Dickinson's parents bought a boarding house where his father sold second-hand cars off a forecourt.

This gave them the opportunity to give Dickinson—then 13 years old—a boarding school education and they chose Oundle, a public school in Northamptonshire. Oundle School is a public school located in the ancient market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The term public school has two distinct (and virtually opposite meanings depending on the location of usage in the United States, Australia and Dickinson enjoyed being away from home. "I didn't particularly enjoy being with my parents, so I saw it as an escape. I think it was because I hadn't built any real attachment to them when I was very, very young. " Dickinson was picked on and routinely bullied by the older boys of Sidney House, the Oundle boarding house that he belonged to.

Dickinson's interests at Oundle were often military. He co-founded the school wargames society, and he rose to a position of some power in the Combined Cadet Force. At fifteen he joined the school amateur dramatics society.

"I was 13 when I first heard Deep Purple's 'In Rock' album, and it just blew me away! I heard this thing coming out of someone's room one day, and I went in and said 'Whoa! What's that?' And they just looked at me disdainfully and went 'It's "Child in Time" by Deep Purple. Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertfordshire in 1968 Deep Purple in Rock (also known as In Rock) is an album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in June 1970 Don't you know anything?' But I was too amazed to care. The first album I ever bought was Deep Purple In Rock, all scratched to fuck, but I thought it was great. "

Dickinson obtained bongo drums from the music room and practiced. Dickinson remembers trying to learn Let It Be. "Let It Be" is a song by The Beatles, released in March 1970 as a single and as the Title track of their album Let It Be. In a recent episode of BBC2's Seven Ages of Rock, Bruce said in interview that, like Sinatra's My Way, Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills was based on "rising sixths". Whether or not his illustration was correct, it has to be said that Bruce knew nothing about rising sixths when he left Oundle. He never learned an instrument at school, and as far as his contemporaries can recall, he could not read music. Any technical musical skills that Bruce now possesses were acquired after his stay at Oundle.

Dickinson was later expelled from Oundle for urinating in the headmaster's dinner. Urination, also known as micturition, voiding, and more rarely emiction, is the process of disposing Urine from the Urinary bladder Barry Maurice Waller Trapnell was born 18th May 1924 in Hampstead, London. Neil Ashford, his co-urinator, was rusticated; that is, sent home for the rest of the term rather than being permanently excluded from the school, on the grounds that the contribution to the headmaster's beans had been Dickinson's idea. Use in the United Kingdom Rustication (temporary expulsion is a term used at some British academic institutions for a disciplinary action Returning home to Sheffield in 1976, Dickinson enrolled at a local Catholic comprehensive school, although not a practising Catholic himself. Catholic is an Adjective derived from the Greek adjective '' / 'katholikos' meaning "whole" or "complete". A comprehensive school is a Secondary school and State school for children from the age of 11 to at least 16 that does not select children on the basis of academic In the summer of 1976, he joined his first band. He had overheard two other children talking about their band and that they needed a singer. Dickinson volunteered to do the vocals. They rehearsed in the drummer's father's garage and the band were impressed by Dickinson's singing. It was at this point Dickinson decided to buy a microphone. The first gig Dickinson's new band did was at the Broadfield Tavern pub in Sheffield. Originally called "Paradox," the band changed name upon Dickinson's suggestion, to "Styx", unaware of the American act with the same name. Styx ( pronounced: /stɪks/ is an American Rock band. Their hit songs have included " Come Sail Away " " Babe " " They made local newspaper headlines when a steel worker was awoken by their performance. Of the incident, it was said: "He bottled the guitarist and chucked the drums off-stage". Soon after, the band split up.

University

After leaving school Dickinson didn't really know what he wanted to do. He joined the Territorial Army for six months, which he did not enjoy. The Territorial Army ( TA) is the principal and Volunteer reserve force of the British Army, the land armed forces branch of the United Kingdom As army life was not what he wanted, he applied for a place at University. He had met the minimum grades for getting in and read history at Queen Mary College, in London's East End. Queen Mary University of London (known as Queen Mary and Westfield College until 2000 and still officially named as such in its charter Queen Mary incorporates several His parents wanted him in the army, but he told them that he wanted to get a degree first. "That was what they wanted to hear so that was my cover story. When I got down there I started immediately finding and playing in bands. "

In college, Dickinson got involved in the Entertainments Committee. "One day you'd be a roadie for The Jam, the next you'd be putting up the Stonehenge backdrop for Hawkwind or whatever. The Jam were an English Mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s Hawkwind are a British rock band, one of the earliest Space rock groups " In 1977, Dickinson met a guy called Paul "Noddy" White. He was a multi-instrumentalist and he had a PA and other equipment. Dickinson suggested that, along with drummer Steve Jones, they form a band together. This would eventually evolve into the band "Speed", described by Dickinson as sounding like a 'crossover between Judas Priest and The Stranglers with a Hammond organ on top of it. Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in 1970 in Birmingham. The Stranglers are an English rock music group formed on 11 September 1974 in Guildford, Surrey. The Hammond organ is an electric organ which was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company ' Dickinson recalled: "It had nothing to do with taking speed, we were a completely drug-free band, we just used to play everything ridiculously fast. Like Speed Metal, but ten years too early. Speed metal is a sub-genre of Heavy metal music originating in the late 1970s and early 1980s that was the direct musical progenitor of Thrash metal. " Dickinson was the vocalist and occasionally played guitar. "I got Noddy to give me guitar lessons and I . . . started writing stuff straight away. He showed me three chords and I'd write stuff just from those three chords. "

Speed didn't last long, but it encouraged Dickinson to continue to work to be a musician. Dickinson spotted an ad in Melody Maker with the caption "Singer wanted for recording project". Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly Music Newspaper Since he had never been near a recording studio he replied immediately. He "wailed, wolfed, hollered and made noises" onto a tape and with it went a note that read; "By the way, if you think the singing's crap, there's some John Cleese stuff recorded on the other side you might find amusing. John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer " They liked what they heard and Dickinson came down to the studio. The band was called "Shots" and were formed by two brothers, Phil and Doug Siviter. They were amazed by Dickinson's vocal abilities and they started talking about what music they liked. "I started saying Ian Gillan, Ian Anderson, Arthur Brown, and Doug goes, 'That's it! Fucking Arthur Brown, man! Sometimes your voice is a dead ringer for Arthur! We've got to form a band. Ian Gillan (born 19 August, 1945 in Hounslow, London) is an English Rock music Vocalist and Songwriter Ian Scott Anderson, MBE (born 10 August 1947 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland) is a Scottish Singer Arthur Brown (born Arthur Wilton 24 June 1942, Whitby, Yorkshire) is an English Rock and roll Singer ' This guy's got a studio and he wants to form a band with me! I was like 'Yes'. " A song "Dracula" from this session can be heard as the closing track on The Best of Bruce Dickinson, disc two. The Best of Bruce Dickinson is a Compilation album released in 2001 by Bruce Dickinson. According to Dickinson this song is very first thing he ever recorded at all.

Dickinson played pubs with Shots on a regular basis. One particular night, Dickinson suddenly stopped in the middle of a song and started interviewing a man in the audience, heckling for not paying enough attention. He got such a good response he started doing it every night until it became a regular routine. "Suddenly everybody was paying attention, cause they might be next. The first time I did it, afterwards the landlord of the pub was like 'Great show, lads, see you next week'. So we started sort of building this bit into the show. And that was when I first started to get the hang of, just not being a singer, but being a frontman, too. "

The next step in Dickinson's career was taken in a pub called the Prince of Wales in Gravesend, Kent, where Shots were playing regularly. One night, Barry Graham ("Thunderstick") and Paul Samson paid a visit. Thunderstick (aka Barry Graham or Barry Purkis was a Drummer for the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden briefly in 1977. Paul Samson (born Paul Sanson 4 June 1953, died 9 August 2002) was a guitarist closely associated with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal The legend says that Thunderstick, who was there in his every day guise, became the victim of Dickinson's gimmick. "He looked a bit weird so I did a spiel on it". Obviously impressed with his stage-act, Thunderstick and Samson talked with Shots after the performance. A couple of weeks later, Samson called and asked him if he was willing to join their band, Samson. Samson was a British Hard rock band formed in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Paul Samson. Dickinson was interested since this meant he could play larger gigs in London. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Dickinson wanted to "do things with a bit of a weird edge to it". By then, Shots had almost become a heavy metal comedy act; the show had completely taken over the music.

Samson

Formed by Sidcup-born guitarist Paul Samson in 1977, the band had already been established with their debut, "Survivors", released on an independent label. Sidcup is a suburban development in the London Borough of Bexley, South East London The band toured quite extensively in the UK. Dickinson finished his final exams in the morning and in the afternoon he went down to Wood Wharf Studios in Greenwich to rehearse with them. Greenwich ( ˈɡrɛnɪtʃ GREN-itch /ˈɡrɛnɪdʒ/ GREN-idge or /ˈɡrɪnɪdʒ/ GRIN-idge is a district in south-east London,

Since he was not sure of what to expect from a professional rock band, he decided just to jump in and make the best of it. "In fact, the first rehearsals I went down to with Samson pretty much set the scene for my entire time in the band. I left my girlfriend who I had been with for three years at University. I told her I was gonna turn into a complete arsehole. I thought it was what I was gonna have to do, frankly. Because it was not at all what I expected. In my naivety I thought people who were in rock 'n' roll bands were great artists, and it was a huge shock to the system to realise that they weren't, that they didn't even aspire to be, really. Some of them did, maybe, but some of them, like Samson, were very frightened of the idea, some of them just wanted to have a good drink, a good shag and take some drugs, and I found that really, really difficult to relate to. I thought 'I've got to find out if I'm gonna work with these guys and we're gonna make music'. And as soon as I sort of accepted that, I thought 'Right, I'd better go down and find out what all this drug-taking and shagging's all about then'. "

He did smoke a bit already and he had tried dope at college. And in Samson it was more of a habit. "I discovered quickly that if you were straight you couldn't actually communicate with anybody. It was impossible. So I just thought I'd have to smoke a joint, otherwise I wouldn't be able to write anything, and that's pretty much how it went. I more or less resigned myself to it. I thought it was just part of the price that had to be paid. To be honest, every single thing I ever did at that time, I believed it was just a step towards my goal, of just wanting to be a singer in a rock 'n' roll band. " Dickinson nowadays refers to his time in the band as "a blur of chemicals".

During the first rehearsals they wrote songs that would be recorded and released on the album called 'Head on'. "I had loads of stuff kicking around and they had loads of bits so we just glued it all together. " The songs were slipped into the live set on the coming tour, which was to promote the "Survivors" album. This was a step forward for Dickinson as his first real tour was third on the bill with Randy California and his all time hero Ian Gillan. Randy California (born Randy Craig Wolfe; February 20 1951 &ndash January 2 1997 was a guitarist singer and songwriter and one of the original members of the rock group During his time in Samson, Dickinson was billed as "Bruce Bruce" (derived from Monty Python's Bruces sketch ), a nickname that was forced upon him by their management. Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) is the collective name of the six creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British Television The Bruces sketch is a famous sketch from the TV show Monty Python's Flying Circus, and appears in episode 22 'How to recognise different parts of the body' They insisted on making all the cheques out to "Bruce Bruce" which had the effect that Dickinson had to go through enormous trouble to cash them in. The management was one of Samson's recurring problems. They booked the band on rather ill-matched support tours, which saw them playing a venue, only to return one week later with another act. Eventually this chain of events culminated in high court leaving the band unable to play gigs and get paid. When the legal side of things were settled and the band left their management in 1981 they discovered that their record company was going bankrupt. "We made every mistake in the business" Dickinson acknowledges.

Frustrated with the fact that the band never seemed to get anywhere, Dickinson contacted guitarist Stuart Smith with the idea of forming a band. They had a few rehearsals and wrote some material together but then Samson seemed to get a better deal and the obvious thing for him to do was to stick with them. During the "Shock Tactics" tour, Thunderstick left the band and was replaced with Mel Gaynor, a black funk/rock drummer who was in the band very briefly and later ended up in Simple Minds. Mel George Gaynor (born 29 May 1960 Balham London, England) is a British Musician. Simple Minds are a rock band from Scotland, who had their greatest worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s "When you took Thunderstick out of the equation and replaced him with Mel, this phenomenal drummer, there was no excitement in it there anymore. When he played, he played everything perfectly. Everything was in time, there was no mistakes, there was no danger anymore. So I got bored. I had time to think about the shopping list on stage and that's not good. And I realised that this was what Paul wanted. It enabled him to go into more ZZ Top, boogie sort of areas. ZZ Top (ˌziːziːˈtɒp is an American rock band formed in late 1969 in Houston Texas. "

Dickinson's last gig with the band was at the Reading Festival in 1981, a gig which was immortalised by the BBC and subsequently released on the album "Live at Reading 81". "Listening to some of these old tracks they stand up really well" says Dickinson. "Certainly all the stuff on 'Shock tactics' does. When you hear the Reading Live album the band was really cooking. And the songs don't sound dated at all. " Around that time, Iron Maiden had began considering change of vocalist due to increasing problems with Paul Di'Anno. For other uses see Iron maiden. Paul Andrews (born 17 May, 1958, in Chingford, Essex) better known as Paul Di'Anno, was the first prominent vocalist Steve Harris and manager Rod Smallwood came to Reading to check Dickinson out for the job. Stephen Percy Harris (born March 12, 1956 in Leytonstone, London, England) is the Bassist, band leader and primary BackgroundBorn in the North of England in Huddersfield the son of a policeman on 17/2/50 Dickinson was asked to come down to auditions for the band

Iron Maiden

After accepting the invitation to audition for Iron Maiden, Dickinson spent a week rehearsing with the band, and recorded some demos, and was convinced that they were the band for him. For other uses see Iron maiden. "When I first heard Maiden I got the same buzz of them I did when I heard Deep Purple In Rock. It was like a steam train coming at you and none of the other bands did that anymore". Dickinson discovered that the routines in Maiden were very strict and regimented. Where Samson would just fool around aimlessly, Maiden were working with a very clear idea of the result. "The intention behind that changed after the first couple of records for me, because it became obvious that Maiden worked to a time table. A table that wasn't absolute but it had to be stuck to. 'Now you'll write for six weeks, now you'll make a record for three months, now you're rehearsing for two weeks, now you'll tour for eight months'. It was organized like that and that seemed to suit the style of writing of the band. "

After a few gigs in Italy to 'break him in', the band started writing new material for their third album. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest This was the first time the band had decided to write an entire new album; The two released previously basically consisted of songs the band had been playing for years, with a couple of exceptions, on Killers. The album The Number of the Beast, was put together in five weeks. The Number of the Beast is a heavy metal Album released in 1982 (see 1982 in music) by Iron Maiden on EMI in the UK In the wake of Samson's contractual problems, Dickinson could not be credited on the songs to which he had contributed. "I think you could say I had a very big moral contribution to certain songs, like 'Children of the Damned', 'Run to the Hills' and 'The Prisoner' Those three songs were the songs in which I had the biggest moral contribution. " Run to the Hills " is Iron Maiden 's sixth single and the first single from their 1982 album The Number of the Beast. " "Moral contribution" refers to the fact that the contribution that he had made was equal to those of the other band members.

"Run to the Hills" was a huge hit in the UK peaking at #7 in the UK singles chart and the album and the following world tour was the band's most successful to date. The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC on behalf of the British record industry During the "Beast" tour, Dickinson had fitted well into the role as the band's frontman, and the next two albums, Piece of Mind and Powerslave, showed a very tight and creative band. Piece of Mind is the fourth studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. PowerSlave ( Exhumed in European territories and Seireki 1999 Pharaoh no Fukkatsu in Japan the US title itself being a clear reference to the With Smith and Dickinson contributing half of the songs on the albums, Harris's monopoly of the song writing would be pushed aside in favour for the other members' ideas. "It wasn't always easy, we didn't always agree. . . In fact we fought like cat and dog at various stages, but we made great music. "

On the "Powerslave" tour, Dickinson was sporting a feathered, supposedly Egyptian-inspired, mask during the title track. Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now This was an attempt to introduce more theatrical elements into the stage show. In terms of sales and popularity, the band was peaking. The tour lasted for over a year, as dates kept being added all the time. "It got to the point where me and Harris said 'If they add another week's shows to this tour, we're both going home. '" Dickinson continues, "I thought of leaving. If it's gonna carry on like this, if I'm gonna feel bad all the time, this imprisoned, then I don't really want to go on tour. "

After a six month break, of which Dickinson spent a great deal indulging in his favourite sport, fencing, Maiden were about to start writing for a new album. Fencing is the art of armed Combat involving Cutting, Stabbing, or slapping bludgeoning Weapons directly manipulated by hand "When it came to writing for a new album, whenever I started to write very heavy metal things, I found I was thinking along these lines, you know, 'I should do one of these, one of those. ' So I ended up writing a lot of different things instead for bagpipes, folk things, stuff like Jethro Tull. Bang went my royalties. " Though Somewhere in Time marked a departure for the band, introducing a cleaner Progressive Rock influenced sound, Dickinson was unhappy with the effort, and has no writing credits. Progressive rock (often shortened to " progressive " " prog " or " prog rock " is a form of Rock music that evolved It was during this tour that Dickinson started writing what would become his first published novel, The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace. "Plotting it out was the doddle. It came from a series of mad conversations, actually, that all gestated together along with some Sherlock Holmes, some Biggles and Penthouse, and out it came. " It was released in 1990 and due to the loyalty of Maiden's fanbase, 40,000 copies were sold, on the strength of which he produced a sequel, titled The Missionary Position, in 1992.

When the Somewhere in Time tour was finished, Iron Maiden was looking forward to the next album. This was also unexplored territory for the band as it was a concept album. Harris had written the song "The Clairvoyant". Dickinson really liked the idea and the band was quite keen on producing the entire album based around this character with the gift of clairvoyance. When the recordings were finished in December 1987, Dickinson moved to Bonn, so that he could be close to the West Germany training centre for fencing. Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( At the end of the '80s Dickinson was at the peak of his fencing career, eventually ranked as high as 7th in Great Britain in the men's foil discipline, while his club side, the Hemel Hempstead Fencing Club, represented Great Britain in the European Cup of 1989. A foil is a type of Weapon used in fencing. It is the most common weapon in terms of usage in competition and is usually the choice for elementary classes for fencing See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Year 1989 ( MCMLXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar)

After the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour in 1988, which climaxed when Maiden headlined the Donington festival in front of 107,000 people, the band decided to take a year off. The seventh son of a seventh son is a concept from Folklore regarding special powers given to or held by such a son Rumours were floating around that the band was splitting up, as various members were seen pursuing various solo projects. In 1989, Zomba was looking for someone to do a track to the movie Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5 and Dickinson was asked to contribute. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 The Dream Child ( 1989) is an American Slasher film. There was a budget, a studio and a producer, Chris Tsangarides. Chris Tsangarides is a Greek Cypriot-British Grammy nominated music producer sound engineer and mixer Dickinson was delighted to take up this opportunity and immediately phoned up an old friend of his, Janick Gers. Janick Robert Gers (pronounced YA-nik Gerz (born January 27, 1957 in Hartlepool, England) is one of three current Guitarists A short time after meeting up they had the track "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" ready for the studio.

With assistance from the same musicians as on the previous single - Andy Carr on bass, Fabio del Rio on drums and Gers on guitar - Dickinson's intention was to do something he wouldn't normally do in Maiden and the album was written and recorded in two weeks. Dickinson regarded this album as a follow up from where he left off with Shock Tactics in Samson.

Around this time, Dickinson appeared in one episode of the TV-series Paradise Club, playing the part of a rock guitarist wanting to break free from the dictatorship of his record company. Some tracks were recorded by Dickinson to be used in the episode, mainly cover tracks, with exception of "Ballad of Mutt" which Dickinson played solo on an acoustic guitar.

The album, Tattooed Millionaire, was released in May 1990. Tattooed Millionaire is a hard rock Album released in 1990 by Bruce Dickinson. By this time, Gers had replaced Adrian Smith in Iron Maiden and the mini world club tour that Maiden embarked upon during the summer introduced his audience to the new Maiden guitarist. The same band was used as in the studio except for Fabio del Rio who was replaced by Dicki Fliszar. With Gers in the league, Maiden was flooded with energy and enthusiasm. Dickinson says, "There were several ways the band could have gone at that point but as it turned out, the next one, No Prayer for the Dying, was a huge backward-step, I thought. No Prayer for the Dying is the eighth studio Album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. "

When it came to making a new album in 1992, Dickinson felt that Dream Theater's demos sounded better than No Prayer. Dream Theater is an American Progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name " Majesty " by John Myung, John Petrucci He was determined to make sure the over all sound of the album would be given a good treatment. By now, Harris had set up a studio of his own and it was a foregone conclusion that the new album, Fear of the Dark, would be recorded there. The fear of the dark is a common Fear among Children and to a varying degree is observed for adults "I think it was the first album where we were attempting to recapture something of the past. In many ways I think that we were looking backwards to other albums that we've done in the past while other bands are looking forward to something new. "

Dickinson always thought of himself as more than a singer in Iron Maiden. He had been a top fencer, written two novels, done some acting and was doing an increasing amount of guest DJ-ing on various radio-stations. His US label, Sony, asked him if he could do another solo album. Sony Music Entertainment is a major global Record label controlled by the Sony Corporation of America, being one of the "big four" record companies Dickinson felt it would offer a welcome "break" for him. The Fear of the Dark tour was divided into two parts and in the gap between Dickinson entered the studio to record his second solo album, backed by the band Skin, again with Chris Tsangarides at the technical helm. Skin were a UK Hard rock band active during the 1990s History Skin were formed in the early 1990s by ex-Jagged Edge members Myke Grey and Andy Robbins (also Manager Rod Smallwood emphasized that if Dickinson was to make a solo record, it had better be a good one. This had the effect that Dickinson went full-stop and canned the whole thing on the merit that it sounded too much like average metal. "I realized I was just going along with the flow, making my solo album in the same way we were motoring on with Maiden. "

This was when Dickinson first started questioning his ambitions. He wanted to break out of the routine and do something "really out there. " So off he went to America to record with producer Keith Olsen. "The recording was basically put together electronically, written on computers and keyboards," Dickinson explains. "I wanted to do something quite unusual and quite mad. " With the feeling of being tossed between two camps, Dickinson started thinking of leaving the band. "I wore a groove in the kitchen floor for that one. " Bruce played his last show with Iron Maiden on 28 August 1993.

Solo career

Bruce Dickinson's career outside Iron Maiden started with the recording of "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" which appears on the A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child soundtrack and Disc Two of The Best of Bruce Dickinson album. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 The Dream Child ( 1989) is an American Slasher film. The Best of Bruce Dickinson is a Compilation album released in 2001 by Bruce Dickinson. A different version of the song was recorded by Iron Maiden for the No Prayer for the Dying album. No Prayer for the Dying is the eighth studio Album by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. The original version got him a studio deal for a full album. Along with friend and soon-to-be Iron Maiden guitarist Janick Gers, Dickinson wrote the Tattooed Millionaire album within two weeks. The result was a rather poppy rock album. It was, however, far away from Iron Maiden's heavy metal sound and fantasy lyricism - the bawdy sexual innuendos of "Dive, Dive, Dive!" would never find themselves on one of Iron Maiden's releases. Generally speaking human sexuality is how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings

Before the release of his second effort, Balls to Picasso, Dickinson left Iron Maiden and went through two different efforts with two sets of different collaborators. Balls to Picasso is a heavy metal Album released in 1994 and is the second effort in Bruce Dickinson 's solo career The first was with Myke Gray of the band Skin, and the second with the producer Keith Olsen. Skin were a UK Hard rock band active during the 1990s History Skin were formed in the early 1990s by ex-Jagged Edge members Myke Grey and Andy Robbins (also Keith Olsen, born in a small town in South Dakota then moving to Minneapolis Minnesota at the age of twelve received a very midwestern cultural education Of the second, a few songs surfaced as B-sides and one, "No Way Out. . . Continued" appears on the 2-disc The Best of Bruce Dickinson collection. Dickinson was not happy with the majority of the material on these efforts. Salvation came at last in the form of Tribe of Gypsies guitarist Roy Z. Roy Z is a Guitarist, Composer and producer known for his work with Bruce Dickinson ( Iron Maiden) Rob Halford and He agreed to work with Dickinson to improve the Keith Olsen album and ended replacing all of it except "Tears of the Dragon". Balls to Picasso was recorded with the Tribe of Gypsies and was a far more mature record than Tattooed Millionaire, with some very well-crafted songs, spurred along with the melodic and shredding leads of Roy Z. Balls to Picasso is a heavy metal Album released in 1994 and is the second effort in Bruce Dickinson 's solo career

The Tribe departed to tour and record under their own steam, leaving Dickinson to track down another band. Dickinson's new writing partner was Alex Dickson, and after touring his current song catalog (documented on Alive in Studio A) with him and the rest of the new band, sat down to write Skunkworks. Alive in Studio A is a heavy metal Album released in 1995 (see 1995 in music) by Bruce Dickinson. Skunkworks is a heavy metal Album released in 1996 (see 1996 in music) by Bruce Dickinson. The idea was that the band would be called that, but the record company insisted Dickinson's name be on the release. Dickinson likened that to David Bowie attempting to do the same with Tin Machine and how it did not work for him either. David Bowie (ˈboʊiː born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947 is an English Musician, actor producer, and arranger. Tin Machine was a Hard rock band formed in 1988 famous for being fronted by singer David Bowie.

The Skunkworks entity ceased to be after the touring due to musical differences (Dickinson wanted the next album to be more metal), and after a period of inactivity Dickinson once again teamed up with Roy Z to record Accident Of Birth. Accident of Birth is a heavy metal Album released in 1997 by Bruce Dickinson. Adrian Smith was asked to guest, and played on the whole album and tour. The album marked a return to heavy metal for Dickinson; in fact the album is much heavier than Iron Maiden, with a less progressive influence. It was a big success and for the first time, a follow up was inevitable. The Chemical Wedding, a semi-concept album on alchemy and the writings of William Blake followed. The Chemical Wedding is a heavy metal Album released in 1998 (see 1998 in music) by Bruce Dickinson in collaboration with guitarist/producer In Popular music, a concept album is an Album which is "unified by a theme which can be instrumental compositional narrative or lyrical" Alchemy a part of the Occult Tradition is both a philosophy and a practice with an ultimately unknown aim involving the improvement of the alchemist as well as the making of William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker. This record proved to be even more successful, with engaging lyrics and powerful songs. Scream for Me Brazil was a live album that documented a show of the Chemical Wedding tour, and featured songs from the last two albums and two from Balls to Picasso. Scream For Me Brazil is a Live album by Bruce Dickinson, recorded in Brazil and released in 1999 (see 1999 in music)

The Best of Bruce Dickinson album with two new Roy Z songs and a limited edition disc of rarities was released in 2001. Dickinson is said to have wanted to record another album with Roy Z, but he was busy with Judas Priest vocalist, Rob Halford, and the window of opportunity was missed. Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in 1970 in Birmingham. Robert John Arthur Halford (born August 25, 1951) is an English singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Tyranny of Souls was finally released in May 2005. Tyranny of Souls is a heavy metal Album released by Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson on May 23 2005 (see This time the songwriting was all split between Roy Z and Dickinson, with Roy playing all guitars and even bass on some songs. Much of the writing was done by Roy sending recordings of riffs to Dickinson which he wrote lyrics and melodies for while on tour. With the release of Tyranny of Souls, Dickinson's back catalog was reissued with a bonus disc of extra tracks for each album except The Chemical Wedding which included 3 bonus tracks on the same disc as the original track listing. The two live albums, "Alive in Studio A" and "Scream For Me Brazil" were packaged together in a three-disc set.

A three-disc DVD package, named simply Anthology, was released June 2006 and contains three concerts from his career, promo videos and footage from his Samson days. Anthology is a 3 disc compilation DVD by Bruce Dickinson, the lead singer of Iron Maiden.

Return to Iron Maiden

Along with Adrian Smith, Dickinson rejoined Iron Maiden in 1999. Adrian Frederik "H" Smith (born February 27 1957 in Hackney, East London, England) is a Guitarist and one of three Guitarists As a 6-piece (Janick Gers remained in the band as well) they embarked on a small tour. Afterwards they set about recording the first Iron Maiden album with Bruce on vocals since 1993, Brave New World. Brave New World is the twelfth studio Album by Iron Maiden released on 30 May 2000 (see 2000 in music) The Brave New World tour culminated with a performance at the huge Rock in Rio festival, which was captured on DVD. Rock in Rio, the largest rock festival in the world (15 million people in the first edition 700 thousand in the second about 1 million in the third and in the 3 international editions

Dickinson along with Adrian Smith have continued on as full members of the 6-piece band, recording the follow up Dance of Death album, Death on the Road live album and DVD, and most recently their newest studio album A Matter of Life and Death while also pursuing his solo musical and airline pilot careers. Dance of Death is Iron Maiden 's 13th studio Album, released first in Japan on September 2 and rest of the world on September Death on the Road is a live CD, LP, and DVD released by the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden on A Matter of Life and Death is the 14th studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden.

Recent life

Dickinson's interests include literature, writing, fencing (at which he has competed internationally, and he also founded a fencing equipment company under the brand name "Duellist" [2]), train technology and flying Boeing 757 charter jets for the UK charter airline Astraeus where he is employed as a Captain. Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created Fencing is the art of armed Combat involving Cutting, Stabbing, or slapping bludgeoning Weapons directly manipulated by hand A train is a connected series of vehicles that move along a track ( Permanent way) to transport freight or passengers from one place to another WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located An airline provides air transport services for Passengers or Freight, generally with a recognized operating certificate or license Astraeus is a British Airline based in Crawley, England. As of May 2008 Astraeus changed its business model and ceased full time charter [3] He was taught to fly by British Airways commercial pilot Captain Phil Dales. British Airways plc ( is the national Airline and Flag carrier of the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe


In the summer of 2006, Dickinson flew about 200 UK citizens home from Lebanon during the Israel/Hezbollah conflict[4]. On 12 February 2007, Dickinson was given permission to fly Rangers F.C. to Israel for their UEFA cup game against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Events 1429 - English Forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orleans from attack by the Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Rangers Football Club are an Association football team based in Glasgow Scotland, who currently play in the Scottish Premier League. Hapoel Tel Aviv (הפועל תל-אביב is an Israeli football based in Tel Aviv. Dickinson asked if he could pilot this flight as soon as he found Astraeus had the contract for it.

Television and radio presenting

Dickinson currently presents the Friday evening "rock show" on BBC radio station 6 Music. Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. Radio is the transmission of signals by Modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible Light. He has recently taken the helm of BBC Radio 2 serial 'Masters of Rock'. He also presented the 5-part historical TV series about aviation; Flying Heavy Metal was shown on the Discovery Channel, which is now shown on the replacement for Discovery Wings, Discovery Turbo in the UK. Aviation refers to activities involving man-made flying devices ( Aircraft) including the people organizations and regulatory bodies involved with them Flying Heavy metal is a 5-part television series produced by Ricochet and broadcast (in the UK) and Europe on the Discovery Channel and subsequently repeated Discovery Channel is an American Satellite and Cable TV channel (also delivered via IPTV, Terrestrial television and Discovery Turbo is a British TV channel devoted to programming about cars bikes boats and planes The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located He was also a guest on a Discovery Channel show where he shared his enthusiasm for trains. He was also a guest on the Tanks episode, where he drove a Russian T-34 tank. The T-34 was a Soviet medium tank produced from 1941 to 1958 It is widely regarded as having been the world's best Tank when the Soviet Union The most recent television programme he has presented was a show on spontaneous human combustion for Sky One called Inside Spontaneous Human Combustion with Bruce Dickinson, in which he investigates the phenomenon of this occurrence by enlisting the help of several experts and performing various experiments to determine its possible cause. Spontaneous human combustion ( SHC) refers to the belief that the human body sometimes burns without an external source of ignition

Dickinson has also turned his hand to scriptwriting, having written a film script entitled "Chemical Wedding" which is currently being made into a film starring Simon Callow. Chemical Wedding is a supernatural horror film produced with the London-based Focus Films Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE (born 15 June 1949) is an English stage, Film and Television Actor Dickinson will play a small cameo role and has composed the soundtrack. A cameo role or cameo appearance (often shortened to just cameo) is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the Performing arts, such as

Singing style

Like many singers such as Robert Plant, Steve Perry, Sebastian Bach, Joe Elliot, Freddy Mercury, Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, and many other singers, Bruce is known for a tenor (high range) singing voice. Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948 West Bromwich, England) is an English rock singer and songwriter famous for his membership in the The name Steve Perry may refer to any of the following Steve Perry (musician, solo artist and the former lead singer of the band Journey Steve Perry Sebastian Bach (born Sebastian Philip Bierk, on April 3, 1968) is a Canadian heavy metal singer best known as ex- Frontman Joseph Thomas Elliott (born 1 August, 1959, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and educated at King Edward VII School) is the Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991 was a Zanzibar -born British Musician, best known as the lead Ronnie James Dio (born Ronald James Padavona on July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA is an American heavy Robert John Arthur Halford (born August 25, 1951) is an English singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Dickinson, always noted for his broad scale as a singer in comparison to other Iron Maiden front-men, was noted, "The Air Raid Siren,"[5] for much of the 1980s. In the early 1990s he altered his singing style, becoming more guttural and raw presumably to fit the stripped-down rock sound of albums like No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark. After leaving Iron Maiden, he varied his singing style, from the theatrical style of "Tears of the Dragon," to the raw bluesy style of "Inertia. "

Since returning to Iron Maiden, Dickinson has experimented with his voice, adopting a soft reflective sound for songs such as "Journeyman, " and "For the Greater Good of God," a raw rock style for songs like "Wildest Dreams," and a style much like Genesis era Peter Gabriel on "The Legacy". Genesis are an English rock band formed in 1967 With approximately 150 million albums sold worldwide Genesis are among the top 30 highest-selling recording artists Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950 in Chobham, Surrey, England) is an English Musician and Songwriter. However, he mostly uses the high-pitched, melodic vocals that he used to use in the 1980s.

Discography

Speed

Samson

Iron Maiden

Bruce Dickinson

Iron Maiden Videos/DVDs

Bruce Dickinson Videos/DVDs

Miscellaneous appearances

Current members of solo band

Former/session members of solo band

Bibliography

Audio

References

  1. ^ Prato, Greg. Bruce Dickinson. Allmusic. com. Retrieved on 2007-01-30. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain
  2. ^ The Duellist History (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-04-09. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans)
  3. ^ Warwick, Graham (2007-12-23). Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city Astraeus unveils 'heavy metal' 757 for Iron Maiden tour. Flight Global. Flight International (or Flight) is a global Aerospace weekly publication Retrieved on 2007-12-24. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by Earthquakes
  4. ^ Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) flying Britons out of Lebanon - Democratic Underground
  5. ^ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

External links

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