Early Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno dies

Iron Maiden 's first glorious frontman, Paul Di'Anno , has died at the age of 66, according to record label Conquest Music. "On behalf of his family, Conquest Music is saddened to confirm the death of Paul Andrews, known professionally as Paul Di'Anno. Paul passed away at his home in Salisbury at the age of 66." The artist had scheduled a concert in Bilbao for March 2025.

Born in Chingford, East London, on May 17, 1958, Paul rose to fame as the singer of the English heavy metal band between 1978 and 1981, replacing an initial vocalist named Dennis Wilcock who did not record anything with the group (who in turn replaced Paul Mario Day, the founder). He sang on their debut album, 'Iron Maiden', and also on their second, 'Killers', but after the international success of both albums, and partly due to his youth (he was the youngest of the group), he ended up being dragged down by his addiction to alcohol and other drugs, and was expelled from the group.

After leaving Iron Maiden, Di'Anno founded the band Lonewolf, which due to legal issues with the name ended up being called Di'Anno, with whom he released only one self-titled album in 1984. A year later he joined with prominent musicians from the NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal), such as Pete Willis (Def Leppard), Janick Gers and Clive Burr (Iron Maiden) to form a supergroup called 'Gogmagog', which only released a three-track EP. In 1986, he formed a new project, Paul Di'Anno's Battlezone, with which he released the albums 'Fighting Back' (1986), 'Children of Madness' (1987) and 'Feel My Pain' (1998). During this time he also tried his luck with the name Killers, releasing the LP 'Murder One' in 1992.

It was in 1997 that he revived the Di'Anno name for his band, returning to the studio to record 'The World's First Iron Man,' followed by 'As Hard As Iron,' 'The Masters,' and 'Nomad.' During this time, he also recorded with Dennis Stratton, The Almighty Inbredz, Praying Mantis, and Architects of Chaoz.

Less than two months ago, Di'Anno, who has been performing in a wheelchair due to serious health problems for most of the last decade, spoke about the progress of his treatment after undergoing major knee surgery in Croatia, where he reunited with his Iron Maiden replacement, Bruce Dickinson , shortly after his procedure. “I left the clinic I was in because I was going to Zagreb that night to do an autograph signing and go on stage to sing three songs with a Maiden cover band. What I didn't know was that Bruce was playing as well,” the frontman recently recounted. “I got there and he was on stage. His whole band came down to say hello, and then he came over, we shook hands and hugged, and had a little chat, which is private, obviously. But yeah, everything's fine. The press has said some bad things about us—that we don't like each other, etc.—but that's not the case. 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,” his record label’s statement concluded. “Despite being plagued by serious health issues in recent years that limited him to performing in a wheelchair, Paul continued to entertain his fans around the world, racking up over 100 shows since 2023. His first career retrospective album, The Book of the Beast, was released in September 2024 and featured highlights from his recordings since leaving Iron Maiden. We at Conquest Music are proud to have had Paul Di'Anno join our artist family and ask his legion of fans to raise a glass in his memory.”

His most recent release was this past September, when he released a new version of the classic Iron Maiden song "Wrathchild," recorded with singer ZP Theart (Dragonforce, Skid Row), drummer Russell Gilbrook (Uriah Heep), and guitarist Cliff Evans (Tank). Paul's story will soon be captured in a documentary by Wes Orshoski, director of "Lemmy: 49% Motherfucker, 51% Son of a Bitch," to be released by Cleopatra Records in late 2024.