Bruce Dickinson’s musical career spans for almost two decades now. His current solo projects have been the best albums he has ever made... and it’s only the beginning...

Paul Bruce Dickinson was born on August 8th, 1958 in a mining town called Worksop in northern England. He was a troublemaker in school, and was eventually thrown out for pissing in the headmaster’s dinner. He had a P.A. system, in which he played many metal tunes in the time of the punk uprising. A man by the name of Paul Samson spotted Bruce’s banshee voice and offered Bruce his first real gig. They did two albums in the late seventies/early eighties, before Steve Harris of Iron Maiden saw potential in this singer.
After Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno was becoming a drug-addict and wasting away his life, Steve Harris set out to find a new singer. Steve first saw Bruce at the Reading Festival in 1981, and heard his amazing voice, and immediately offered Bruce the spot as Maiden’s front man. Bruce’s role in Maiden in the next twelve years etched his name in stone as metal’s premiere singer.
From 1982 to 1993, Bruce Dickinson put out seven full-length studio albums with Iron Maiden along with one side project, Tattooed Millionaire. His tension with bandleader Steve Harris grew in those twelve years Bruce was in Maiden, and finally in 1993, Bruce announced to his fellow bandmates and all the fans that he was leaving Maiden in search of a solo career.
Bruce found himself alone with no band and no album. His first attempt at a solo album was not to his liking, so he discontinued it. Some songs were released on the singles off Balls to Picasso. It can be most described as ‘another plain rock n’ roll album’. The band that Bruce had used was known as Taste, the band that recording the Alice Cooper cover-song, “Elected”. This band was later called Skin. Bruce’s second attempt at a solo album proved to be more diverse. Bruce got together with Keith Olsen, and the songs that followed contained lots of computer effects and technological stuff. Several members from Taste/Skin were used to record the songs for this Keith Olsen session. This session, also, was not to Bruce’s liking, so it was discontinued and salvaged for b-sides. But during this session, Bruce had met Shay Baby, who was engineering at the time, and Shay Baby introduced Bruce to a man named Roy Z. and his band, the Tribe of Gypsies. Bruce was quite impressed by their musicianship, and they got together and started recording an album. Bruce had originally planned to blend in the Tribe of Gypsies with the Keith Olsen album, but the resulting album would be too diverse with two backing musicians on the same album. So Bruce starting from scratch again, and this time, he would keep the resulting album. “Balls to Picasso” was released in 1994, and was a candidate for the American Music Awards’ “Best New Band” award. However, it is noted that Bruce didn’t win it, unfortunately.
The Tribe of Gypsies had to do their own thing after they recorded “Balls to Picasso”, so Bruce had pieced together a group of musicians from around Europe, and used them as his touring band. He released the 2-cd set in 1995 called “Alive at the Marquee / Alive in Studio A”. This was our first introduction to the line-up that was to record Bruce’s next solo record.
In 1996, Bruce recorded the strongest and most diverse solo album yet. “Skunkworks”, as the band and the album was to be called, showed the strong song-writing skills and musicianship of Bruce and guitarist Alex Dickson. The two collaborated in mostly all the songs written in the Skunkworks session. Bass player Chris Dale came up with the hilarious songs “American’s are Behind” and “I’m in a band with an Italian Drummer”. Bruce had high hopes that this would be his first stable band since leaving Maiden. However, at year’s end, Bruce had realized that his hope was short-ended. Creative differences between Bruce and the other three guys prompted Bruce to split up Skunkworks. Minus Bruce, the other three guys went on to form their own group, called Sack Trick, and their web page can be found in my links section.
In 1997, with no band and no album to record, this proved to be Bruce’s lowest point in his solo career. Bruce was also informed by his mother that he was an “Accident of Birth”. In other words, while his mother was impregnated with Bruce, she had taken an abortion pill that was to get rid of the growing embryo, but it safe to say, the pill did not work and the world was not robbed of one of the greatest singers of all time. Bruce had gotten back together with Roy Z. and the Tribe of Gypsies to record his next solo effort. The first five songs that Roy Z. and Bruce wrote proved that Bruce was returning to his metal roots. In need of a second guitar player, Bruce decided to call up his old friend and Maiden bandmate, Adrian Smith, and asked if he could fill in the second guitar spot. Adrian gladly obliged, and the fire that burned Iron Maiden’s fire was burning bright again. The resulting album, named after what his mother called him, was titled “Accident of Birth”. This album, no doubt about it, is one of the best metal albums the world has seen in a very long time. Some critics have called it “the best Maiden album since Powerslave”.
After a successful tour for a successful album, Bruce decided to keep together his current line-up. This album was based on the works of William Blake, 18th century poet who was unappreciated in his time. Excerpts of Blake's poetry was read by Bruce's all-time hero, Arthur Brown. This album's production level is much greater than Accident of Birth's. Adrian and Roy often restrung their guitars with bass strings to get the maximum boost out of the guitar sound. This album is a true masterpiece.
Including his 1990 side project, Tattooed Millionaire, Bruce has released 5 excellent solo albums. His great musicianship and excellent voice has proved himself as metal’s premier singer.