Iron Maiden is a New Wave of British Heavy Metal or nwobhm band from the United Kingdom. They formed in London, 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, they are one of the most successful and influential bands in the heavy metal genre, selling over 80 million albums worldwide.
The band has so far released fifteen studio albums, four “best of” compilations, nine live albums and four limited boxed-sets. They have also won the Ivor Novello Award for international achievement in 2000.
The band has changed their line-up several times up to 1999 when Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to the band.
Their current line-up is:
Steve Harris (1975-): bass, backing vocals, studio keyboards
David Michael Murray (1975-): guitar
Paul Bruce Dickinson (1981-1993 1999-): lead vocals
Nicko McBrain (1983-): drums, percussion
Janick Gers (1990-): guitar
Adrian Smith (1980-1990, 1999-): guitar, backing vocals
Former members:
Doug Sampson – drums, percussion (1977–1979)
Dennis Stratton – guitars, backing vocals (1979–1980)
Paul Di’Anno – lead vocals (1978–1981)
Clive Burr – drums, percussion (1979–1982)
Blaze Bayley – lead vocals (1994–1998)
Dennis Wilcock - lead vocals (1976–1977)
Barry Purkis – drums, percussion (1977)
Paul Day - lead vocals (1975–1976).
Iron Maiden’s work has inspired other sub-genres of heavy metal, including power metal and speed metal, and is generally thought of as an influence to any “metal” music containing dual-guitar harmonization. One example of their far reaching influence is that many bands from virtually every rock and metal sub-genre list Iron Maiden as one of their influences.
Iron Maiden’s mascot, Eddie, is a perennial fixture in the band’s horror-influenced album cover art, as well as in live shows. Eddie was originally drawn by Derek Riggs but has had various incarnations by Melvyn Grant. Eddie is also featured in a first-person shooter video game, Ed Hunter.
Many of the band’s songs are based on history, folklore, movies and books, such as “Aces High,” “Brave New World,” “The Trooper,” “The Clansman,” “The Wicker Man,” “The Prisoner,” “Where Eagles Dare,” “Out of the Silent Planet,” “To Tame a Land” (based on Frank Herbert’s Dune) and “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – in which words from the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem are incorporated into the song.
The band has headlined several major events in its career, notably Rock In Rio, Ozzfest alongside Black Sabbath, Donington’s famous “Monsters of Rock” and “Download” Festivals and also the “Reading” and “Leeds” Festivals. Recently the band played to a 30,000 strong crowd at EDD-FEST’2007 in Bangalore, India. This was the first visit of the band to the country.
Source: Last.fm