While there may technically have been five different vocalists for Iron Maiden over the years, everyone knows that Bruce Dickinson is the true lead singer of the legendary band. For starters, the first two vocalists, Paul Day and Dennis Wilcock, appear on zero recordings, leaving them to fade into obscurity. Meanwhile, the other two vocalists, Paul Di’Anno and Blaze Bayley, only appeared on two albums each. With Dickinson being the vocalist for a whopping 13 Maiden albums, it’s easy to see why he overshadows the other four singers.

In a recent interview in the latest issue of Record Collector magazine (that was reported on by Metal Injection), Dickinson talked about the experience of getting to see the band live back in the days before he took over as vocalist from Paul Di’Anno. It’s an interesting look at how the band first crossed paths with their most iconic singer. Dickinson recalled:

“The first time I saw Maiden was at what was then the Music Machine in Camden. Samson [Dickinson’s band before Iron Maiden] were headlining because our management had bankrolled the gig and said, ‘We want the top slot,’ although we didn’t really deserve it. That became obvious when Maiden came on because the whole place was rammed. I’d heard rumors about how good they were, and I thought I’d better see them. When they came out, I thought, ‘I’ve never seen Deep Purple, but this is what it must have felt like to see Deep Purple in their prime, rocking up a storm.’”

Regarding Di’Anno’s vocal performance, Dickinson didn’t consider it the most impressive part of the band’s set:

But, even still, Dickinson’s first thoughts about seeing Maiden revolved around wanting to take over as vocalist from Di’Anno, an aspiration he, obviouisly, would eventually fulfill:

“I saw what the rest of the band were capable of straight away, and I remember thinking, ‘Good God, I’d love to front that band.’ And as soon as they finished playing, everybody in the venue left and we were headlining to about three people.”

And the rest, as they say, is history. Di’Anno’s drug usage became a liability for the band, and he was ultimately fired for it with the band already having his replacement lined up. It was a very lucky break for Dickinson, but also a lucky break for Maiden as they managed to get a more dynamic vocalist who would make them a household name.

Dickinson is still with the band to this day, so if you want to see a demonstration of how well Dickinson and the rest of the band compliment each other, you can check them out on the rest of their tour dates for the year, which are listed below.