British rock musician Bruce Dickinson: biography with photo

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

A vibrant musician with powerful vocals, Bruce Dickinson is a man of diverse interests. His life is a constant search for new opportunities for self-realization. Although rock music will always remain his main business, he is a shining example that a talented person is talented in everything.

Difficult childhood

August 7, 1958 was born the future rock idol Paul Bruce Dickinson, whose biography began with great difficulties. It was an accidental child, his 17-year-old mother and 18-year-old father did not plan to have children, and only an accident led to the creation of a young family. It was difficult for the parents to settle in life on their own, they worked in various, not very well-paid positions, and they transferred custody of their son to grandparents. The future musician lived in the small mining town of Worksop, his grandfather worked underground, mining coal, and his grandmother took care of the house. It was the grandfather who became for Bruce (from childhood he disliked his first name) the main educator, he tried to teach his grandson masculine deeds, taught him to defend himself. Also grandparentsintroduced the boy to music. When it was time for Bruce to go to school, his parents again took him away, but they practically did not take care of their son, he did not know care and was often left to himself. Due to the frequent relocations of the family, he did not have the opportunity to make friends, but in high school, when the boy already began to show a clear interest in music, he was able to become a member of a musical group at school, and this marked the beginning of his musical career.

The path to music

The beginning of a professional path is usually associated with searches and trials, the same path was followed by Bruce Dickinson. Photos in the youth of the musician captured him in a variety of guises: he tried himself as a drummer, guitarist, but still he was best able to play the role of a vocalist. Already in his school years, he sings in a group and gets the first experience of vocals, rehearsals and public performances. However, Bruce has not yet thought about a professional career as a musician, considering it unattainable. Despite certain difficulties with behavior, he quite successfully graduates from school, tries to be a military man for half a year and, finally, decides that history is his calling, goes to college in London. And there he meets Noddy White, who had a small set of equipment, and together they create a group called Speed, which played a mixture of punk and hard rock. The group gives several concerts, and this experience helped Bruce to believe in himself not only as a musician, but also as a soloist. He constantly rotates in the circle of rock musicians, meets different people, gets into the Shots group, in which he learns to play the guitar andstarts writing songs. The group performs at combined concerts, at one of which Dickinson is found by members of the Samson team and invited to be their vocalist. The band had gravitated toward punk prior to Bruce's arrival, but his vocal abilities and interests led to a change in course, and Samson emerged as one of the leading British heavy metal bands. While still working in the band, he met with musicians from Iron Maiden, and after a while he was invited to this band.

Iron Maiden

Having come to the team, Bruce Dickinson realizes that everything is much more serious here than in all his previous teams. There was a strict schedule of recordings, rehearsals and concerts, there was a complete set of equipment, a manager and all the attributes of a professional group. He begins to actively improve his level, writes serious songs with philosophical lyrics. He significantly influences the concept of the group, creating songs with mystical lyrics, using extravagant stage costumes. The new frontman of the band, Bruce Dickinson, whose photo was placed on posters and magazine covers, gained new popularity for the band. And yet, his main advantage was his bright vocals, people came to listen to the vocalist, and he sang for them with pleasure.

Bruce Dickinson, whose discography in Iron Maiden consisted of 6 albums, worked in the band for 10 years and decided it was time to go solo. He wants to find a way to fully express his worldview, which is not available to him in the group. More and more demands on yourself and the teamclaims Bruce Dickinson, the growth of his musical ambitions led him to leave Iron Maiden in an attempt to realize himself in a solo format.

Solo career

The quality of the material in the latest Iron Maiden album did not suit Bruce, he wanted to find himself in music outside of heavy metal, he experimented with electronic sounds with new producer Keith Olsen. However, the meeting with Roy Ramirez changed the intentions of the musician, he wanted to create a joint record with him, then to return to rock and roll. He records the album Balls to Picasso and gives a series of concerts in support of it with a new team of musicians. Then with them, Dickinson writes a new album Skunkworks, which felt the sound of metal and grunge. But the growing discord in the group and dissatisfaction with the material again forced Bruce to disband the team. And in 1999, he decides to return to Iron Maiden, but does not leave his solo career either. In subsequent years, he released 5 albums with the group, participates in tours, but he also works productively in his solo project, releasing albums with music different from Iron Maiden.

The significance of Bruce Dickinson's work for modern culture

Bruce's musical career developed very successfully thanks to his unique singing style. Critics recognize him as one of the strongest heavy metal vocalists. With his sound and philosophical lyrics, Dickinson changed the attitude towards heavy music, made it a cultural phenomenon that conveys strong emotions and thoughts. He contributed to musicheavy metal complexity and meaning, for which critics called him the Renaissance man of the metal era.

Life outside of music

Dickinson Bruce does not want to devote himself entirely to music, he says that he does not want to think that he has missed something in his old age. Therefore, he devoted a lot of time and energy to fencing, participated in international competitions of the highest level, reaching the final series. Bruce is also a licensed pilot, he flew a plane during the tour of Iron Maiden, participated in the evacuation of the British from rebellious Lebanon. He created his own aircraft repair company and considers aviation his main job and music as a hobby. Dickinson Bruce also hosts his own radio show and collaborates with television companies. His life is full of various activities, he also wrote two science fiction novels, which were very popular.

Private life

There were two marriages in Dickinson's life, the first lasted only four years, and the second continues today. Bruce has three children, the eldest son is already known as the vocalist of a rock band. The musician's wife Paddy was able to survive with him career ups, his search for himself and even Bruce's cancer. In 2015, he was diagnosed with a small malignant tumor. But the operation and therapy helped him overcome the disease and fully recover.