When Blaze Bayley became the singer for Iron Maiden in 1994, many fans felt that he was replacing the irreplaceable. His predecessor Bruce Dickinson had been the band’s frontman for more than a decade and was widely regarded as one of the greatest heavy metal vocalists of all time.
For Bayley, joining Maiden was a dream come true, and he gave it everything he had. But as drummer Nicko McBrain admits, the band could have done more to help Bayley cope with the demands of singing classic songs originally recorded and performed with Dickinson.
Speaking to Barry Robinson of Classic Album Review, McBrain says of Bayley: “To be fair to him, we didn’t transpose the songs. We should have gone down a note. We should’ve stepped it down half a step or a full step.”
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He explains: “That range that Bruce had… Blaze was a totally different. Bruce is soprano, almost, and [Bayley is a] baritone. There was a difference in the timbre of each of the voices.”
Before his tenure in Iron Maiden, Bayley had fronted the band Wolfsbane, whose debut album Live Fast Die Fast was produced by Rick Rubin and released on Rubin’s label Def American.
Bayley recorded two albums with Iron Maiden, The X Factor (1995) and Virtual XI (1998). But after both albums received a lukewarm response from fans and critics alike, Bayley was dismissed and Dickinson rejoined Maiden along with another returning former member, guitarist Adrian Smith.
Looking back on that whole period in the ’90s, McBrain says: “I think it was very hard for Blaze. The Virtual XI tour was really tough for him. And I think we really should have helped him out by transposing the key of the songs for him. But we didn’t, and it was a tough time.”
He reveals: “It was like a dark cloud for me, that period of my life. And I know it was affecting just the general vibe in the band.”
McBrain says that he and Bayley enjoyed a close relationship during that time, and that he advised Bayley on how to work with Maiden’s bassist and leader Steve Harris.
“I was like a mentor to him,” McBrain says. “I took him under my wing, being the granddad of the band, right? We used to hang out a lot, and I was his confidante. He’d talk to me about, ‘What would Steve think if I did this?’ So it was very hard at the end of the day to feel a little disappointed in the performances that he was coming up with.”
He continues: “Obviously, when it was discussed to have Bruce come back with Adrian, that’s when we had to say, ‘Okay, Blaze, we’ve got Bruce.’ And finally, when we had the meeting with him, all of the band were present, and Rod [Smallwood, band manager], and he took it on the chin, as they say. And he turned around, he said, ‘Maiden is too good not to carry on, and you’re gonna carry on with the best.’ And that is still his attitude today.
“Although he was kind of disappointed – obviously, he was disappointed to not be the singer in the band anymore. But he was very, very gracious. Very gracious. And I love him for that.”
In 2025, Steve Harris told MusicRadar how he felt it was important for the band to continue performing songs from the Blaze Bayley era after Bruce Dickinson’s return. Harris named Sign Of The Cross from The X Factor and The Clansman from Virtual XI as two of the key songs from the Bayley years
Harris recalled: “To be fair to Bruce, he didn’t have a problem doing those songs. He never put up a fight or said, ‘I don’t want to do them because it’s not my era.’ Bruce is a team player when it comes to that type of thing. He knows that it’s the history of the band, whatever period. He wasn’t there for all of it, but he realises how important it all is.
“I respected him for that, definitely. But also, I suppose there’s maybe an element that he wanted to prove that he could do this songs better, perhaps, or differently, or whatever. I don’t know.”
