In a recent interview with the Dutch radio show "RoesjPop Show", British heavy metal vocalist Blaze Bayley reflected on the five-year period in the 1990s that he spent as the frontman of IRON MAIDEN. "It was a fantastic time in my life," he said (hear audio below). "I never thought that I would be selected to be the singer of one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time. And it was a great honor, a lot of fun. I learned so much about writing songs and about singing. It was a wonderful time in my life. And the lessons that I learned with IRON MAIDEN I've put into my solo work. I have 11 solo albums now since then, and I've toured with every one. So I look back to my time with IRON MAIDEN with a great sense of pride and nostalgia, and I'm very fond of that time." The two MAIDEN albums Blaze appeared on, "The X Factor" and "Virtual XI", sold considerably less than the band's prior releases and were their lowest-charting titles in the group's home country since 1981's "Killers". Since leaving IRON MAIDEN in 1999, Bayley has released a number of albums, including three under the moniker BLAZE and six under his own name. He also appeared on 2012's "Wolfsbane Saves The World", the first album of new material by WOLFSBANE since the group's self-titled 1994 effort. Bayley, who fronted IRON MAIDEN from 1994 until 1999, recently played a special MAIDEN setlist at select festivals. Consisting of songs from his era with the band, these shows celebrated 25 years since Blaze joined IRON MAIDEN. Bruce Dickinson told the "Do You Know Jack?" radio show that he "was surprised" Blaze was chosen to replace him in IRON MAIDEN. "I was delighted for Blaze, but there was a whole bunch of other really good singers out there," he said. "I thought 'Wow, they could have picked somebody with a voice that could do what my voice did.' But they picked Blaze. Obviously, they picked somebody different, but that came with its own set of challenges. I just wondered whether anybody in the management was really giving anybody any serious words of truth on how hard this could be." Image courtesy of Duke TV
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