Bruce Dickinson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bruce Dickinson
Dickinson performing in 2024
Background information
Birth name	Paul Bruce Dickinson
Born	(1958-08-07) 7 August 1958 (age 66) Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England
Genres	Heavy metal
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter
Years active	1976–present
Labels	EMI Sanctuary
Members	List

Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present day. He is known for his wide-ranging operatic vocal style and energetic stage presence.

Early life

Paul Bruce Dickinson was born on 7 August 1958 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. His mother, Sonia, worked part-time in a shoe shop, and his father, Bruce, was a mechanic in the British Army. Initially, he was brought up by his grandparents; his grandfather was a coal-face worker at the local colliery, and his grandmother was a housewife.

Dickinson started school at Manton Primary in Worksop while his parents moved away to Sheffield. Soon afterwards, when he was six, he was also despatched to Sheffield, where he attended a primary school in Manor Top. After six months, his parents decided to move him to a small private school called Sharrow Vale Junior. Due to constant moving, Dickinson states that this period of his life taught him to be self-reliant as he was unable to make close friends. Dickinson has a younger sister, professional showjumper Helena Stormanns, who was born in 1963.

By the time he moved to Sheffield, Dickinson's parents were earning a good living from buying property, refurbishing it and then selling it for a profit. As a result, much of Dickinson's childhood was spent living on a building site, until his parents bought a boarding house and a bankrupt garage where his father began selling second-hand cars. The income from their business success gave them the opportunity to give Dickinson—then 13 years old—a boarding school education and they chose Oundle, a public school in Northamptonshire. Dickinson was not opposed to moving away from home because he had not built "any real attachment" to his parents, having been raised by his grandparents in Worksop until he was six.

At Oundle, Dickinson was picked on and routinely bullied by the older boys of Sidney House and became an outsider. Oundle was where Dickinson became attracted to progressive rock and early heavy metal after hearing Deep Purple's "Child in Time" being played in another student's room. As a result, the first album he ever bought was Deep Purple's In Rock, which created his interest in rock and metal music.

Dickinson initially wanted to play the drums, later obtaining a pair of bongo drums from the music room for practice.

Returning home to Sheffield in 1976, Dickinson enrolled at King Edward VII School, at which he joined his first band.

Career

Dickinson, left, performing on his first world tour with Iron Maiden in 1982

Performing on 6 July 2010 during The Final Frontier World Tour. The 2010 leg consisted primarily of material released since Dickinson's return to Iron Maiden in 1999.

Performing "The Trooper" with Iron Maiden in Paris, France, 1 July 2008. Dickinson has always waved a Union Flag during live renditions of the song.

Dickinson began his career in music fronting small pub bands in the 1970s while attending school in Sheffield and university in London. In 1979, he joined British new wave heavy metal band Samson, with whom he gained some popularity under the stage name "Bruce Bruce" and performed on two studio records. He left Samson in 1981 to join Iron Maiden, replacing Paul Di'Anno, and debuted on their 1982 album The Number of the Beast. During his first tenure in the band, they issued a series of US and UK platinum and gold albums in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Dickinson quit Iron Maiden in 1993 (being replaced by Blaze Bayley) to pursue his solo career, which saw him experiment with a wide variety of heavy metal and rock styles. He rejoined the band in 1999, along with guitarist Adrian Smith, and has released six subsequent studio albums with the band. Since his return to Iron Maiden, he has released two further solo records, in 2005, Tyranny of Souls and The Mandrake Project in 2024. His younger cousin, Rob Dickinson, is the former lead singer of British alternative rock band Catherine Wheel, while his son, Austin, fronted the metalcore band Rise to Remain. Since Bruce Dickinson joined Iron Maiden in 1981, the band has sold well over 100 million albums as of 2024.

Personal life

Dickinson performing live on the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour in 2008

Dickinson married Erica "Jane" Barnett in 1984, and they divorced in 1987. With his second wife, psychotherapist Patrice "Paddy" Bowden, he has three children. All three were born in the Chiswick area of London, where Dickinson lived for a few decades beginning in 1981. In 2020, it was reported that he and Bowden had separated earlier after almost 30 years of marriage; Bowden died in an accident at her home in May 2020. As of May 2020^[update] Dickinson lives with his girlfriend Leana Dolci in Paris.

Dickinson's son Austin was the lead singer in metalcore band Rise to Remain until their break-up in 2015, at which point he formed the alternative metal group As Lions. His other son Griffin, who previously worked as a stage carpenter for Iron Maiden during their tours, was the lead singer of melodic hardcore band SHVPES. Dickinson's cousin, Rob Dickinson, was the lead singer of alternative rock band Catherine Wheel and founded the American company Singer Vehicle Design.

In 2015, Dickinson underwent seven weeks of chemotherapy and radiation therapy for a cancerous tumour found at the back of his tongue. Dickinson's medical team expected him to make a full recovery as the tumour was discovered in the early stages. On 15 May, Dickinson was given the all-clear by his specialists.

Special honours

Dickinson in a flight suit while filming Flying Heavy Metal

Iron Maiden's Boeing 747-400, Ed Force One, as used during The Book of Souls World Tour in 2016

Dickinson in 2014

On 19 July 2011, Dickinson was presented with an honorary music doctorate from his alma mater, Queen Mary University of London, in honour of his contribution to the music industry.

In 2019, Dickinson was made an honorary citizen of Sarajevo and received the city's prestigious Sixth April Award for his efforts in performing under siege in 1994. According to the city's mayor, it was his arrival in Sarajevo that "was one of those moments that made us realize that we will survive, that the city of Sarajevo will survive, that Bosnia and Herzegovina will survive". He is also credited as a producer on the critically acclaimed 2016 documentary Scream for Me Sarajevo, which chronicles this performance and his return to Sarajevo.

In 2019, Dickinson was also presented with an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy by the University of Helsinki.

On 6 January 2020, Dickinson was made an Honorary Group Captain of 601 (County of London) Squadron RAF.

In 2024, Dickinson was made an honorary citizen of Curitiba City, Brazil.

Other work

Dickinson's interests and non-musical activities include writing, broadcasting, fencing (at which he has competed internationally, placing 7th in Great Britain, and has founded a fencing equipment company under the brand name "Duellist"), beer brewing and aviation. Due to the wide variety of Dickinson's pursuits, Intelligent Life named him as a living example of a polymath in 2009.

Singing style and stage performance

Dickinson performing in Ottawa, Ontario, 2010

Although Dickinson never received formal training, he possesses a wide vocal range which is characterised by his quasi-operatic tenor. Along with Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford, Dickinson is one of the pioneers of the operatic vocal style later to be adopted by power metal vocalists and regularly appears near the top in lists of the greatest rock vocalists/front-men of all time.

In addition to his vocal ability, Dickinson has been described as an energetic stage performer.

Awards, accolades and titles

Discography

Special appearances

• Xero – "Oh Baby!" (Lone Wolf EP, 1983)
• Soundtrack – A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child ("Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter", 1989)
• Rock Aid Armenia / various artists – The Earthquake Album (1990)
• Comic Relief – with Mr. Bean and Smear Campaign ("(I Want to Be) Elected", 1992)
• Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath ("Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", 1994)
• Montserrat Caballé – Friends for Life ("Bohemian Rhapsody", 1997)
• Various artists – ECW: Extreme Music ("The Zoo", 1998)
• Soundtrack – Bride of Chucky ("Trumpets of Jericho", 1998)
• Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper ("Black Widow", 1998)
• Ayreon – Universal Migrator Part 2: Flight of the Migrator ("Into the Black Hole", 2000)
• Halford – Resurrection ("The One You Love to Hate", 2000)
• Halford – Live Insurrection ("The One You Love to Hate", 2001)
• Tribuzy – Execution (2005)
• Tribuzy – Execution: Live Reunion (2007)

Iron Maiden videos/DVD

• Video Pieces (1983)
• Behind the Iron Curtain (1985)
• Live After Death (1985)
• 12 Wasted Years (1987)
• Maiden England (1989)
• The First Ten Years (1990)
• From There to Eternity (1992)
• Donington Live 1992 (1993)
• Raising Hell (1994)
• The Number of the Beast (2001)
• Rock in Rio (2002)
• Visions of the Beast (2003)
• The Early Days (2004)
• Death on the Road (2006)
• Iron Maiden: Flight 666 (2009)
• En Vivo! (2012)

* Dickinson appeared on the album's re-issue only, as the original version was completed before he joined the band.

Tours

• 1990: Tattooed Millionaire Tour
• 1994–1995: Balls to Picasso Tour
• 1996: Skunkworks Tour
• 1997: Accident of Birth Tour
• 1998–1999: The Chemical Wedding Tour
• 2002: Airraid over Europe Tour
• 2024: The Mandrake Project Tour

The Mandrake Project tour

The tour takes place between the 2023 and 2024 legs of Iron Maiden's The Future Past World Tour.

2024 touring band members

• Bruce Dickinson – lead vocals
• Chris Declercq – guitar
• Philip Naslund – guitar
• Tanya O'Callaghan – bass
• Mistheria – keyboards
• Dave Moreno – drums

See also

In Spanish: Bruce Dickinson para niños