“We recorded it in 20 minutes. But then I am a genius”: The late, great Paul Di’Anno looks back on making Iron Maiden’s Running Free

Paul Di’Anno performing onstage with Iron Maiden in 1980.

Former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno passed away this week. The two Maiden albums he sang on, their self-titled 1980 debut and 1981’s Killers, were packed full of classic songs, not least Running Free, the song that would become Maiden’s first single. In April 2024, Di’Anno told Metal Hammer about the song that launched one of metal’s greatest bands.

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