Iron Maden

1 Iron Maiden is a British NWOBHM new wave of British heavy metal Formed in 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. Iron Maiden has so far released fourteen studio albums, four "best of" compilations, eight live albums and four limited boxed-sets. They 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 actual line-up is:Steve Harris1975-: BassDave Murray1975-1976 1977-: GuitarBruce Dickinson1981-1993 1999-: VocalsNicko McBrain1983-: DrumsJanick Gers1990-: GuitarAdrian Smith1980-1990 1999-: Guitar

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.

Iron Maiden released their latest album "A Matter of Life and Death" in 2006.

WEBSITE: http:www.ironmaiden.com

MEMBERS:

Bruce Dickinson-vocals see also Bruce Dickinson, SamsonDave Murray- guitarsAdrian Smith - guitars see also Bruce DickinsonJanick Gers - guitars see also Bruce Dickinson, White SpiritSteve Harris - bassNicko McBrain - drums see also Trust

2 Iron Maiden is a late sixties doom-band. Formed in 1964 by Barry Skeels, Steve Drewett, Chris Rose and Alan Hooker as an acoustic band in Basildon, Essex that eventually evolved into a band called Iron Maiden. By 1966, the lineup was Skeels bass, Drewett vocalsharmonies, Rose lead guitar, Tom Loates rhythm guitar and Stan Gillem drums; they played Rolling Stones and blues numbers under the name "Growth". Reduced to a two-piece, Drewett and Skeels played blues under the name of "Stevenson's Blues Department" in pubs and clubs in Essex and London. They supported a number of up and coming bands including Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac, The Groundhogs and King Crimson.

In 1968, Drewett and Skeels were joined by Paul Reynolds drums and Trevor Thoms guitar. They released an acetate God of DarknessBallad of Martha Kent under the then risqu name of BUM. When they signed to the Gemini label in 1970, the name was changed to the less risqu Iron Maiden. They recorded their debut album Maiden Voyage. Reynolds was replaced by Steve Chapman on drums and Iron Maiden released the single Ned KellyFalling. This coincided with Mick Jagger's film "Ned Kelly". A planned Australian tour fell through. The Gemini record label also folded with the loss of the debut album master tapes and Skeels left Iron Maiden. The band carried on without him for a while, but the debut album was not released until 1998 using duplicate tapes owned by Skeels. This "original" Iron Maiden is often considered by fans as one of the earliest 'true' doom metal bands.

However, soon after the "original" Iron Maiden was re-discovered , their name was officially changed to 'Bolton Iron Maiden' since the Iron Maiden led by Steve Harris already had the name 'Iron Maiden' trademarked.