Take a photo of a barcode or cover
dinsdale 's review for:
Another fantastic autobiography read by the author! Growing up in my small WI town in the early '80s a lad had three basic choices for music on the radio: country, pop / Top 40 (from a station in Green Bay) and classic rock /hard rock / metal from the Rockin' Apple 106 FM out of Appleton. I went with the latter and this is how I discovered Iron Maiden. Maiden was a metal band, but different than most of the others as they generally addressed deeper subject matter in their lyrics and their singer was actually really good singer with an operatic voice and wider range than most other bands' singers. Maiden's live shows were very theatrical - I saw them twice live in Minneapolis and am still a fan.
But this book is about Bruce, and Bruce is an amazing and busy individual. His Goodreads author profile describes him as follows: "Paul Bruce Dickinson is a British singer, airline pilot, radio show host, DJ, historian, television presenter, fencer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. According to Allmusic, Dickinson "was the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalist to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the early-'80s". The quote pretty much describes the books' subject matter in a nutshell. There is little in the way of rock and roll lifestyle and debauchery portrayed in the book. Bruce states in the afterword that he left out everything about wives, children, divorces, and other things that "wouldn't advance the narrative" in order to keep the book from being 800 pages long.
The book does spend some time with Iron Maiden. He describes what went in to creating a few of their more popular albums and what inspired some of their songs. I really would've liked to hear more about what went in to making the music. What he does choose to tell us about his life with Maiden is very interesting. Early on in the band's history he spent time on tour at fencing clubs in the cities they played in. He fences competitively. In later tours he holed himself up on hotel rooms and wrote books. On still later tours, he took flying lessons and eventually became a commercial jet pilot. In the last several tours he piloted the 747s and 757s the band flew around the world in. The book contains a lot of stories about his personal and commercial flying experiences. As a commercial pilot he flew 757s for a couple of British airlines and still flies commercial jets and private charters, and he shares some anecdotes from some of his more interesting and higher profile flights.
The last several chapters are about his battle with throat and tongue cancer in 2015. This is a sobering read. He beat the cancer after being given a 60% chance of survival, but it was a difficult and grueling battle. He fought back and is singing again with Iron Maiden.
Any Maiden fan will enjoy this candid look at the full and interesting life of the band's lead singer.
But this book is about Bruce, and Bruce is an amazing and busy individual. His Goodreads author profile describes him as follows: "Paul Bruce Dickinson is a British singer, airline pilot, radio show host, DJ, historian, television presenter, fencer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer in the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. According to Allmusic, Dickinson "was the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalist to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the early-'80s". The quote pretty much describes the books' subject matter in a nutshell. There is little in the way of rock and roll lifestyle and debauchery portrayed in the book. Bruce states in the afterword that he left out everything about wives, children, divorces, and other things that "wouldn't advance the narrative" in order to keep the book from being 800 pages long.
The book does spend some time with Iron Maiden. He describes what went in to creating a few of their more popular albums and what inspired some of their songs. I really would've liked to hear more about what went in to making the music. What he does choose to tell us about his life with Maiden is very interesting. Early on in the band's history he spent time on tour at fencing clubs in the cities they played in. He fences competitively. In later tours he holed himself up on hotel rooms and wrote books. On still later tours, he took flying lessons and eventually became a commercial jet pilot. In the last several tours he piloted the 747s and 757s the band flew around the world in. The book contains a lot of stories about his personal and commercial flying experiences. As a commercial pilot he flew 757s for a couple of British airlines and still flies commercial jets and private charters, and he shares some anecdotes from some of his more interesting and higher profile flights.
The last several chapters are about his battle with throat and tongue cancer in 2015. This is a sobering read. He beat the cancer after being given a 60% chance of survival, but it was a difficult and grueling battle. He fought back and is singing again with Iron Maiden.
Any Maiden fan will enjoy this candid look at the full and interesting life of the band's lead singer.