Bruce Almighty...
(Photo: Iron Maiden On Twitter)
He is one of the greatest singers in metal, musician, actor, writer, screenwriter, radio broadcaster, TV presenter, professional fencer, a trained pilot, entrepreneur, businessman, and owner of an airline company.
His name is Bruce Dickinson and he is celebrating his birthday today !!!
(Photo: wallpaperflare.com)
Here are 30 interesting facts (most of them known) about the amazing "Multi talent":
1. He was born on August 7, 1958. His full name is Paul Bruce Dickinson. As a child, he was called "Bruce Bruce" after a character in the sketch series of "Monty Peyton's Flying Circus". He used this nickname on "Samson" albums where he appears as "Bruce Bruce" Dickinson.
2. He grew up with his grandparents. His parents who were not even 18 at the time of his birth, could not support themselves or the newborn and often wandered across England in search of a livelihood. The song "Born in '58" from his first solo album "Tattooed Millionaire", he wrote about his childhood at his grandparents' house.
3. In his youth he tried to play his father's classical guitar. He admired Ian Paice from "Deep Purple" and dreamed of becoming a drummer.
4. The first album he acquired was "In Rock", by "Deep Purple", from where he went on to the first "Black Sabbath" album, "Aqualung" by "Jetro Tull" and "Tarkus" by "Emerson, Lake & Palmer".
5. He was expelled from school after a prank in which he defecated in a bean stew served to the school principal.
6. Dickinson has a very wide vocal range that extends over 4.25 octaves. His vocal tone is also very diverse, from rock to opera, this earned him the nickname "The Air-Raid Siren".
(Photo: Michael Putland)
7. In 1979, just two months after releasing their debut album, Dickinson joined the band "Samson" as their lead singer.
8. In 1981 he appeared with "Samson" in the Canadian horror film "Incubus".
9. His first acquaintance with "Iron Maiden" was when "Maiden" warmed up "Samson" in 1980. Even then he thought they were good.
10. In 1981 he joined "Iron Maiden", and after several live shows with his new band, he participated in the process of writing the material for the album "The Number Of The Beast". Due to contractual issues with his previous band, he could not get credit for any of the songs on the album, even though he contributed to writing some of them, such as: "The Prisoner", and "Children of the Damned" and "Run to the Hills".
11. As part of the 1987 "Monsters of Rock Festival", he took the stage with Dee Snider, Paul Stanley, and Jon Bon Jovi to perform a cover version of the song "Travelin 'Band" by "Creedence Clearwater Revival".
12. He recorded the song "Bring Your Daughter ... to the Slaughter" for the movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child". "Iron Maiden" later re-recorded the song for their 1990 album "No Prayer for the Dying".
13. In 1990 he was part of the musical project "Rock Aid Armenia", in which he recorded the song "Smoke on the Water" by "Deep Purple", with a list of great and leading artists. Among the artists with whom he recorded the song are: Bryan Adams, Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, David Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Alex Lifeson, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Paul Jones, and Jon Lord.
14. In 1992, he recorded with British comedian Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) a cover version of Alice Cooper's song "Elected" from the album "Billion Dollar Babies", the cover version was called "(I Want To Be) Elected".
15. From 2002 to 2010, Dickinson had a weekly radio show on "BBC Radio 6" called "Rock Show".
16. His 2005 solo album "Tyranny Of Souls" was originally designed to be a triple project inspired by "The Three Tenors", in collaboration with Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio. Maybe he got an appetite after recording the duet "The One You Love To Hate" with Halford in 2000.
17. Bruce is a Boeing 757 trained pilot and was an active pilot on the British airline "Astraeus Airlines".
18. In 2007, he flew the players of the Glasgow Rangers football team to Israel, for their game against Hapoel Tel Aviv.
19. After the closure of "Astraeus Airlines", he set up his own airline, "Cardiff Aviation".
20. During "Iron Maiden" tours he flies the band and equipment on the "Ed Force One" plane.
(Photo: airteamimages.com)
21. In 2005, Dickinson hosted the aviation series "Flying Heavy Metal" on the "Discovery" Channel.
22. Bruce is a professional fencer who came in seventh at the British Fencing Championships. He also represented his country at the European Championships in 1989. He trained himself to fence with both hands. After 10 years of specializing in right-handed fencing, he moved to left-handed.
23. He wrote the screenplay for the 2008 film "Chemical Wedding". The film's soundtrack includes songs by Dickinson and "Maiden".
24. Dickinson was present at the wedding of Fish the former singer of "Marillion".
25. He is the registered owner of a Soviet "T34" tank.
26. In 2013 he worked in collaboration with the English "Robinson" brewery on the development of the Iron Maiden "Trooper" beer. He is interested in continuing to develop more beers in the future.
(Photo: rockcelebrities.net)
27. In 2015 he underwent chemotherapy treatments following a cancerous growth that was discovered in his tongue, but Bruce like Bruce almighty, overcame cancer and returned to the stages.
28. He authored two books, "The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace" and "The Missionary Position".
29. In 2017 he published his autobiography book "What Does This Button Do?".
30. 30. He wrote on his own the longest song of "Iron Maiden" in which he also plays the piano. The song "Empire of the Clouds" from the album "The Book of Souls" spans more than 18 minutes.
During his musical career, Dickinson has released 22 studio albums, including 3 with "Samson", 13 with "Maiden" and 6 as part of his solo career.
So let's wish this dear man many more years of fruitful music and continues to rave on the stages with his kamikaze jump.
Picture: Ronen Kolar