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The Voice Before Bruce Dickinson: Paul Mario Day dies aged 69
Iron Maiden original frontman Paul Mario Day dies of cancer aged 69. That Iron Maiden, the future heavy metal legends. But during the days Paul Mario Day was spinning his tall story about the operation being massive and so on and so on, the band was just some obscurity garage band and not the giant arena-headliners we all recognize and idolize today. See “Iron Who?” and not “gods of rock.”
He didn’t materialize until 1975, when Maiden’s farsighted bassman Steve Harris assembled the original line-up of the group. What was the band’s first appearance on the stage? May 1, 1976, in a tiny hall in Poplar, London. Image the scene thus: raw back room, possibly five people attending in (one of whom was probably just there for the darts competition), and not even a whisper of pyrotechnics. But who’s grumbling – all legends have modest starts.
Day’s stint with the group was short (just 10 months), but it sowed the seeds from whence the world would later reap Iron Maiden. Why do we assume the boot legged on so comfortably? He didn’t possess, I quote, “energy and charisma.”
That’s a vituperative statement to assume on the part of, mind you, newly qualified rock stars weren’t endowed with a crash course in style on the edge of performance. Steve Harris, the spitting copy of the perfectionist, wanted Paul to “find his inner rock god,” but the sad reality remains that charisma’s not purchased from the stand on the road. Sad hearts and all, the rest of the group opted to branch out from the original frontman.
Maiden subsequently embarked on what became in effect a Game of Thrones-esque quest to find the ideal frontman following the exit from the premises of Mr. Day and subsequent signing of the iconic Bruce Dickinson. And we’ve all met Bruce. The vocals. The theatricality. The deranged enthusiasm. He didn’t so much “find his inner rock god”—he literally wrote the encyclopedia.
Paul Day’s Rock Evolution: From Rejection to Roaring Crowds
But Paul didn’t proceed to vanish into the night unpublished. Not on your life. Flash-forward to 1980 and he gathered his own group together, More, a hard rock band that would later develop a groove. More even got to play the legendary Monsters of Rock show in 1981 and even toured support on the Iron Maiden “Killers” tour. That’s just rubbing the ex in the face of all the things that they didn’t do. That’s like coming to the reunion of the school that you graduated from just so that you can park next to the guy who dropped you.
Paul’s rock ‘n’ roll curriculum vitae didn’t quite end there. He then fronted Wildfire and subsequently also assumed vocals on the re-united glam-rockers Sweet. Ah-ha moment: Wildfire’s guitar legend Andy Scott was said to have ended the auditions the moment Paul walked into the studio. See the scene—Day gets the mic and begins screaming his lungs out and Scott in his funniest rom-com style says, “He’s it. That’s the guy.”
Paul Mario Day: Rocking Till the End
Much later on in life Paul brought his music career to Australia and just kept doing and doing all the things second nature to him as long as his body would allow him. Because that’s the package deal about musicians like Paul. Music-making’s something that’s not only been worked; it’s something just hard-wired into his DNA. Even as his body began slipping away from his hands Paul was kept busy to the point his passion never once dying.
He never was the only person who used to be the former Maiden vocalist to the fans, musicians, and the hard rock world in general. Paul became the first musician who labored even on the days the limelight was smaller than his future counterparts. The people who got to experience him during his time all talk about a humbleman who took his being innlove with the art seriously.
He spent his final days with the help of his spouse, Cecily, in hospice. And in the denouement of his life history, it’s impossible not to relish the passion and excitement with which his career was pursued. With his first few days in Maiden to shocking the Monsters of Rock audience with More and earning his living from music on the distant continent, Paul Mario Day’s life was all about rhythm and soul. Rest in peace, Paul. Somewhere out in the vastness of the cosmos exists a never-ending jam session, and we’re betting the house on the fact that you’ve pilfered the show already. Rock on.
