b. Paul Bruce Dickinson, 7 August 1958, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. Dickinson left the heavy metal band Samson to join pioneering contemporaries Iron Maiden, replacing Paul Di'Anno in 1981. By the following year Dickinson had fully established himself within the line-up through his performances on the road and on 1982's UK number 1 album, The Number Of The Beast. Iron Maiden went on to become one of the most popular heavy metal bands in the world, with spectacular live shows and a run of hit singles and albums. At the start of the 90s, Dickinson began to branch out from the band. His aspirations to become a novelist were realized in his comic-novel, The Adventures Of Lord Iffy Boatrace, a substandard attempt in the style of Tom Sharpe. However, legions of Iron Maiden fans propelled the book into the bestseller lists. In the same year, Dickinson's solo album, Tattooed Millionaire, reached number 14 in the UK album charts, while the title track climbed to number 18 in April 1980.
A cover version of Mott The Hoople's "All The Young Dudes' also reached the UK Top 30. As well as being an accomplished light aeroplane pilot, Dickinson is a keen fencer, at one time having been ranked seventh in the men's foils for Great Britain, serving to reaffirm his reputation as metal's renaissance man. He finally left Iron Maiden in 1993, a year after releasing a second book, The Missionary Position. A second solo album for EMI Records followed a year later, sandwiched between his broadcasting duties as a presenter for BBC Radio 1. In 1996 he enlisted the legendary grunge and ex-Nirvana producer Jack Endino for Bruce Dickinson's Skunkworks. Dickinson then set up his own Air Raid label, for which he recorded 1998"s The Chemical Wedding. In February 1999, it was announced that Dickinson had rejoined Iron Maiden.
