List of Iron Maiden Band Members

List Of Iron Maiden Band Members

Iron Maiden are a British heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris. After several lineup changes prior to their recording career, they settled on Harris, vocalist Paul Di'Anno, guitarist Dave Murray and drummer Doug Sampson. The band released an EP as a four piece, before hiring guitarist Dennis Stratton in 1979. Doug Sampson was dismissed from the band as he was unable to cope with the touring schedule and, at the suggestion of Stratton, replaced him with Clive Burr, with whom the band recorded their self-titled debut album in 1980. Later that year, Stratton was replaced by guitarist Adrian Smith, due to musical and personal differences brought about by choosing not to travel with the band when supporting Kiss on the European leg of their Unmasked Tour.

During the tour supporting their second studio effort, Di'Anno was fired from the band after drug and alcohol abuse affected his live performance. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson left his previous band, Samson, to audition for Iron Maiden in September 1981 and joined shortly afterwards. After the release of their third album, The Number of the Beast, drummer Nicko McBrain replaced Burr, who left due to personal and scheduling problems on the subsequent "Beast on the Road" tour. This is considered by many as their quintessential lineup, with which they released a series of high-impact works.

In 1990, prior to the recording of their eighth studio album, Smith was asked to leave the band due to a lack of enthusiasm, brought about by the "stripped-down" musical direction they were taking, which Smith considered "a step backwards." Janick Gers, an old friend of Dickinson's who played on his debut solo album, became the new guitarist. This formation recorded one more album before Dickinson departed in 1993, in order to further pursue his solo career.

The band listened to hundreds of tapes submitted by vocalists before asking Blaze Bayley to audition, with whom they would go on to release two studio albums, after which Bayley left the band by mutual consent in January 1999. At that point, the band were in talks with Dickinson, who, after a meeting with Steve Harris and Rod Smallwood (the group's manager) in Brighton, agreed to rejoin along with Adrian Smith, who was telephoned a few hours later. Iron Maiden therefore became a six-piece band and have gone on to make four further studio releases. The current lineup is now the longest and most stable in the band's history.

Read more about List Of Iron Maiden Band Members:  Current Members, Former Members, Touring Musicians, Timeline, Band Lineups

Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, iron, maiden, band and/or members:

    Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    My list of things I never pictured myself saying when I pictured myself as a parent has grown over the years.
    Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)

    The greatest, or rather the most prominent, part of this city was constructed with the design to offer the deadest resistance to leaden and iron missiles that might be cast against it. But it is a remarkable meteorological and psychological fact, that it is rarely known to rain lead with much violence, except on places so constructed.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    There was a young lady called Gloria
    Who was had by Sir Gerald Du Maurier
    And then by six men
    And Sir Gerald again
    And the band of the Waldorf-Astoria.
    Anonymous.

    ... the theatre demanded of its members stamina, good digestion, the ability to adjust, and a strong sense of humor. There was no discomfort an actor didn’t learn to endure. To survive, we had to be horses and we were.
    Helen Hayes (1900–1993)