Paul Bruce Dickinson
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Member
Guest musician
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Personal information
Born on: 07.08.1958
Official website
Bruce Dickinson (born Paul Bruce Dickinson, August 7, 1958 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England) is the lead singer in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. According to All Music Guide he was the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalist to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the early-'80s.
Paul Bruce Dickinson was born in the small mining town of Worksop, Nottinghamshire. His mother worked part-time in a shoe shop and his father was a mechanic in the army. Initially, he was brought up by his grandparents; his grandfather was a coal-face worker at the local colliery and his grandmother was a housewife. These pieces of information are actually referred to in his song 'Born In '58' from his solo album 'Tattooed Millionaire'.
n the summer of 1976, he joined his first band. He had overheard two other pupils talking about their band and that they needed a singer. Dickinson volunteered to do the vocals. They rehearsed in the drummer's father's garage and the band were impressed by Dickinson's singing. It was at this point Dickinson decided to buy a microphone. The first gig Dickinson's new band did was at the Broadfield Tavern pub in Sheffield. Originally called "Paradox," the band changed name upon Dickinson's suggestion, to "Styx", unaware of the American act with the same name. They made local newspaper headlines when a steel worker was awoken by their performance. Of the incident, it was said: "He bottled the guitarist and chucked the drums off-stage". Soon after, the band split up.
After leaving his school Dickinson didn't really know what he wanted to do. He joined the Territorial Army for six months, which he did not enjoy. As army life was not what he wanted, he applied for a place at University. He had met the minimum grades for getting in and read history at Queen Mary College, in London's East End. His parents wanted him in the army, but he told them that he wanted to get a degree first. "That was what they wanted to hear so that was my cover story. When I got down there I started immediately finding and playing in bands."
Before Iron Maiden, he was the singer in a similar band called Samson from 1979 until he joined Iron Maiden two years later. In Samson and previous bands, he went by the name of "Bruce Bruce". He made his recording debut with Iron Maiden on their Number of the Beast album in 1982. During previous years, he was in Styx (1976) (not to be confused with the American band of the same name), then went on to sing for Speed (1977 - 1978). When Speed split up, he joined Shots until the summer of 1979.
Dickinson quit Iron Maiden in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career, but rejoined the band in 1999 along with guitarist Adrian Smith. Both are still in the band to date.
Dickinson's interests include literature, writing, fencing (at which he has competed internationally, and he also founded a fencing equipment company under the brand name "Duellist"), train technology and flying Boeing 757 charter jets for the UK charter airline Astraeus where he is employed as a Captain. Dickinson currently presents the Friday evening "rock show" on BBC radio station 6 Music. He also presented the 5-part historical TV series about aviation; Flying Heavy Metal was shown on the Discovery Channel, which is now shown on the replacement for Discovery Wings, Discovery Turbo in the UK. He was also a guest on a Discovery Channel show where he shared his enthusiasm for trains. He was also a guest on the Tanks episode, where he drove a Russian T-34 tank. The most recent television programme he has presented was a show on spontaneous human combustion for Sky One called Inside Spontaneous Human Combustion with Bruce Dickinson, in which he investigates the phenomenon of this occurrence by enlisting the help of several experts and performing various experiments to determine its possible cause.
Dickinson has also turned his hand to scriptwriting, having written a film script entitled "Chemical Wedding" which is has been made into a film starring Simon Callow. Dickinson played a few small cameo roles and has composed the soundtrack.
Official website
Bruce Dickinson (born Paul Bruce Dickinson, August 7, 1958 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England) is the lead singer in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. According to All Music Guide he was the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalist to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the early-'80s.
Paul Bruce Dickinson was born in the small mining town of Worksop, Nottinghamshire. His mother worked part-time in a shoe shop and his father was a mechanic in the army. Initially, he was brought up by his grandparents; his grandfather was a coal-face worker at the local colliery and his grandmother was a housewife. These pieces of information are actually referred to in his song 'Born In '58' from his solo album 'Tattooed Millionaire'.
n the summer of 1976, he joined his first band. He had overheard two other pupils talking about their band and that they needed a singer. Dickinson volunteered to do the vocals. They rehearsed in the drummer's father's garage and the band were impressed by Dickinson's singing. It was at this point Dickinson decided to buy a microphone. The first gig Dickinson's new band did was at the Broadfield Tavern pub in Sheffield. Originally called "Paradox," the band changed name upon Dickinson's suggestion, to "Styx", unaware of the American act with the same name. They made local newspaper headlines when a steel worker was awoken by their performance. Of the incident, it was said: "He bottled the guitarist and chucked the drums off-stage". Soon after, the band split up.
After leaving his school Dickinson didn't really know what he wanted to do. He joined the Territorial Army for six months, which he did not enjoy. As army life was not what he wanted, he applied for a place at University. He had met the minimum grades for getting in and read history at Queen Mary College, in London's East End. His parents wanted him in the army, but he told them that he wanted to get a degree first. "That was what they wanted to hear so that was my cover story. When I got down there I started immediately finding and playing in bands."
Before Iron Maiden, he was the singer in a similar band called Samson from 1979 until he joined Iron Maiden two years later. In Samson and previous bands, he went by the name of "Bruce Bruce". He made his recording debut with Iron Maiden on their Number of the Beast album in 1982. During previous years, he was in Styx (1976) (not to be confused with the American band of the same name), then went on to sing for Speed (1977 - 1978). When Speed split up, he joined Shots until the summer of 1979.
Dickinson quit Iron Maiden in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career, but rejoined the band in 1999 along with guitarist Adrian Smith. Both are still in the band to date.
Dickinson's interests include literature, writing, fencing (at which he has competed internationally, and he also founded a fencing equipment company under the brand name "Duellist"), train technology and flying Boeing 757 charter jets for the UK charter airline Astraeus where he is employed as a Captain. Dickinson currently presents the Friday evening "rock show" on BBC radio station 6 Music. He also presented the 5-part historical TV series about aviation; Flying Heavy Metal was shown on the Discovery Channel, which is now shown on the replacement for Discovery Wings, Discovery Turbo in the UK. He was also a guest on a Discovery Channel show where he shared his enthusiasm for trains. He was also a guest on the Tanks episode, where he drove a Russian T-34 tank. The most recent television programme he has presented was a show on spontaneous human combustion for Sky One called Inside Spontaneous Human Combustion with Bruce Dickinson, in which he investigates the phenomenon of this occurrence by enlisting the help of several experts and performing various experiments to determine its possible cause.
Dickinson has also turned his hand to scriptwriting, having written a film script entitled "Chemical Wedding" which is has been made into a film starring Simon Callow. Dickinson played a few small cameo roles and has composed the soundtrack.