Bruce Dickinson says he’d have helped Iron Maiden replace him if his cancer battle had cost him his singing voice.
The 66-year-old, who underwent chemotherapy for cancerous tumours on his tongue and neck in 2015, tells the Rich Roll podcast he was “quite prepared” to not sing with Iron Maiden again following his diagnosis, calling the band’s music “sacrosanct”.
“When I had throat cancer, the last thing on my mind was, would I ever sing again?” he says (via Blabbermouth). “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.’”
The singer continues, saying it was unclear during his cancer battle what effects the disease would have on his voice. “I might be able to sing, I might be able to vocalise, I might be able to sing in a different way,” he reflects, “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.”
In an interview with Loudwire in 2015, Dickinson revealed he first noticed a lump on his neck while recording the Iron Maiden album The Book Of Souls the previous year.
“Doctor Google and Professor WIkipedia told me that there was a strong possibility that this might be a cancerous tumour,” he said. “I thought, ‘Well, if it is, do I really want to know now? Or would I prefer to wait six weeks until I’ve done my vocals and finished the record?’ So, that’s what I did.”
Once mixing on the record was finished, Dickinson was checked by a local doctor. He started treatment in early 2015 and was given the all-clear that May.
Iron Maiden are currently playing across North America as part of their Future Past world tour, celebrating latest album Senjutsu (2021) and 1986’s Somewhere In Time. See dates and get tickets via their website.
The band will embark on their Run For Your Lives tour in 2025, performing material from their first nine albums. European dates have been announced and are available below. More dates will be revealed soon, with the trek set to continue into 2026.
Iron Maiden 2025 European tour dates:
May 27: Budapest Aréna, Hungary *
May 31: Prague Letnany Airport, Czech Republic *
Jun 01: Bratislava TIPOS Arena, Slovakia *
Jun 05: Trondheim Rocks, Norway ≠
Jun 07: Stavanger SR-Bank Arena, Norway *
Jun 09: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark *
Jun 12: Stockholm 3Arena, Sweden *
Jun 13: Stockholm 3Arena, Sweden *
Jun 16: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Finland *
Jun 21: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK ^
Jun 22: Manchester Co-op Live, UK ^
Jun 25: Dublin Malahide Castle, Ireland *^
Jun 28: London Stadium, UK *^
Jun 30: Glasgow OVO Hydro, UK ^
Jul 03: Belfort Eurockéennes, France ≠
Jul 05: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain **
Jul 06: Lisbon MEO Arena, Portugal **
Jul 09: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland **
Jul 11: Gelsenkirchen Veltins-Arena, Germany **
Jul 13: Padova Stadio Euganeo, Italy **
Jul 15: Bremen Bürgerweide, Germany **
Jul 17: Vienna Ernst Happel Stadium, Austria **
Jul 19: Paris Paris La Défense Arena, France **
Jul 23: Arnhem GelreDome, Netherlands **
Jul 25: Frankfurt Deutsche Bank Park, Germany **
Jul 26: Stuttgart Cannstatter Wasen, Germany **
Jul 29: Berlin Waldbühne, Germany **
Aug 02: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland **
* = Halestorm support
^ = The Raven Age support
** = Avatar support
≠ = Festival date
