The Story of Iron Maiden begins in 1971, when 15 year old Steve Harris,
inspired by the likes of Wishbone Ash, Jethro, Tull and early Genesis bought a copy Telecaster bass for then princely
sum of £40. Steve had previously harboured visions of one day laying soccer for this beloved West Ham and
was actually signed to them on Scoolboy forms. However, the talent pool in the Hammersmith'youth organisation in
those days was overflowing and the number of players was actually made it into professional game were fery few.
The continous playing and training regime also meant that young Harry couldn't join his mates in drinking, watching
bands and pulling girls.After thinking long and hard, he abondoned hopes of a soccer career and built a stong liking
and knowledge of rock music. He thaught himself how to play by playing along to his favorite records and jamming
with friends. This led to the formation of a band called Influence who they changed their name to Gypsy's Kiss.
The Gypsies made their debut at a talent contest in Poplar, lasting all of sis gigs before calling it a day. Steve
fired by a " Burning Ambition " hooked up with a band calling Smiler. The other band members were several
older than him, Steve picked up some valuable experience but still stifled. Smiler was a " good time boogie
" band and although then played and early version of " Innocent Exile ", they durned down "
Burning Ambition " and made it clear that they didn't expect their bass player to leap around the strage and
write songs. Steve finally realised that the only way to do what he wanted was to put his own band and together
and at the end of 1975, Iron Maiden was born. Steve got the name from seeing an Iron Maiden in an old movie of
" The Man In The Iron Mask ". It was a metal coffin with spikes on the inside and the victims were placed
inside it and skewered to death.
In the spring of 1976, the band secured a residency at the Cart and Horses pub in Stratford in London's East End.
The First couple of gings went okay, but Steve still felt there was something missing. Vocalist Paul Day was replaced
by ex-Smiler song smith Dennis Wilcock and he recommended a talent young guitarist Dave murray. This put the back
up of the resident guitarist Terry Rance and Paul Sullivan who took it as an insult to their talent and departed.
Bob Sawyer, who used the name Bob d'Angelo, was recruited as second guitarist and with Ron Rebel on drums the first
Proper Maiden line-up came into being. As well as the Cart the band began to get gigs all over East London, building
up a strong local following. After sis months, the line-up changed again. Bob left as instead of trying to complement
Dave's guitar-Bob kept trying to compete with him-a srict no-contest. Then, after a row at The Bridgehouse, Den
fired Dave who went off to join Urchin, his old mate Adrian Smith's band.
With all the hassles, the band decided to temporalily abandon twin guitars concept and Terry Wapram joined as sole
buitarist and Tony Moore was recruited on keyboards. Ron Rebel had decided he couldn't handle the aggravation and
also left to be replaced by Barry purkis-who would later call himself Thunderstick. The new line-up played one
gig at The Bridgehouse and it was painfully obvious that keyboards were not to answer. Exit Moore followed by Wapram
who claimed he couldn't play with keyboards. Steve went down to an Urchin gig and persuaded Davey to rejoin the
maiden fold. Den then quit just before a gig in South London and when Thunderstick also left, things looked bleak.
Steve recruited ex-Smiler drummer doug Sampson and while the three of them rehearsed they looked for a new singer.
Eventually, a mete of Steve's recommander Paul di'Anno. Paul passed his audition with flying colours and the band
set about their comeback. Things were difficult at first as in 1977 the Punk/New booking new wave acts. The record
companies felt the same. The band did receive offers, if they were prepared to cut their hair and go punk. Needless
to say you can guess Harry's answer.
By late 1978, the situation had improved enough to allow the band to work to make their comeback and get regular
gigs. They realised that they needed a demo and so on New Year's Eve they were in Spaceward Studio near Cambridge
recording " Prowler ", " Invasion ", " Strange World ", and " Iron Maiden ".
The £200 cost of the recording session was all that they had and so the band couldn't buy the master tape.
When they want back a couple of weeks later to pay for the tape and mix, the tapehad been wiped, leaving them with
just the cassettes from the original session unedited and unmixed. Dave gave his copy to Neal Kay, a DJ with a
passionate love of hard rocki who held regular rocks nights at The Soundhouse, which adjoined the Bandwagon pub
in Kingsbury, North London. The band were now finding it easier to book gigs and gained a residency at the Ruskin
Arms in Manor Parks. Neal played the tape one of his Soundhouse nightsand was astonished at the reaction. It became
the most requested item for months and Maiden begans to play here. The demo tape had also come to the attention
of rod Smallwood. A rugby mate of Rod's, who also worked with Steve, passed the tape on, and after listing to it
and checking the band out, offered his services as manager. Rod arranged gigs all over the country to allow the
band to build-up a nation-wide following and arranged gigs in or near central London to get record companies to
check out Maiden. One such gig was at The marquee on October 13th. John Darnley came from EMI to see maiden and
Rod had a side bet with Marquee manager that the gig would sell-out (700 fans) by 7pm. Rod won his bet and EMI
signed Iron Maiden the following month. In the summer, Maiden had been featured in the music paper " Sounds
". It was in feature that Geoff Barten who would latter go on to found " Kerrang ! " coined the
phrase " The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal ". Maiden also made their debuts at The Music Machine in
Camden as special guests to Motorhead who were playing under the name of "Iron First and The Hordes From Hell
". Before the year was out the band would play the Music Machine twice more-as headliners.
In the meantime, the band, who had been deluged with requests for copies of the demo tape from fans decided to
put it out their own Rock Hard Label. The 7 "EP was christened " The soundhouse Tapes " and to keep
it special for the hard-core fans was only sols gigs and by mail-order. The 6000 copies sold-out almost immediatly
making it an instant collectors item. Dispite requests from major chainstores for the record the band decided to
keep it as something special for their fans. In between gigs, the band went into EMI's Manchester Square studios
to record " Sanctuary " and " Wrathchild " for a compilation LP called " Metal For Muthas
". They also recording four songs for Radio One 's " The Friday Rock Show ". Guitarist Tony Parsons
came in as second guitarist to make it a five-piece again.
Over the Christmas period, the band underwent more line-up changes. Doug Sampson had to quit for health reasons
and Parsons, who always appeared nored on stage, got the elbow. Clive Burr and Dennis Straton took over on drums
and guitar. The band then got down to recording their first album with Will Malone in the producer's chair. In
February 1980, while the band went out on the " Metal For Muthas " tour to promote the compilation, their
first single " Running Free " was released. It totally exceeded record company exceptions enterting the
UK charts at No.44 and earning the band an invitation to appear on BBC TV's " Top Of The Pops ". The
band accepted-but only if they could play live-the first band since The Who eight years earlier. Surprisingly the
BBC agreed. On April 14th the band debut's album 3iron Maiden " was released rocketing straight into the charts
at No.4 ! Maiden, who had followed " Metal For Mouths " with a guest slot on the Judas Priest "
British Steel " began their own fully fledged headline UK tour playing some 40-odd dates in just under two
months. They also appeared at the Marquee, including a run of four consectutive nights all totally sold out.
Iin August, the band were invited by U.S. mega-stars Kiss to support them on their European Tour and to play at
reading on the Saturday night as special gusts to UFO, give Steve the opportunity to play on the same bill as UFO's
Pete Way, one of his all-time heroes. With Kiss, the two bands got on famously and Maiden's following on the continent
grew immensly. Maiden did not play on the UK dates having just finished their UK tour and so took a week off holiday
in the Italian sun. On returning from the Kiss tour it was announced that due to " musical differences "
Dennis was leaving the band.. Dennis'taste in music was quite different from the rest of the band and his ideas
were not in line with where the band wanted to go and so a parting of the ways was necessary. The split was acrimonious
at first, but nowadays Dennis and the band are good friends and Dennis manages The Cart and Horses. The band did
not have very far to look for a remplacement and Adrian Smith joined the fold. The band had actually approached
Adrian before Dennis, but as Urchin seemed to be happening H decided to stick out. A mini-UK tour was histly arranged
to break Adrian in. Then they began to work on a new album with Marchin Birch producing. They broke off from recording
to play a special Christmas gig at London's Rainbow Theatre, which was filmed for a future video release. The capacity
crowd were given an early Christmas present when the second half of the slow had to be played all over again due
to problems with the secound recording. Nobody left early !
The " Killers " album came out in February'81 as the band embarked on their first World Tour. It charted
in the UK at No.12 and earned the band gold discs from several major territories. As well as Europe, the "
Killer " World Tour took in first-time visits to Canada, America and Japan. A live EP featuring performances
recorded in Japan was released called " Maiden Japan ". In March a 30 minute video of the Rainbow Christmas
show came out. As the " Killer " tour came to an end, it was clear that Paul Di'Anno's days were numbered.
He had belivied in living the rock and roll life style to the full, despite warning from the rest of the band,
Rod and doctors-damaging his vocal cords towards a bluesier, Whitesnack-like style. Once more a remplacement was
close at hand. Bruce Bruce of fellow UK rockers Samson was becoming disenchanted at that band's drift towards the
kind of music that ironically Paul was embracing and so auditioned for Maiden and was in, reverting on his normal
name of Dickinson. A few hastily-arranged dates in Italy introduced Bruce to Maiden and he made a triumphant UK
debut at The Rainbow, the band also took the opportunity to play some new songs currently being recorded for the
new album. Bruce was christened " the air-raid siren " by the fans due to his powerful vocals. The year
ended with Maiden returned to The Ruskins Arms under the thinly disguised after-ego of Genghis Khan to a play a
charity/Dave Murray bithday bash.
If 1981 could be viewed as a successfull year for Maiden, then 1982 exceeded all expectations. The band were already
engaged in a sell-out British lef of " The Beast On The Road Tour ", when the first single from the new
album " Run To The Hills " reached No7 in the UK charts. The new album " The Number Of The beast
" blew away the competition to enter the UK chart at No1 and going Top 10 across the Europe. It also charted
in the US and Canadian charts. " The Beast on The Road Tour " lived up it's name with the band playing
180 dates in eights months. Once again the band broke new ground visiting Australia and New Zealand for the first
time and on June 29th, they played their first sold out headline gig in the US at New york's Palladium. In August,
the band broke off from their US tour and flew back to the UK to perform at the Reading Festival in front of 35000
fans. At the end of the tour, another casuatly Iron Maiden schedule took it's toll and so in January 1983, the
ba nd flew to Nassau to record the next album with one Nicko Mc brain in the drummer's chair. The band had met
Nicko during the UK leg of the " Killer tour " when he played with French rockers Trust who had supported
Maiden. In America, the band were branded Satanists by a small band of ill-informed, self opinioated individuals
who had totally missed the point. Their accusations-totally untrue-gaining the band more publicity.
Drummer, raconteur and all-roundheadcase, Nicko received his " baptism of fire " during the recording
of " Piece Of Mind " in Nassau. The band took time out from recording to film a promo video for the forthcoming
single " Flight of Icarus ", the script called for someone to wear blue make-up and dress in monk's robes.
Nicko has the new boy " volunterred " for the role. In May, the new album came out and entered the UK
charts at No3 and the band began the " World Piece Tour " at Hull City Hall. Thez tour was once again
a world-wide affair with the band achieving major status throught the countries that they played. In the US, they
were playing to larger audiences and selling out almost everywhere. The tour came to and end in front of Europe-wide
TV audience in dortmund. As the climax to the show , the band visciously attacking the walking Eddie. Apparently,
they've been fortunately the reports of Eddie's demise were gosssly exaggerated and he was back on record covers
and stages the following year. The band went into New Year, with a stable line-up, facing the prospect of their
busiest year yet.
1984, opened with a confident (but not complacent) Iron Maiden having a three week break before starting work on
the new album. It was rehearsed in Jersey and once again recorded in Nassau. By the time " Powerslave "
hit the streets in September, the band were already threee weeks into the gruelling " World Slavery Tour "
pushing the boundaries ever onwards, the band opened the tour in Poland-the first time that a major rock act had
played in Hungary and Yugoslavia and the groundbreaking " Iron Maiden Behind The Iron Curtain " tour
was a huge success and earned the attention of the world's media. In those days with the Iron Curtain still firmly
in place, a tour of those countries was a major undertaking. The whole tour was also filmed for a documentary which
was released later in the year as " Behind The Iron Curtain ". From Eastern Europe, the band returned
via Italy to the UK, where the album " Powerslave " was released and went straight at No.2. The album
fea tured the most elaborate artwork sor far and the massive stage show reflected this. Maiden played four nights
at Hammersmith Odeon, incuding one night with sppof rockers Bad News for Charity. Eddie was now a twenty tall monster
appearing at the end of the song " Iron Maiden ". The tour was a overwhelming success, the band were
at the height of their powers, the stage show was awesome and the merchandising receipts broke records at many
venues. The band interrupted the US leg of the tour and made their first visit in South America when they played
in front of an estimated at 200000 people at the " Rock In Rio " festival.. The highlight of the US tour
was at Long Beach Arena in Southern California when Iron Maiden became the first band sell-out four consecutive
nights-a total audience of 52000. The Long Beach shows were filmed with the view to release another live video
capturing the band at their very best. The tour came to an exhausting conclusion in July 1985. With a double live
album and live video due for release in the autumn, the ban,d could at last take their first real holiday for five
years and they needed it. The live album and video both called " Live After Death " came out in October,
the album charted at No.2 and the video was in the best-selling music video charts for months.
The new album " Somewhere In Time " was recorded in Nassau and Munich and was released in September 1986.
It charted in the UK No.3 and went gold or platinium in evey major territory. To promote the album, the band went
" Somewhere On Tour ". The new album showed a marked change in the band's style with the use of synthetisiers
as background on several songs. However, any fans who feared it could water down Maiden's style needed only to
listen to the likes of " Heaven Can Wait " or " Alexander The Great ". The tour once again
began with a visit behind the Iron Curtain, commercing in Belgrade and finishing a mere eights months later in
Osaka. The stage show was once again spectacular, Eddie had now been turned into a cyborg and the climax of the
show saw the entire being lifted into the air while a giant inflatable Eddie head and claws appeared. The band
were also filmed and interviewed for a video documentary released in 1987 entitled " Twelve Wasted Years "-avideo
chronicle of their rise to the top featuring previously unssen archive footage and interviews with key people involved
in the Iron Maiden success. With the tour successfully completed it was the time to start thinking about the next
album.
" Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son " was a epic masterpiece of an album-it marked the first and (so far "
only time that Iron Maiden have recorded a " cocept album ". This wasn't originally the idea, but as
the band wrote and rehearsed, the songs seemed to be linked by a common theme. The cover artwork also showed a
marked change being more subdued in style that anything previously seen. The " Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour
" also broke with Maiden tradition, beginning in the US and being made up of a combination of arenas and festivals.
The high spot of the entire tour came in August when Maiden headlined at the legendary " Monsters Of Rock
" festival at Donington. Supported by one of the strongest bills ever seen at the festival (Kiss, David Lee
Roth, Megadeth, Guns'n Roses, Helloween), the band played before an all-time record crowd for the event of 102000.
Maiden played a bistering set and the stage show was fantastic, climaxing with a massive fireworks display. The
band the took the " Monsters Of Rock " shows to Europe, before ending the tour on home territory with
a series of arena-shows-the firest time that the band had played such large venues in the UK. The two nights at
Birmingham NEC-arguably the best non-festival shows of the tour were filmed for a new live video which could be
co-directed and edited by Steve Harris. The tour came to an end on 12th December back at Hammersmith Odeon-the
scene of so many previous Maiden triumphs. With no album sheduled for 1989, the band were able to look forward
to a real break to recharge their batteries and spend some real time with their families. Bruce and Adrian "
rested " by recording solo albums, while Steve spent most of his time editing the Birmingham footage. The
band did finally get together again in November 1989 for the release of the video " Maiden England ".
EMI and Sanctuary threw a lavish lauch party with a strong British theme, the hall was decked out with Union Jacks
and the invited representatives of the world's media dined on fish and chips and drank bitter, while the band spent
their time being photographed and interviewed . " Maiden England " was once again a best seller amongst
music videos.
In January 1990, the band assembled at Steve's to start work on " No Prayer For The Dying ". Work had
barely begun when, for the first time in seven years there was a personal change. Adrian fresh from his solo album,
revealed that he wasn't sure that he could still give Maiden 100 percent and so mutal consent left the band. Fortuneatly,
the solution was once again close at hand. Janck Gers who was well-known to the band haved playing Gillan among
others and who had recently worked with Bruce on his solo album and tour was auditioned and invited to join. The
recording of the album continued on schedulez. For the first time since " Beast " the band recorded the
album on home soil, at Steve's own studio in converted barn on the side of his house in Essex. The content of the
album took on a more serious feel, as the band's lyrics began to deal with contemporary issues. The album cover
and packaging artork had a more sinister look about it. The album was released on October 1st 1990 and debuted
at No.2 in the UK chart. After not treading the boards for almost two years, the band were raring to get out and
play live again. The " No Prayer On The Road " tour got underway with a " secret gig in Milton Keynes
on 19th September 1990. After the mammoth production of the previous tour, it was a back-to-basics approach this
time around with a minimum of stage set and lighting. It ably demonstrated that Maiden could put on a great show
in their own right without having to be surronded by mega-watts of sound and light and a big-budget production.
Janick also made a big difference live, his high energy enthusiasm and on-stage antics rubbed off on everyone,
especially davey. The band and their fans enjoyed being close to each other again, feeding off each other's enthusiasm
reminiscent of the earlier days. The tour ended in Salt Lake City in March 1991. It was originally scheduled to
carry on to Japan and Australia, but the travel and shipping difficulties presented by the outbreak of the Gulf
War brought about the premature end.
When it came time to think about the new album, the band and management decided that Eddie needed a change of image
for the 1990's. From comic-book horror it was decided that Eddie should be more straightforward horror and to that
end Derek Riggs and several artists where invited to submit ideas of how they saw the " new " Eddie and
a design submitted by Melvin Grant was selected. The album " Fear Of The Dark " was released in May 1992
as the band opened the " Fear Of The Dark " tour in Scandinavia. The album gave the band their third
UK No.1. Iron Maiden were once again to play at Donington in August. The band played an even stronger show that
in 1988. They knew what to expect this time around and so were less effected by nerves. The entire shows was filmed
for a live video to be released for following year. Several shows were also taped for a future live album. The
stage show was more elaborate although not to the excess of 1988 and Edie appeared as a giant tree creature as
per the album cover. The tour was ended in November 4th and as the band flew home from Japan, they were unaware
of the bombshell that was about to be dropped in March 1993.
Bruce had been thinking for some time about leaving Iron Maiden. Always a workaholic. Bruce had several projects
on the go outside of Maiden and with a young family, the demands on his time were reaching saturation point. Something
had to give and Bruce felt he'd gone as far as he vould with Iron Maiden. It had been decided that rather than
realise a double live album as they had with " Live After Death " the new live set would be released
as two separate albums. The first would feature material from the band's post LAD period, while the secondf would
feature more vintage material. The fans they had a choice a purchasing both albums or just materials from either
era. As the first album-" A Real Live One " approached and the band prepared for the " Real Live
Tour " they advertised for a replacement for Bruce-with the result that they were flooded with thousands of
tapes CD'' and videos from the hopeful to the hopeless. Meanwhile, the band visited Moscow. The reception the band
received from the happy Russian headbangers was amazing. Once the tour was complete it was time to sit down and
sift through the myriad of demos from prospective singers. Bruce was given a suitably grisly send-off at the end
of " Raising Hell " a pay-per-view magic and music show featuring TV magician Simon Drake which was televised
live around the world.
After an intensive search, it was announced at the end of the year that Bruce's successor was to be Blaze Bayley
from Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane has supported Iron Maiden on their 1990 UK tour and so the band had the opportunity to
see Blaze in action and knew what he was capable of. Blaze was favourite from the start and after listening to
all the tapes and holding audition no one cropped up that the band felt would be more suitable. Once all the hoop-la
of Blaze's joining had died down, the band set about a period of intensive rehearsals so that they and Blaze could
get used to each other and then start work on the new album.
The band not only had a new singer, but also a new producer. For the first time since 1980, a Maiden studio album
would not be produced or co-produced by Martin Birch. Since the mid'1980's Martin had been in semi-retirement only
returning to the mixing desk for Maiden. Now he had decided to completly retire. It was decided that Steve would
share the producer's chair with Nigel Green. Nigel had originally been the tape operator on the " Killer "
and " Beast " albums, having since gone on to become a top-fight producer in his own right. The new album
took over a year to complete. The importance of the album meant that every step was taken to ensure that everything
was just right. The new album was christened " The X Factor " as in X-the unknown. It finally hit the
streets in October 1995 with the " X Factour " beginning shortly before.
The tour opened with dates in Israel and South Africa-the band's first time in either country and the experience
and the welcome from the locals fans made the band want to return there next time. They were also supposed to play
in Beirout, but the Lebanese government withdrew their viseas and even intervention through diplomatic channels
failed to change their minds. The band took advantage of the unexpected lull to fly back to the UK to do MTV's
" Most Wanted ". They then flew to Romania behind the former Iron Curtain to undertake their first COMPREHENSIVE
tour of Easthern Europe (Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Rebublic, Romania). Any doubts as to Blaze's
ability and fan reaction were laid to rest as the band received a warm welcome from all the fans, especially at
home. The brixton show was one of the best of all-time. The band were fired up and so was the crowd. In the lead-up
to Christmas and early in New Year Maiden played in Western Europe before moving on to America, Canada and Japan.
In the summer the band played European festivals and toured South America, including headlining the " Monsters
Of Rock " in front of 50000 in Sao Paulo stadium.
Which brings us nicely to now, 20 years on, and the " Best Of The Beast ". Hope you've enjoyed it all
as much as all of us in the Maiden camp here.
March 1998, the new album "VIRTUAL XI" came out with two singles. The first one "The Angel And The
Gambler" in March'98 and the second in September 98 : "Futureal". The tour begins in France at Lille
and it still continusly. Iron Maiden played football with boys in France and other in each country they visited.
During the tour in America, Blaze went to hospital because he was allergic of dust in the desert of Arizona.
September 1998, all the albums were remasterised, they included all the songs plus some bonus songs, a biography
of the group and some photos, all in CD-ROM and a casket will come in November " Eddie Head ".
February 10th 1999, Iron Maiden became one of the biggest band ever with
his new line-up ! Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith are back with Maiden, this is one of the most important news
in world of Rock and Roll history !!! The new line-up is:
Bruce Dickinson on vocals, Steve Harris on bass, Dave Murray on guitars, Janick Gers on guitars, Adrian Smith on
guitars and Nicko McBrain on drums !!!
Iron Maiden is only the second band in history of our music who have 3 guitars on stage !!! Umbelievable !!!
The first date for the European concert is the 9/9/99 and finished on st October
May 1999, the game Ed Hunter is here. This album contains the game Ed Hunter and 20 songs of Maiden voted by the fans on the website. In this game, we chase Eddie through time and each level is accompany by a Maiden song. Ed Hunter is a shoot'em up.
The Ed hunter tour begins in Canada in Montreal on the 13 July 99 and a lots of American and European towns and Maiden passed by Paris on the 9/9/99 in Paris. It was gretaful. Bruce and the other members were excellent.
In January, Maiden announce The Metal 2000 World Tour. Dates are available on the official website and in my section "Metal 2000"
On February 2000, a new producer for the new Maiden album. His name is Kevin Shirley
8 May 2000, the new single of Iron Maiden appears. It Called "The wickerman" And 29 may, the new album "Brave New World" arrived in the disc shops. The Wickerman is at number9 at the UK charts, number 5 in Sweden, number3 in Italy, 39 in France and 38 in Germany
The New single appeared "Run To The Hills" to help Clive Bur because he's ill and the 25 march we can buy "Rock In Rio" on cd and triple picture disc. The DVD will come nearly
On 10th june, Maiden sell his DVD and on 8th november 2002 we can buy the new CD "Edward The Great" and on 18th November we can see a casket
Up the Irons !