@misteradriansmith in an interview with @musicradarofficial comments on Steve's decision to replace Paul Di'Anno with a new singer
“Paul had a great voice, but he was very temperamental.If you're a singer, it's kind of a shaky ground,” Smith says. “You’re totally reliant on your body. You can't put a bit more distortion on your amp or use effects. You can’t compensate. It’s you out there and you’re very exposed. I understand that.”
As Smith recalls, Maiden’s heavy touring placed a heavy burden on Di’Anno.
“The schedule started to pile up,” he says, “and it was difficult for Paul, being the singer in a rock band playing five nights on the trot.”
Smith compares Di’Anno’s singing style to that of Judas Priest’s Rob Halford.
“Maiden had toured with Priest, and Paul did take a bit from Rob — a little bit of vibrato, the holding of the notes.
"Paul was getting into that, and it's a difficult thing. You have your natural voice you’re born with, and then you have to introduce this technique, and Paul was starting to do that, to really expand his range, as well as having the character in his voice.”
However, during the Killers tour in 1981 it became evident that Di’Anno was struggling.
Steve Harris notified the band’s manager Rod Smallwood that a change of singer was required.
Smith recalls: “It was Steve who said to Rod, ‘We can’t do this.’ Steve being very decisive, he knew exactly what he wanted to do long term.
“So okay, if that’s how you feel. It’s not very nice, but we got on with it.”
Harris also knew who he wanted as Di’Anno’s replacement — Bruce Dickinson, who was then fronting Samson, a band that had emerged alongside Maiden in the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.
As Smith says: “Paul wasn’t as professional as Bruce. And Bruce could sing as high and as loud and as long as you wanted him to — like a machine.”
With Dickinson in the band, Maiden’s third album, The Number Of The Beast, was a huge hit in 1982.
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