10 Bands Who Survived A Lead Singer Change

In the late 70’s, Iron Maiden emerged from England to stomp out the rest of their competition. The type of metal they were mining incorporated just the right amount of ferociousness to combat the punk movement. The band had the best-case scenario in vocalist Paul Di’anno, whose frenetic scream took the songs from booming power chords to an all-out metallic swagger.

Just as the band was beginning to establish a footing, Di’anno was let go due to his reckless behavior with drugs. The band began searching for singers in earnest before they arrived on Bruce Dickinson, whose booming voice gave the band a shot in the arm. Affectionately known as the Air Raid Siren, Dickinson’s voice had the right power that could bring the fire to the older tunes while fleshing out the newer material the band was working on.

With Dickinson now in the driver’s seat, Maiden started the 80’s ready to conquer, as they wrote all-time metal anthems like “The Number of the Beast” and “Run to the Hills.” Losing a singer right after you garner major success is not easy to recover from, but Maiden’s tenacity paid off as they went from strength to strength with Bruce Dickinson.