Bruce Dickinson would have helped Iron Maiden source a replacement singer if he couldn’t sing the same way after his cancer battle.
The 66-year-old metal legend had a tumour the size of a “golf ball” growing on his tongue and was also diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, and he has admitted he wouldn’t have wanted to continue fronting the group if his vocals were altered in any way.
Fortunately, after undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy in 2015, he returned to touring with the ‘Run to the Hills’ group in 2016.
Bruce told the ‘Rich Roll’ podcast: “When I had throat cancer, the last thing on my mind was, ‘Would I ever sing again?’ The first thing on my mind is, ‘Am I gonna get through this and be alive?’ And the last thing on my mind was would I ever sing again? And I thought, ‘Well, we’ll get to that stage when I’m done and we start trying to sing.’
“And I was quite prepared to accept that I might not be able to sing with Iron Maiden again. I might be able to sing, I might be able to vocalise, I might be able to sing in a different way, but if I couldn’t sing the way I have to sing with Iron Maiden, I’ll help them find a great replacement. Because the music is sacrosanct.”
Bruce recently shared how it took him 10 months to decide whether to sing again.
Appearing on Brazilian TV show ‘Conversa com Bial’, he said: “It took me about 10 months to decide, ‘Okay, let’s try.’ When we tried to sing too early… remember that the whole throat, all the muscles, everything, basically we stick our head in a microwave for about two months. Everything is irritated and needs to relax.”
Iron Maiden are currently on their ‘The Future Past World Tour’, which wraps in December in Brazil, before they embark on the ‘Run For Your Lives World Tour’ on 27 May 2025, in Budapest, Hungary.