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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