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Paul Di'Anno
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Paul Di'Anno
Paul Andrews (17 May 1958 – 21 October 2024), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, was an English heavy metal singer. He was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno issued numerous albums over the years, as both a solo artist and as a member of bands such as Gogmagog, Di'Anno's Battlezone, Killers, Rockfellas, and Warhorse. Together with fellow Iron Maiden member Dennis Stratton, he joined Praying Mantis for the recording of their 1990 live album Live at Last.
Di'Anno was born on 17 May 1958 in Chingford, Essex, where he also grew up. Because of his Brazilian father, Di'Anno held dual British and Brazilian citizenship. He spent his teenage years singing in various rock and heavy metal bands and working as a butcher in Station Road and as a chef in hotels and restaurants.
According to Iron Maiden's The History of Iron Maiden – Part 1: The Early Days DVD, Di'Anno was introduced to the band by drummer Doug Sampson, an old friend of Steve Harris (Iron Maiden's founder and bass player) from his days in the band Smiler. It was around this time that he first adopted the stage name Di'Anno, which he would later use to claim Italian descent. Their first audition with Rod Smallwood reputedly failed when Di'Anno was arrested for showing off his pocket-knife in public.
The band's 1980 self-titled release quickly became acknowledged as a classic of its genre, as the band merged punk's energy with metal's riffs and progressive rock complexity, serving as the blueprint for such future genres as thrash metal and speed metal and influencing later progressive metal bands. 1981 saw the release of their second album, Killers, as well as a stopgap live EP, Maiden Japan.
By 1981, Di'Anno was demonstrating increasingly erratic behaviour, particularly due to his drug usage, about which Di'Anno comments, "It wasn't just that I was snorting a bit of coke, though; I was just going for it non-stop, 24 hours a day, every day ... the band had commitments piling up that went on for months, years, and I just couldn't see my way to the end of it. I knew I'd never last the whole tour. It was too much".
Iron Maiden decided that to progress they would have to find a singer able to complete those tour plans. They found a replacement in former Samson frontman Bruce Dickinson. Di'Anno's last show with the band was on 10 September 1981 at the Odd Fellow's Mansion in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1981, he left Iron Maiden after a meeting with the band and their manager Rod Smallwood.[citation needed] Di'Anno jokingly stated: "It's like having Mussolini and Adolf Hitler run your band. Because it is Rod Smallwood and Steve Harris and that's it. There can't be anyone else and my character is too strong for that so me an' Steve was always fighting". Di'Anno was paid out by Smallwood at the time of his departure and did receive royalties for songwriting credits.
Di'Anno was the first project by Paul Di'Anno after he was fired from Iron Maiden. This group was originally called Lonewolf but after disagreement with a group already called Lone Wolf, they changed their name and ended up recording only one album under the simple moniker of Di'Anno. Musically the band shifted away from the NWOBHM sound of Iron Maiden to a more Americanized sound similar to bands like Journey and Foreigner. On the tour, Di'Anno played "Remember Tomorrow" from his catalogue of Iron Maiden songs, along with their own songs and a few other covers (most notably The Kinks' "You Really Got Me", and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"). Having limited success, the six-piece band disbanded shortly after they were done touring. The only other recordings available from this band are a single of "Heartuser", a Japanese single of "Flaming Heart" and a Sweden-only VHS release called Live at the Palace (also available on DVD as Di'Anno Live from London). During the latter performance, the band played an unreleased song entitled "Spiritual Guidance", which Paul told the audience would be on the band's forthcoming album. This album was never recorded.
Last known line-up:
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Paul Di'Anno
Paul Andrews (17 May 1958 – 21 October 2024), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, was an English heavy metal singer. He was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981. In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno issued numerous albums over the years, as both a solo artist and as a member of bands such as Gogmagog, Di'Anno's Battlezone, Killers, Rockfellas, and Warhorse. Together with fellow Iron Maiden member Dennis Stratton, he joined Praying Mantis for the recording of their 1990 live album Live at Last.
Di'Anno was born on 17 May 1958 in Chingford, Essex, where he also grew up. Because of his Brazilian father, Di'Anno held dual British and Brazilian citizenship. He spent his teenage years singing in various rock and heavy metal bands and working as a butcher in Station Road and as a chef in hotels and restaurants.
According to Iron Maiden's The History of Iron Maiden – Part 1: The Early Days DVD, Di'Anno was introduced to the band by drummer Doug Sampson, an old friend of Steve Harris (Iron Maiden's founder and bass player) from his days in the band Smiler. It was around this time that he first adopted the stage name Di'Anno, which he would later use to claim Italian descent. Their first audition with Rod Smallwood reputedly failed when Di'Anno was arrested for showing off his pocket-knife in public.
The band's 1980 self-titled release quickly became acknowledged as a classic of its genre, as the band merged punk's energy with metal's riffs and progressive rock complexity, serving as the blueprint for such future genres as thrash metal and speed metal and influencing later progressive metal bands. 1981 saw the release of their second album, Killers, as well as a stopgap live EP, Maiden Japan.
By 1981, Di'Anno was demonstrating increasingly erratic behaviour, particularly due to his drug usage, about which Di'Anno comments, "It wasn't just that I was snorting a bit of coke, though; I was just going for it non-stop, 24 hours a day, every day ... the band had commitments piling up that went on for months, years, and I just couldn't see my way to the end of it. I knew I'd never last the whole tour. It was too much".
Iron Maiden decided that to progress they would have to find a singer able to complete those tour plans. They found a replacement in former Samson frontman Bruce Dickinson. Di'Anno's last show with the band was on 10 September 1981 at the Odd Fellow's Mansion in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1981, he left Iron Maiden after a meeting with the band and their manager Rod Smallwood.[citation needed] Di'Anno jokingly stated: "It's like having Mussolini and Adolf Hitler run your band. Because it is Rod Smallwood and Steve Harris and that's it. There can't be anyone else and my character is too strong for that so me an' Steve was always fighting". Di'Anno was paid out by Smallwood at the time of his departure and did receive royalties for songwriting credits.
Di'Anno was the first project by Paul Di'Anno after he was fired from Iron Maiden. This group was originally called Lonewolf but after disagreement with a group already called Lone Wolf, they changed their name and ended up recording only one album under the simple moniker of Di'Anno. Musically the band shifted away from the NWOBHM sound of Iron Maiden to a more Americanized sound similar to bands like Journey and Foreigner. On the tour, Di'Anno played "Remember Tomorrow" from his catalogue of Iron Maiden songs, along with their own songs and a few other covers (most notably The Kinks' "You Really Got Me", and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"). Having limited success, the six-piece band disbanded shortly after they were done touring. The only other recordings available from this band are a single of "Heartuser", a Japanese single of "Flaming Heart" and a Sweden-only VHS release called Live at the Palace (also available on DVD as Di'Anno Live from London). During the latter performance, the band played an unreleased song entitled "Spiritual Guidance", which Paul told the audience would be on the band's forthcoming album. This album was never recorded.
Last known line-up: