Rural Dictionary

Bruce Dickinson

Born Paul Bruce Dickinson on August 7, 1958 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. He is a British singer, airline pilot, fencer and songwriter, best-known as the lead singer in the iconic heavy metal band Iron Maiden. According to All Music Guide, Dickinson "was the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalist to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the early-'80s.

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 and was replaced by Blaze Bayley, who had previously been the lead singer of punk-metal band Wolfsbane. Dickinson's solo work ranges from the Alternative Rock sound of 1996's Skunkworks, to the all out Metal style of Accident of Birth. To many, Dickinson was releasing an artistic energy he felt was suppressed by Iron Maiden's strict progressive metal format, which he claimed could not accommodate emotional reflection as evidenced in the lyrics of "Tears of the Dragon." After releasing two traditional metal albums with former Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith (which were arguably more akin to the genre than Maiden's epic format), Dickinson rejoined the band in 1999 along with Smith. Both are still in the band to date. Since then, Dickinson has only released one more solo album but says his solo career is not over.

Dickinson has always been noted for his broad scale as a singer in comparison to other Iron Maiden front-men, labeled "The Air Raid Siren,"3 for much of the 1980's. In the early 1990s he altered his singing style, becoming more gutteral and raw presumably to fit the stripped-down rock sound of albums like No Prayer for the Dying and Fear of the Dark. After leaving Iron Maiden, he varied his singing style, from the theatrical style of "Tears of the Dragon," to the raw bluesy style of "Inertia."

Since returning to Iron Maiden, Dickinson has experimented with his voice, adopting a soft reflective sound for songs such as "Journeyman, " and "For the Greater Good of God," a raw rock style for songs like "Wildest Dreams," and a style much like Genesis era Peter Gabriel on "The Legacy."

Dickinson currently presents the Friday evening "rock show" on BBC radio station 6 Music. He has recently taken the helm of BBC Radio 2 Serial 'Masters of Rock'. He also presented the 5-part historical TV series about aviation; Flying Heavy Metal was shown on the Discovery Channel in the UK. He was also a guest on a Discovery Channel show where he shared his enthusiasm for trains. The most recent television programme he has presented was a show on spontaneous 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.

Bruce Dickinson is the lead singer of Iron Maiden;
Bruce Dickinson DJs the Friday night rock show on BBC6 Music;
Bruce Dickinson is an airline pilot and a fencer, though not at the same time!

by Susie Suey June 29, 2007

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Bruce Dickinson

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