Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson was diagnosed with throat cancer in late 2014. Dickinson has since made a full recovery and has carried on his vocal duties both with Iron Maiden and with his solo band. Though as he was battling cancer, Dickinson said he was fully prepared to hand the vocal reins in Iron Maiden off to someone else. In an interview with the Rich Roll podcast, Dickinson said he wanted to put the music above all and would've helped the band find his replacement.
"When I had throat cancer [a decade ago], 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,'" said Dickinson. "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 vocalize, 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."
It certainly would've sucked if Dickinson had to exit Iron Maiden under those circumstances, but it wouldn't have been the first time Iron Maiden had a different vocalist. The band was fronted by the late and great Paul Di'Anno for Iron Maiden in 1980 and Killers in 1981, and then by Blaze Bayley for The X Factor in 1995 and Virtual XI in 1998.
