Paul Di’Anno obituary
A pivotal moment in Paul Di’Anno’s music career, one that has continued to shape his journey, was his exit from the London heavy metal group Iron Maiden in 1981.
After joining the band in 1978, Di’Anno recorded an EP and two groundbreaking albums. However, disagreements with band leader Steve Harris regarding the musical direction, coupled with Di’Anno's inconsistent behavior, ultimately resulted in his dismissal from the group.
Di’Anno, who passed away at 66, spent the following 40 years overshadowed by his time in Iron Maiden. While he had a few short-lived successes in his music career, they mostly referenced his past as a member of one of the biggest bands globally. After leaving the group, he spiraled into a tumultuous life marked by struggles with substance abuse.
He opened up about how substance abuse changes a person's behavior, saying, "When you're messed up on drugs and alcohol, you become really difficult to deal with." This was during the promotion of his 2010 memoir, *The Beast*, which is filled with stories of his aggressive drunken behavior, encounters with groupies that were often quite graphic, and run-ins with gang members and law enforcement. The book also details instances of domestic violence, including a serious incident in the early 1990s that resulted in a prison sentence in Los Angeles, when he attacked a girlfriend with a knife while under the influence of cocaine.
Di’Anno was born Paul Andrews in Chingford, Essex, to a Brazilian father and an English mother. After his mother remarried, he also took on the surname Taylor. During his teenage years, he worked as a butcher and chef while also performing with a punk band, reportedly named the Paedophiles. His big chance arrived in 1978 when he met Harris at the Red Lion pub in Leytonstone and auditioned for Iron Maiden, a band Harris had started three years earlier. Upon joining the group, he changed his name to Di’Anno.
Di’Anno was an unpolished yet powerful vocalist whose gritty and forceful singing style perfectly matched the tracks on Iron Maiden's celebrated 1979 EP, The Soundhouse Tapes, as well as their debut album, which came out a year later. The original band, featuring Di’Anno, bassist Steve Harris, drummer Clive Burr, and guitarists Dave Murray and Dennis Stratton, gained a dedicated fanbase in London, especially at the Ruskin Arms in East Ham. The weekly rock magazine Sounds referred to their emerging movement as “the new wave of British heavy metal.”
Iron Maiden's lead single, "Running Free," had some success and was featured on Top of the Pops. However, the version of the band with Di'Anno as the frontman reached its peak popularity in 1985 when a song from the album, "Phantom of the Opera," was used in a television commercial for the energy drink Lucozade, which featured athlete Daley Thompson.
At that point, Di'Anno and Iron Maiden had already gone their separate ways. The band's second album, *Killers* (1981), showcased a more intricate musical style compared to their first one. Feeling dissatisfied with this new direction and facing the reality of spending extended time on tour, the singer turned to substance abuse, reportedly using as much as five grams of cocaine and a bottle of tequila daily. He would later reflect on this period. Eventually, he was dismissed from the band, parting with his share of their music for £50,000. Following his departure, Iron Maiden brought in a new vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, and experienced tremendous success with a string of hit albums and tours.
On his own, the vocalist started a number of heavy metal groups. The first was Di’Anno, which put out a self-titled album in 1984, but it didn't achieve much success. He was also a short-term member of Gogmagog before spending the remaining years of the 80s with a new band called Battlezone.
Starting in 1990, Di’Anno led the band Killers. Despite facing a chaotic lifestyle and various legal issues, he managed to support himself by touring in Europe and Brazil, where he spent his later years. “In South America, we’re incredibly popular, so it’s a bit disheartening when you end up doing small pub and club tours in the UK,” he shared with an interviewer.
In 2011, Di’Anno received a nine-month prison sentence in the UK for committing fraud, but he got out after just two months due to good behavior. While he was touring internationally, he had claimed £45,000 in benefits from the Department of Work and Pensions, arguing that nerve damage in his back rendered him unable to work.
By 2020, he was truly struggling with lymphedema in his knee, which forced him to perform from a wheelchair during his shows. His condition was eventually addressed thanks to a crowdfunding effort and a contribution from Iron Maiden, with whom Di’Anno had kept a somewhat distant but generally friendly relationship.
He was married five times and had six children. Aside from his first wife, Beverley, he chose to keep information about his family members confidential.
