Taking its name from the medieval torture device, Iron Maiden was part of England's late-Seventies crop of heavy-metal bands that boasted simple guitar riffs, bone-crunching chords and shrieking vocals.
Formed in 1976 by bassist Steve Harris (b. March 12, 1957, London) and guitarist Dave Murray (b. Dec. 23, 1958, London), Iron Maiden has had a revolving-door lineup of musicians. The first incarnation of the band was inspired by the do-it-yourself punk ethos, and the group released an EP, The Soundhouse Tapes, on its own label, Rock Hard Records. Iron Maiden, the band's 1980 debut album for major label Capitol Records, was pure, unadulterated, screaming heavy metal. It reached the Top Five in Britain; the following year's Killers went to Number 12. America was slower to embrace the denim- and leather-clad group, which distinguished itself from its peers with unusually literate songs (written by Harris) full of hellish imagery (the melting faces in "Children of the Damned"), with themes borrowed from films ("The Number of the Beast," inspired by The Omen II) and ancient mythology ("Flight of Icarus"). Iron Maiden was one of the few bands of any genre to employ a mascot, a ten-foot rotting corpse named Eddie.
The Number of the Beast, featuring new vocalist Bruce Dickinson (b. Paul Bruce Dickinson, Aug. 7, 1958, Worksop, Eng.), topped the album chart in Britain and initiated a streak of seven consecutive platinum or gold albums in the United States, despite virtually no radio or MTV exposure. The followup, 1983's Piece of Mind, reached Number 14 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart, and 1984's Powerslave went to Number 21 on the Billboard 200. By then, Iron Maiden were superstars of heavy metal and remained in the Top 25 of Billboard's dominant album chart for several subsequent releases: Live After Death (Number 22, 1985), Somewhere In Time (Number 23, 1987), Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (Number 12, 1988), No Prayer for the Dying (Number 17, 1990), Fear of the Dark (Number 12, 1992). No Prayer for the Dying was Maiden's last studio album to go gold in the U.S.; it contained "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter," a song originally recorded by Dickinson alone for the Nightmare on Elm Street, Part 5 soundtrack. Dickinson's solo version went to Number One in the U.K. Guitarist Adrian Smith (b. Feb. 27, 1957, London), who had joined in 1980, left in 1990 to form A.S.A.P. with drummer Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr. Janick Gers replaced Smith. Dickinson left in 1993, replaced by Blaze Bayley.
Iron Maiden weathered its numerous personnel changes without a hitch, continuing to put out albums (three live discs as well as 1995's The X Factor and 1998's Virtual XI), although they weren't as successful as the band's earlier releases. Dickinson – who became a top-rated fencer and swordsman, a published novelist (The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace) and solo singer – reunited with the band in 1999, as did Smith. The revived, Dickinson-fronted Maiden went on to have a second successful career, releasing another string of charting albums including Brave New World (Number 39, 2000), Dance of Death (Number 18, 2003) and A Matter of Life and Death (Number 9, 2006). The group's three-disc greatest-hits album of 1999, Ed Hunter, spawned a namesake Maiden video game.
Dance of Death and A Matter of Life and Death (2003–2007)
Following their Give Me Ed... 'Til I'm Dead Tour in the summer of 2003, Iron Maiden released Dance of Death, their thirteenth studio album, which was met by worldwide critical and commercial success. Produced by Kevin Shirley, now the band's regular producer, many critics also felt that this release matched up to their earlier efforts, such as Killers, Piece of Mind and The Number of the Beast. As usual, historical and literary references were present, with "Montségur" in particular being about the Cathar stronghold conquered in 1244, and "Paschendale" relating to the significant battle which took place during The First World War. The following tour was another landmark for the band, as they played to over 750,000 fans during 50 dates over a period of 4 months in 2003–04, including sold out shows in South America, Europe, North America and Japan. Their performance at Westfalenhalle inDortmund, Germany, as part of the supporting tour, was recorded and released in August 2005 as a live album and DVD, entitled Death on the Road.
In 2005, the band announced the Eddie Rips Up the World Tour which, tying in with their 2004 DVD entitled The Early Days, only featured material from their first four albums. As part of this celebration of their earlier years, "The Number of the Beast" single was re-released and went straight to No. 3 in the UK Chart. The tour included many headlining stadium and festival dates, including a performance at Ullevi Stadium in Sweden to an audience of almost 60,000. This concert was also broadcast live on satellite television all over Europe to approximately 60 million viewers. Following this run of European shows, the band co-headlined the US festival tour, Ozzfest, with Black Sabbath, their final performance at which earned international press coverage after their show was sabotaged by singer Ozzy Osbourne's family, who took offence to Dickinson's remarks against reality-TV. The band completed the tour by headlining the Reading and Leeds Festivals on the 26–28 August, and in Ireland on 31 August to almost 40,000 people at RDS Stadium. For the second time, the band played a charity show for The Clive Burr MS Trust Fund, this time taking place at the Hammersmith Apollo. The same year, the band were inducted into the Hollywood RockWalk in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.
Vocalist Bruce Dickinson during A Matter of Life and Death World Tour. Throughout the tour's first leg, the band played the A Matter of Life and Death album in its entirety.
At the end of 2005, Iron Maiden began work on A Matter of Life and Death, their fourteenth studio effort, released in autumn 2006. While not a concept album, war and religion are recurring themes in the lyrics, as well as in the cover artwork. The release was a critical and commercial success, earning the band their first top ten in the Billboard 200 and receiving the Album of the Year award at the 2006 Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards. Asupporting tour followed, during which they played the album in its entirety; response to this was mixed. The second part of the "A Matter of Life and Death" tour, which took place in 2007, was dubbed "A Matter of the Beast" to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Number of the Beast album, and included appearances at several major festivals worldwide. The tour opened in the Middle East with the band's first performance in Dubai at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival, after which they played to over 30,000 people at the Bangalore PalaceGrounds, marking the first concert by any major heavy metal band in the Indian sub-continent. The band went on to play a string of European dates, including an appearance at Download Festival, their fourth headline performance at Donington Park. The show attracted the largest audience in Download's history, with an estimated attendance of approximately 80,000 people, in spite of higher ticket and camping prices. On 24 June they ended the tour with a performance at London's Brixton Academy in aid of The Clive Burr MS Trust fund.
Somewhere Back in Time World Tour and Flight 666 (2007–2009)
On 5 September 2007, the band announced their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, which tied in with the DVD release of their Live After Death album. The setlist for the tour consisted of successes from the 1980s, with a specific emphasis on the Powerslave era for set design. The first part of the tour, commencing in Mumbai, India on 1 February 2008, consisted of 24 concerts in 21 cities, travelling nearly 50,000 miles in the band's own chartered aeroplane, named "Ed Force One". They played their first ever concerts in Costa Rica and Colombia and their first shows in Australia and Puerto Rico since 1992.
Iron Maiden performing in Toronto during the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008. The stage set largely emulated that of the World Slavery Tour 1984–85.
The tour led to the release of a new compilation album, entitled Somewhere Back in Time, which included a selection of tracks from their 1980 eponymous debut to 1988's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, as well as several live versions from Live After Death.
The Somewhere Back in Time World Tour continued with two further legs in the US and Europe in the summer of 2008, during which the band used a more expansive stage-set, including further elements of the original Live After Death show. With the sole UK concert taking place at Twickenham Stadium, this would be the first time the band would headline a stadium in their own country. The three 2008 legs of the tour were remarkably successful; it was the second highest grossing tour of the year for a British artist.
The last part of the tour took place in February and March 2009, with the band, once again, using "Ed Force One".The final leg included the band's first ever appearances in Peru and Ecuador, as well as their return to Venezuela and New Zealand after 17 years. The band also played another show in India (their third in the country within a span of 2 years) at the Rock in India festival to a crowd of 20,000. At their concert in São Paulo on 15 March, Dickinson announced on stage that it was the largest non-festival show of their career, with an overall attendance of 63,000 people.
The final leg ended in Florida on 2 April after which the band took a break. Overall, the tour reportedly had an attendance of over two million people worldwide over both years.
At the 2009 BRIT Awards, Iron Maiden won the award for best British live act. Voted for by the public, the band reportedly won by a landslide.
On 20 January 2009, the band announced that they were to release a full-length documentary film in select cinemas on 21 April 2009. Entitled Iron Maiden: Flight 666, it was filmed during the first part of the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour between February and March 2008. Flight 666 was co-produced by Banger Productions and was released by Universal Music Group in the US and EMI Records in the rest of the world. The film went on to have a Blu-ray, DVD and CD release in May and June, topping the music DVD charts in 22 countries.
The Final Frontier and Maiden England World Tour (2010–2014)
Following announcements that the band had begun composition of new material and booked studio time in early 2010 with Kevin Shirley producing, The Final Frontier was announced on 4 March. The album, the band's fifteenth, was released on 16 August, garnering critical acclaim and the band's greatest commercial success in their history, reaching No. 1 in twenty-eight countries worldwide. Although Steve Harris had been quoted in the past as claiming that the band would only produce fifteen studio releases, band members have since confirmed that there will be at least one further record.
The album's supporting tour saw the band perform 98 shows across the globe to an estimated audience of over 2 million, including their first visits to Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Transylvania, before concluding in London on 6 August 2011. As the tour's 2010 leg preceded The Final Frontier's release, the band made "El Dorado" available as a free download on 8 June, which would go on to win the award for Best Metal Performance at the 2011 Grammy Awards on 13 February 2011. It is the band's first win following two previous Grammy nominations ("Fear of the Dark" in 1994 and "The Wicker Man" in 2001).
On 15 March, a new compilation to accompany 2009's Somewhere Back in Time was announced. Entitled From Fear to Eternity, the original release date was set at 23 May but was later pushed back to 6 June. The double disc set covers the period 1990–2010 (the band's most recent eight studio albums), and, as on Somewhere Back in Time, live versions with Bruce Dickinson were included in place of original recordings which featured other vocalists, in this case Blaze Bayley.
In a press release regarding From Fear to Eternity, band manager Rod Smallwood revealed that Iron Maiden will release a new concert video to DVD in 2011, filmed in Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina during The Final Frontier World Tour. On 17 January 2012, the band announced that the new release, entitled En Vivo!, based on footage from the Chile concert, will be made available worldwide on CD, LP, DVD and Blu-ray on 26 March, except the United States and Canada (where it was released on 27 March). In addition to the concert footage, the video release includes an 88-minute tour documentary, entitled Behind The Beast, containing interviews with the band and their crew. In December 2012, one song from the release ("Blood Brothers") was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 2013 Grammy Awards. On 15 February 2012, the band announced the Maiden England World Tour 2012–14, which was based around the video of the same name. The tour commenced in North America in the summer of 2012 and was followed by further dates in 2013 and 2014, which included the band's record-breaking fifth headline performance at Donington Park, their first show at the newly built national stadium in Stockholm, a return to the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil, and their debut appearance in Paraguay. In August 2012, Steve Harris stated that the Maiden England video would be re-issued in 2013, with a release date later set for 25 March 2013 in DVD, CD and LP formats under the title Maiden England '88.