Paul Di’Anno had a long but strange career. One thing about him I liked is that he did everything on his own terms. Not always the best choices, but they were truly his. He navigated his life the best he knew how.
The Iron Maiden years were crucial, and pretty much locked him in that perimeter. He could never quite get out of the shadow of those two albums he’s made with Iron Maiden. The records were fantastic, released in 1980, and 1981, when heavy metal music was in its infancy. The fans from all over the world were exposed to it, and pretty much forever scarred. The early Maiden was extremely influential to countless bands that followed on the heavy metal path. There are still fans out there who swear by those two albums, and refuse to accept anything else that followed. And rightfully so, the Iron Maiden with Paul Di’Anno on vocals was very special, and extremely far reaching. Also, the band was a lot more aggressive sounding than anything else they did with Bruce Dickinson, or Blaze Bayley. Not to say Iron Maiden had became a bad band afterwards, it was just a completely different dynamic. They became extremely successful, so they knew what they were doing, and what they were aiming for.
Iron Maiden was on a quest for a world domination, which they pretty much achieved that by 1984. Could they have done it with Di’Anno on vocals? Very unlikely, but they still would’ve been a killer band. Steve Harris and Rod Smallwood had different goals in mind, and Di’Anno’s unpredictable behavior, and unreliability, only speed up his exit from the band.
Paul Di’Anno continued with several projects, and various amount of success. Di’Anno band, in 1984, sounded very commercial, and only left on album. This project was eventually revisited a couple decades later with slightly better results. Things improved vastly with Battlezone, and Killers. Both projects had some credibility, but stopped just as the momentum was building up. Finally, Paul Di’Anno started releasing records under his own name. He could never really have vital career outside of Iron Maiden. That shadow just kept orbiting around him at all times. In live situations, the fans mostly wanted to hear the Maiden tracks, and he kept playing them at the expense of whatever he was promoting at the time. Eventually, his live set completely consisted of Maiden songs. He did not even have a band, but played with back up groups that knew the Maiden material.
Despite all of this, and serious concerns about his health, he kept on going. At one point, he had a difficult time getting around, his mobility eventually reduced to a wheel chair. Not even that could stop him from being creative, and performing. Paul Di’Anno was a real force of nature. His exit is unexpected because it seemed like he caught another lucky break recently. There was a new record out, and a new opportunity. It was great to see him reconnect and make peace with his bandmates from Iron Maiden. Perhaps all of those closures needed to happen in order for Paul to find a personal peace.
Paul Di’Anno leaves an incredible legacy behind. He was part of something special and legendary. His music is greatly appreciated by heavy metal enthusiasts from all over the globe, and will continue to be discovered by younger generations of fans. He had a definite style and charisma that was completely his, but above all, he did it his way. Having spent few hours with the man himself, this writer can declare that he was bad-ass motherfucker who would not compromise one bit! RIP Paul Di’Anno….
Mark Kadzielawa
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