Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist Steve Harris. After several lineup changes prior to their recording career, they settled on Harris, vocalist Paul Di'Anno, guitarist Dave Murray and drummer Doug Sampson. The band currently consists of Harris and Murray with guitarist Adrian Smith (who first joined in 1980), vocalist Bruce Dickinson (who first joined in 1981), drummer Nicko McBrain (since 1982; not touring since 2024, replaced live by Simon Dawson from British Lion) and guitarist Janick Gers (since 1990).
History
The band's original line-up in December 1975, included Harris with singer Paul Mario Day, guitarists Terry Rance and Dave Sulivan and drummer Ron Matthews. Day left in October 1976 due to not having enough stage charisma, he was replaced by Dennis Wilcock. Harris temporarily disbanded Iron Maiden in December 1976 so he could replace Rance and Sulivan with guitarists Dave Murray and Bob Sawyer, while retaining Wilcock and Matthews. By mid-1977, Matthews, Murray and Sawyer were all fired after conflicts with either Wilcock or Harris, and replaced by guitarist Terry Wapram and keyboardist Tony Moore and drummer Thunderstick (real name Barry Purkis). This line-up only lasted one show before Moore was fired by Harris, as he felt that keyboards didn't fit in to Iron Maiden's music at the time.
Murray was reinstated in March 1978, after which Wapram left. Wilcock and Thunderstick also left shortly afterwards. The band were quickly joined by Doug Sampson on drums, who Harris had played with before forming Iron Maiden, and began auditioned new singers, settling on Paul Di'Anno joined in November. The band were also joined by second guitarist Paul Cairns in Winter 1978, who played on their 1979 demo The Soundhouse Tapes. Cairns stayed for three months before being dismissed due to not fitting in.
The band were joined by guitarist Paul Todd in June 1979, however he left after a week, not playing any shows due to his girlfriend not letting him. Todd would later join Paul Mario Day's post Iron Maiden band More. Tony Parsons was the bands next guitarist, joining in September 1979, before being dismissed in December but would remain a member of the band. The following day, Simon Dawson of Harris's band British Lion was announced as the band's new touring drummer.
Members
Current
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
! width="75" |Image
! style="width:130px;" |Name
! style="width:100px;" |Years active
! style="width:165px;" |Instruments
!Release contributions
|-
|
|Steve Harris
|1975–present
|
| rowspan="2" |all Iron Maiden releases
|-
|
|Dave Murray
|
|
|-
|
|Adrian Smith
|
|
|
|-
|
|Bruce Dickinson
|
|
|
|-
|
|Nicko McBrain
|1982–present
|
|all Iron Maiden releases from Piece of Mind (1983) to present
|-
|
|Janick Gers
|1990–present
|guitars
|all Iron Maiden releases from No Prayer for the Dying (1990) to present
|}
Former
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
! width="75" |Image
! style="width:130px;" |Name
! style="width:100px;" |Years active
! style="width:165px;" |Instruments
!Release contributions
|-
|
|Ron (Rebel) Matthews
|1975–1977
|drums
| rowspan="9" |none
|-
|
|Terry Rance
| rowspan="2" |1975–1976
| rowspan="2" |guitars
|-
|
|Dave Sullivan
|-
|
|Paul Mario Day
|1975–1976<br>
| rowspan="2" |lead vocals
|-
|
|Dennis Wilcock
|1976–1978<br>
|-
|
|Bob Sawyer
|1977
| rowspan="2" |guitars
|-
|
|Terry Wapram
| rowspan="2" |1977–1978
|-
|
|Thunderstick
|drums
|-
|
|Tony Moore
|1977
|keyboards
|-
|
|Doug Sampson
|1978–1979
|drums
|
|-
|
|Paul Di'Anno
|1978–1981<br>
|lead vocals
|
|-
|
|Paul Cairns
|1978–1979
| rowspan="3" |guitars
|
|-
|
|Paul Todd
| rowspan="2" |1979
|none
|-
|
|Tony Parsons
|BBC Archives (2002)
|-
|
|Clive Burr
|1979–1982<br>
|drums
|
|-
|
|Dennis Stratton
|1979–1980
|
|
|-
|
|Blaze Bayley
|1994–1999
|lead vocals
|
|}
Touring and session
{| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;"
! width="75" |Image
! style="width:130px;" |Name
! style="width:100px;" |Years active
! style="width:165px;" |Instruments
!Notes
|-
|
|Michael Kenney
|1988–2022
|Rowspan="2"|keyboards
|Since 1980, Kenney was employed by the band as Harris' bass technician. Following Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album, in which the band used keyboards for the first time, Harris insisted that Kenney perform the keyboard parts live under the alias of "The Count". Following this tour Kenney provided keyboards on their next four studio albums after which Harris took over playing keys with Kenney assisting. He continued to provide the band's live keyboards, although unlike the Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour during which he performed on a forklift, Kenney would later play the keys backstage. For the Maiden England World Tour 2012–2013, Kenney reprised his role as "The Count" during performances of the song "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". On 9 September 2022, he announced on Facebook that he had retired from Iron Maiden.
|-
|
|Brent Diamond
|2022–present
|From 2022, he replaced Michael Kenney as Steve Harris' bass technician, and as keyboard player during concerts.
|-
|
|Simon Dawson
|2024–present
|drums
|Dawson, who also known as a drummer for Harris's side-project, British Lion, was announced taking McBrain's place for the band's upcoming tours.