Have you ever imagined Iron Maiden with a female vocalist? That's what Bruce Dickinson wanted when he left the band in 1993.
The current Maiden vocalist decided to pursue new directions after the album Fear of the Dark (1992) and was replaced by Blaze Bayley until his return in 1999. In a 2017 interview with Classic Rock, however, Dickinson revealed that he had a different idea about who could replace him.
“I told someone at the time: 'Why don't they do something absurd and scandalous? Call a woman! There are some Finnish female vocalists out there with incredible voices! Do something to really impress people,'” Bruce recounts.
The vocalist also commented that if Iron Maiden had accepted a female vocalist, it might have meant the definitive end of his days in the band. "I would be screwed. I would never have come back," he joked.
During his time away from Maiden, Bruce Dickinson released four solo albums: Balls to Picasso (1994), Skunkworks (1996), Accident of Birth (1997) , and The Chemical Wedding (1998). Meanwhile, the band released the albums The X Factor (1995) and Virtual XI (1998) with Blaze Bayley on vocals.
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