Paul Di'Anno

Paul Andrews (born 17 May 1958), better known by his stage name Paul Di'Anno, is an English heavy metal singer who was the lead vocalist for Iron Maiden from 1978 to 1981.

In his post-Maiden career, Di'Anno has issued numerous albums over the years, as both a solo artist and as a member of such bands as Gogmagog, Di'Anno's Battlezone, Killers, Rockfellas, and more recently, Warhorse.

The group, called "Gogmagog" (see the Biblical book Ezekiel 38:1–2), was put together by DJ and record producer Jonathan King, best known for discovering the group Genesis in the late 1960s.

King assembled a star-studded lineup featuring Di'Anno, drummer Clive Burr, guitarists Janick Gers and Pete Willis and bassist Neil Murray, but the members became increasingly frustrated by a policy that forbade them from writing any original material.

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.

After cancelling gigs due to Di'Anno's lack of desire and inability to perform (from cocaine/amphetamine abuse and heavy drinking), Iron Maiden decided that to progress they would have to find a singer capable of being on tour.

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, Di'Anno left Iron Maiden after a meeting with the band and their manager Rod Smallwood.

In Di'Anno's words: "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 does not receive royalties on Iron Maiden songs.

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 at the time like 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:

In 1985, Di'Anno joined a project that was intended to be a supergroup.

Gogmagog released a three-song E.P. on the independent Food For Thought label in 1985 entitled I Will Be There, with Russ Ballard writing the title song and producer King writing the other two songs.

Although reviews were generally positive, the EP did not chart and the group disbanded after King began to lose interest in the project.

Di'Anno has been completely dismissive of the short-lived project, referring to it as "nothing" and claiming he only got involved for the money.

After the breakup of his self-titled band, Di'Anno formed Strike with DeeRal (guitar) who recruited drummer Bob Falck (who had used the name Sid Falck while playing drums in Overkill) and the Hurley brothers John (second guitar) and Chaz (bass).

The project was eventually named Battlezone, after a name straight from a comic book, upon the vocalist's return to Britain in 1985.

1986 saw the enrollment of former Lonewolf and Tokyo Blade guitarist John Wiggins.

The band's initial line-up comprised Di'Anno, guitarists John Wiggins and John Hurley, bassist Laurence Kessler and Adam Parsons on drums.

Di'Anno had previously known guitarists John Wiggins and John Hurley from bands such as Deep Machine and Iron Cross.

Parsons had gone under the stage name A.D. Dynamite whilst in Aunt May.

However, Parsons left shortly after to replace Vince Hoare in the London-based glam band Belladonna (formed by former Hell's Belles vocalist Paul Quigley, with Paul Lewis, Jeff Fox and Neil Criss) and Falck reappeared on the scene in time together with Danish bassist Pete West (Peter Vester) to record the band's first album Fighting Back, written entirely by John Hurley, except the title track which was credited to Bob Falck.

Battlezone performed a club tour of America in 1987 to promote the début Fighting Back, but musical differences, arguments and physical fights within the band led to the departure of John Hurley and Bob Falck after the first tour.

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 and grew up in Chingford, East London.

Because of his Brazilian father, Di'Anno holds dual British and Brazilian citizenship.

He spent his teenage years singing in various rock 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, he was introduced to the band by drummer Doug Sampson, an old friend of Harris' 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.