Iron Maiden founding singer Paul Di’Anno dies

Born in Chingford, east London, on May 17, 1958, Paul rose to fame as the singer of the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden between 1978 and 1981. He sang on their debut album, ‘Iron Maiden’, and also in the second, ‘Killers’.

Less than two months ago, Di’Anno, who has been performing in a wheelchair as a result of serious health problems for most of the last decade, discussed the progress of his treatment after undergoing major knee surgery in Croatia, a country where he met the singer who replaced him in Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, shortly after his intervention. «I left the clinic I was at because I was going that night, in Zagreb, to do an autograph signing and go on stage to sing three songs with a Maiden cover band. What I didn’t know is that Bruce played too,” the vocalist recently said. «I arrived and he was on stage. His whole band then came down to greet me and then he came over, we shook hands and a hug, and we had a little chat, which is private, obviously. But yes, everything is fine. The press has said bad things about us: that we don’t like each other, etc. but it is not like that. “He’s a great singer, man, absolutely brilliant.”

“Since leaving Iron Maiden, Paul Di’Anno has had a long and eventful recording career with Battlezone and Killers, as well as numerous solo releases and guest appearances,” says his record label’s statement. «Despite being plagued by serious health problems in recent years that limited him to performing in a wheelchair, Paul continued to entertain his fans around the world, amassing over 100 shows since 2023. His first retrospective album of his career, The Book of the Beast was released in September 2024 and featured highlights of his recordings since leaving Iron Maiden. At Conquest Music we are proud to have had Paul Di’Anno in our family of artists and ask his legion of fans to raise a glass to his memory.