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Formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris in London, UK.
Iron Maiden is part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) which began in the mid 70's and resurrected the genre.
The band experienced many line up changes between '75 and '80, until it achieved a stable line up that lasted 8 years, from '82 to '90.
Dave Murray (lead and rhythm guitars) joined in 1976 and co-founded the band with Steve.
The first official recording by the band was a demo tape called “The Soundhouse Tapes”, which included Paul Di'anno on vocals.
The demo was recorded on Christmas '78 and was officialy released in 1979.
The first full-length album, self-titled, was released in April 1980.
That year, Adrian Smith replaced Dennis Stratton on the guitar.
In 1981, Maiden's legendary singer, Bruce Dickinson replaced Di'anno on vocals.
Di'anno's last show was in Sweden. After that, the band made a warmup tour for Bruce in Italy.
Nicko McBrain replaced Clive Burr on the drums, after Clive was diagnosed with MS, and recorded Piece of Mind with the band.
The line-up Harris-Murray-Smith-Dickinson-McBrain is called by most fans the “golden era” line up which lasted until 1990.
That year, while the band was on a break from touring and recording, Adrian Smith decides leave the band to concentrate on his other group.
Janick Gers joined the band and recorded No Prayer for the Dying with Maiden.
In 1993, after Maiden released a double live album and a live video, Bruce leaves the band to concentrate on his solo work.
Blaze Bayley replaced Bruce on vocals and recorded two albums with the band, The X Factor (1995) and Virtual XI (1998).
The classic line up will only reunite in 1999 with Bruce's and Adrian's return to the band.
The come back was celebrated with a tour and the recording of a new album, called Brave New World, which also followed a world tour.
On the 8th of September 2003, Maiden released their 13th full-length album called Dance of Death. After that they made another world tour.
Last june, the title and tracklist for the upcoming 14th studio album was announced.
Last july, the US tour dates were posted and they join the already announced european, japanese tour dates.
The album name is "A Matter of Life and Death" and it consists of 10 tracks:
In Europe, the album will be released on the 28th of August 2006.
In the US, the album will be released on the 5th of September 2006.
The first single, The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg was released on the 14th of August 2006 and hit #1 on the Spanish and Swedeish charts.
This is the front cover of the single:
This is the front cover
of the album:
(From
left
to right: Nicko, Adrian, Bruce, Dave, Steve and Janick. Picture from
2003)