Former Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley says only one of the iconic metal band’s line of vocalists has achieved truly legendary status.
The band’s first singer was Paul Mario Day, who was part of the founding lineup from 1975 to 1976. He was replaced by Dennis Wilcock, who held the role until 1978.
Paul Di’Anno landed the job in 1978 and sang on the band’s first two albums – the self-titled Iron Maiden and Killers. Many fans still cite those two records as the group’s best ever work, and Bayley agrees.
He believes Di’Anno, who died in 2024, holds a status that nobody – not even current and longest serving frontman Bruce Dickinson – can match.
Bayley tells Metal OBS: “There are different eras of Maiden, of course, but in my mind, only Paul is the legend.
“After that, we carry the name, we carry the torch of Iron Maiden. I may become a legend, Bruce may become a legend. But the legend of Iron Maiden belongs to Paul on those first two albums.
“Because they broke the mould, not just of heavy metal, but of music. Those albums are so different and do so many things. They break the rules.
“He’s a legend. He was a legend. He now is a timeless legend. So that’s something that can never be changed, in my opinion. It’s only my opinion.
“Other people will say different things, but in my opinion, you listen to some of the songs on the first two albums, it’s so different to everything else that was going on.”
Di’Anno and Bayley became friendly after their stints with Maiden came to an end, and the pair even performed Maiden material together on the road.
Bayley adds: “We were colleagues. Paul was a very funny guy. I think people don’t know that about him. He had a great sense of humour.
“Russia from St. Petersburg, Moscow, right across to Vladivostok, and we did Sweden together. We did all Scandinavia, and we did Australia and New Zealand. And when we had a good band, and he’d rested well, you could close your eyes and it was like the first album, but better. It was like those first two albums, but better.”
Di’Anno’s health struggle towards the end of his life is the subject of a documentary released this year – Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer.
