Dickinson is the true lead singer of the legendary band. For starters, the first two vocalists, Paul Day and Dennis Wilcock, appear on zero recordings, leaving them to fade into obscurity. Meanwhile, the other two vocalists, Paul Di’Anno and Blaze Bayley, only appeared on two albums each. With Dickinson being the vocalist for a whopping 13 Maiden albums, it’s easy to see why he overshadows the other four singers.
In a recent interview in the latest issue of Record Collector magazine (that was reported on by Metal Injection), Dickinson talked about the experience of getting to see the band live back in the days before he took over as vocalist from Paul Di’Anno. It’s an interesting look at how the band first crossed paths with their most iconic singer. Dickinson recalled:
“The first time I saw Maiden was at what was then the Music Machine in Camden. Samson [Dickinson’s band before Iron Maiden] were headlining because our management had bankrolled the gig and said, ‘We want the top slot,’ although we didn’t really deserve it. That became obvious when Maiden came on because the whole place was rammed. I’d heard rumors about how good they were, and I thought I’d better see them. When they came out, I thought, ‘I’ve never seen Deep Purple, but this is what it must have felt like to see Deep Purple in their prime, rocking up a storm.’”
“The first time I saw Maiden was at what was then the Music Machine in Camden. Samson [Dickinson’s band before Iron Maiden] were headlining because our management had bankrolled the gig and said, ‘We want the top slot,’ although we didn’t really deserve it. That became obvious when Maiden came on because the whole place was rammed. I’d heard rumors about how good they were, and I thought I’d better see them. When they came out, I thought, ‘I’ve never seen Deep Purple, but this is what it must have felt like to see Deep Purple in their prime, rocking up a storm.’”
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