It was in 1981 that Iron Maiden’s bassist and leader Steve Harris made the most important decision in the band’s entire career — replacing singer Paul Di’Anno with a new frontman, Bruce Dickinson.
And as Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith says now, it was a decision made out of necessity.
Smith tells MusicRadar: “Paul had a great voice, but he was very temperamental.”
Di’Anno sang on the band’s first two albums — the self-titled debut from 1980, and Killers from 1981.
But Di’Anno was, by his own admission, a loose cannon. He enjoyed the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle a little too much during Maiden’s long tours, and this would have a damaging effect on his voice.
“If you're a singer, it's kind of a shaky ground,” Smith says. “You’re totally reliant on your body. You can't put a bit more distortion on your amp or use effects. You can’t compensate.
“It’s you out there and you’re very exposed. I understand that.”
As Smith recalls, Maiden’s heavy touring placed a heavy burden on Di’Anno.
“The schedule started to pile up,” he says, “and it was difficult for Paul, being the singer in a rock band playing five nights on the trot.”
Smith compares Di’Anno’s singing style to that of Judas Priest’s Rob Halford.
“Maiden had toured with Priest, and Paul did take a bit from Rob — a little bit of vibrato, the holding of the notes.
"Paul was getting into that, and it's a difficult thing. You have your natural voice you’re born with, and then you have to introduce this technique, and Paul was starting to do that, to really expand his range, as well as having the character in his voice.”
However, during the Killers tour in 1981 it became evident that Di’Anno was struggling.
Steve Harris notified the band’s manager Rod Smallwood that a change of singer was required.
Smith recalls: “It was Steve who said to Rod, ‘We can’t do this.’ Steve being very decisive, he knew exactly what he wanted to do long term.
“So okay, if that’s how you feel. It’s not very nice, but we got on with it.”
Harris also knew who he wanted as Di’Anno’s replacement — Bruce Dickinson, who was then fronting Samson, a band that had emerged alongside Maiden in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.
As Smith says: “Paul wasn’t as professional as Bruce. And Bruce could sing as high and as loud and as long as you wanted him to — like a machine.”
With Dickinson in the band, Maiden’s third album, The Number Of The Beast, was a huge hit in 1982.
It was the big leap forward that established Maiden as the leading heavy metal band of that era.
Ultimately, Paul Di’Anno’s failure was the making of Bruce Dickinson.
But on October 22, 2024, the day after Paul Di’Anno’s death, it was Dickinson who paid tribute during a Maiden show in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In an impromptu speech he mentioned a song from the band’s debut album — Remember Tomorrow, co-written by Harris and Di’Anno.
Dickinson now believes that Iron Maiden should never play Remember Tomorrow again, out of respect for Di’Anno.
“If ever Paul owned a song, it's that one,” he said. “I can sing it, and have done. But I think we should leave it with Paul now.
“Some songs, people just own them. And I think he owns that one.”
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