Heavy metal fans mourn the death of the band’s original lead singer Paul Di’Anno who died at the age of 66.
It’s 1978 and Iron Maiden have been together for a few years but were still lacking a bit of edge that would set them apart from the majority.
It was when Paul Di’Anno, a young 16-year old lad, was discovered at a pub in East London, joined the band as a lead singer, whose gruff and punk voice was a great fit for the new songs Steve Harris was writing at that time.
The same year they recorded a demo on New Year’s Eve and sent it out to Bandwagon Heavy Metal SoundHouse who released it as The Soundhouse Tapes – 5,000 copies were sold immediately and the band’s popularity skyrocketed.
Di’Anno was a rowdy lad, who often got into drugs and alcohol, making him a difficult and unreliable band member. His drug use became an addiction up to the point where it consumed all of his life.
It often seems normal for metal and rock bands to get into drugs, engage in criminal activity yet still be performing for decades on end. However, Paul’s behaviour took a more severe turn where it heavily influenced Iron Maiden’s performances.
In 1979, Iron Maiden had scheduled a gig at the Swan pub and were due on stage when suddenly the lead singer had just been taken in handcuffs to the local police station.
“I was a kid – 22 years old – and here we were headlining our own big tour and I didn’t know how to handle it,” Di’Anno said in an interview with Kerrang magazine. “And of course I was doing a bit of speed and whatnot, to keep me going, and that used to make it worse. You’d be awake for days, but feeling really ill. And some nights I just didn’t think I was gonna make it.”
In 1981, when the Killer world tour ended Iron Maiden fired Paul and replaced him with Bruce Dickinson.
Di’Anno’s future with the Iron Maiden lasted just a few years, which set him on a path of a solo career. He continued as a soloist as well as performing with bands such as Battlezone and Killers, and released several solo albums.
Paul Di’Anno’s influence in music industry
While his tenure was short-lived, the singer’s impact has been anything but as he helped the group define themselves and an early generation of heavy metal.
Fans state that Paul Di’Anno’s impact on the band is not understood by a lot of metal listeners. As one of the forefront vocalists from the new wave of British heavy metal Di’Anno has defined the overall raspy sound in the first two albums.
“The first album has a more raw and punkier edge to it,” says the Blyzzrd, a content creator of metal culture. It wasn’t until the release of the second album The Killers which set the blueprint of the voice for Iron Maiden.
“The first two albums are not as appreciated as the rest. But I do appreciate those albums and what it brought to the band as he kind of set a grounded Iron Maiden street level, grundy underground metal, which the following albums don’t have” Jake, an Iron Maiden fan told Artefact.
Di’Anno’s influence was worldwide. Even after leaving Iron Maiden, his raw, aggressive vocals were cited as an influence by metal bands including Metallica, Pantera and Sepultura.
‘I was a musician and I was born to play‘
Paul Di’Anno had never considered doing anything else than music. There wasn’t a day he doubted his passion and talent for songwriting. There was no other thing he could do that would make him feel fulfilled – he admited during an episode of the Još Jedan podcast.
In the last few years Paul Di’Anno was performing in a wheelchair due to a health issue called lymphedema. In 2023 and 2024 he performed more than 100 shows and still kept going no matter how tired he felt. He hated cancelling performances because he knew what it meant for his fans and didn’t want to disappoint them.
In 2022 Paul Di’Anno released an album called Warhorse as a collaborative project with two Croatian musicians Hrvoje Madiraca and Pupacic Pupi, who had recorded amazing pieces for Di’Anno. They helped Paul get back into music again after struggling with depression and creative block. It was the same year when Paul had his knee surgery that his fanbase paid for all his medical bills. In the interview with Još Jedan, Paul confessed: “If it wasn’t for these guys I would be rotting in a chair until today”
Released in 2024, newest album The Book of the Beast sounds propulsive and aggressive, similar to 1980s Judas Priest and Saxon. It is blood-spitting and heavier sounds especially in the songs ‘Feel My Pain’ and ‘Die By The Gun’. The closing song was ‘The Beast is Back’ which was a demo piece back when Di’Anno was working on Killer’s album that never came out.
“It’s certainly a release that sees him dip heavily into both heavy metal and punk in thrilling style, the fire of his days with Maiden burning as brightly as ever but there’s also his own maturity that colors the material with a lyrical content that still has an edge,” said Paul Monkhouse, journalist for The Razor’s Edge
This album is a reminder that Paul Di’Anno’s legacy will be forever passed on through generations of metal and punk rock artists.
Featured image by Mick Burgess