9 Successful Bands That Changed Their Vocalist

One of the world’s most famous bands, Iron Maiden spearheaded the new wave of British heavy metal throughout the 1980's.

Formed on Christmas Day in 1975, their original vocalist was a man by the name Paul Day. Day did not last long, and was savagely axed due to his lack of charisma in 1976. Dennis Wilcock replaced Day, but caused more problems than he was worth, generating issues between band members.

Becoming frustrated with the band, he left to pursue his own ventures, lumbering Iron Maiden without a vocalist. Thus, the hunt for a new one began.

After a spontaneous meeting in a pub, Paul Di’Anno managed to gain himself an audition with the group, which went very well for the singer, who found himself fronting the trailblazers not long after. Di’Anno would record on their self titled debut album, which was released at #4 in the UK album chart.

Following this success, the singer also recorded on the second release Killers, in 1981, which was critically successful, but did not chart as well as its predecessor. During this time, Di’Anno developed a drug problem which soon became unmanageable; following this, the singer was dismissed and replaced by a young Bruce Dickinson, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Dickinson fronted the act throughout their most successful period and became the face of the band in the process, but decided to leave in 1993 to pursue a solo career. Blaze Bayley was eventually added to the line-up, but his vocal style was met with mixed-to-negative reception, as it differed too much from that of Dickinson. Eventually, Bayley’s tenure was terminated and Maiden began searching for his replacement.

After undergoing reluctant talks, Bruce Dickinson was eventually reinstated, and has remained the touring, and recording, face of the band from that moment onward.