The history of Iron Maiden started in 1975 when Steve Harris decided to form a new band on Christmas day of that year. After several changes to the line-up and a very small hiatus, Harris along with guitarist Dave Murray who had joined him in 1976 (he also had left the band between 1977 and 1978) and drummer Doug Sampson, started playing together in Leyton, London, without a lead singer. They found Paul Di'Anno and at the end of 1978 and recorded their first songs.
The band recruited one more guitarist, Dennis Stratton, while Clive Burr replaced Sampson. Their first (homonymous) album came out in 1980 and entered at the top five of the Official Albums Chart in the UK, containing the hits Running Free, Sanctuary and other. Adrian Smith took Stratton's place and in 1981, the album "Killers" came out. It was the last with Di'Anno in vocals, because of his drugs (mainly) and alcohol addiction.
"The Number of the Beast", came out in 1982 and reached the top of the UK chart. Some of the album's hits are "Run to the Hills" and the synonymous track. Nicko McBrain took Burr's place and a few months later, the band's fourth album "Piece of Mind" came out, in May of 1983. The album contains the hits " Flight of Icarus" and "The Trooper". The next album was 1984's "Powerslave", which included the hits "Aces High", "2 Minutes to Midnight" and one of their longest songs, the "Rime of The Ancient Mariner".
After the successful "Live After Death", the next two studio albums, "Somewhere in Time" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", added to the band's sound synthesized guitars and keyboards respectively. After a small break in 1989, in which Dickinson began his solo career, Iron Maiden recorded their next album, with Janick Gers in Smith's place. "No Prayer for the Dying" came out in October of 1990, containing the hit "Bring Your Daughter...to the Slaughter".
In May of 1992, the band released "Fear of the Dark". The album, with the homonymous hit, reached the top of the UK charts for the third time. It was followed by "The Fear of the Dark" tour, which included Donington Park, where the band filmed its live appearance ("Live at Donington"). Dickinson left the band later in order to continue with his solo career and Blaze Bayle was the band's next singer, with whom they recorded two more albums, "The X Factor" and "Virtual XI". Dickinson returned in 1999, along with Smith and the band released its twelfth album, named "Brave New World", in May of 2000.
In the following years, more albums came out, including four studio and several live and compilations albums, while Iron Maiden toured all over the world, and dealt with various projects (video games e.t.c.). The band is followed by one of the most characteristic mascot, the famous "Eddie", which is artist Derek Riggs's creation.
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden