Bruce Dickinson (born Paul Bruce Dickinson, August 7, 1958 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England) is the legendary lead singer in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Before this, he was the singer in a similar band called Samson from 1980, until he joined Iron Maiden the following year. He made his recording debut with Iron Maiden on their Number of the Beast album in 1982. During previous years, he was in Styx (1976) (not the American band of the same name Styx), then went on to sing for Speed (1977 - 1978) and when this band split, he joined Shots until the summer of 1979. Other interests include literature, writing, fencing (at which he is considered expert), train technology and flying Boeing 757 charter jets for the UK charter airline Astraeus (which Iceland Express leases planes from) where he is employed as First Officer. He was taught how to fly by British Airways commercial pilot Captain Dales.
He is sometimes called "Conan the Librarian" after a character in the "Weird Al" Yankovic movie UHF, and has been nicknamed 'The Air Raid Siren'. Dickinson went by the stagename "Bruce Bruce" prior to joining Iron Maiden. He is also an accomplished guitarist and drummer. He studied history at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, and was active in student politics as a member of the Conservative Party. He is not to be confused with the rock producer (in reality a sound engineer) (played by Christopher Walken) for Blue Öyster Cult in the famous Saturday Night Live More Cowbell skit.
Dickinson currently presents the Saturday evening "rock show" on BBC alternative rock radio station 6 Music. He has recently taken the helm of BBC Radio 2 Serial, Masters of Rock. He also presented the 5-part historical TV series about aviation; Flying Heavy Metal was shown on the Discovery Channel in the UK. He was also a guest on a Discovery Channel show where he shared his enthusiasm for trains.
Bruce married his second wife Paddy in 1990, they have three children together.
