Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke, 29 May 1963) is an English singer, lyricist, and songwriter. He was the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994, and again during a more recent reunion. Blaze is best known for being the lead singer of British metal band Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999. Since 1999, he has embarked on a solo career.
Career
Wolfsbane (1984-1994, reunion 2007-present)
Born in Birmingham, England, Blaze Bayley started his musical career as the lead vocalist of Tamworth heavy metal/hard rock band Wolfsbane, upon their formation in 1984. The first album, Live Fast, Die Fast, was released in 1989. Prior to this they had recorded three demos entitled Wolfsbane (1985), Dancin' Dirty (1987) and Wasted but Dangerous (1988). This last one, recorded at Square Dance Studios, Derby, U.K., illustrates the band in its youngest, rawest state. They were the supporting act for Iron Maiden's UK division of their No Prayer on the Road tour in 1990. Wolfsbane's second release, an EP titled All Hell's Breaking Loose Down at Little Kathy Wilson's Place, was released the same year. The band's second full studio album Down Fall the Good Guys, was released in 1991, giving them their only UK Chart entry with their single "Ezy" charting at No. 68.
Def American dropped Wolfsbane as they felt that the band were not selling well enough. This did not stop the band from being voted as the UK's best unsigned act in 1993. The same year, the band released a live album, Massive Noise Injection, through the Bronze Company label.
The band released their third studio album, often considered to be the band's best work, the self-titled Wolfsbane, in 1994, again on the Bronze Company label. A limited edition of this album included the EP Everything Else. When Bruce Dickinson departed fellow English heavy metal band Iron Maiden in 1993, Blaze Bayley was chosen between hundreds of auditions. Then Wolfsbane disbanded.
In 2007, Wolfsbane reformed for a one-off performance, with Bayley again taking up vocal and frontman duties. They supported The Wildhearts on a short UK tour in December 2007. Their next tour came in December 2009 supporting The Quireboys on their 'A Little Bit of What You Fancy 20th Anniversary Tour'. Wolfsbane played a headline show at the Borderline in London on 9 April 2011. This was followed by a tour supporting Saxon in April 2011.[4] A new album (Wolfsbane Save the World) followed an Ep called "Did it for the money" and a successful UK tour in 2011.
For further updates on Wolfsbane please see the related Wolfsbane articles.
Iron Maiden (1994-1999)
See also: Iron Maiden: Blaze Bayley era
Bayley was chosen as Bruce Dickinson's replacement in 1994 after hundreds of auditions. His departure from Wolfsbane led to their disbandment later that year. After a serious motorcycle accident caused by losing control and clipping his knee on a catseye in the road, which put him out of action for a year, his first album with Maiden was The X Factor, released in 1995. Bayley went on to tour with the band in support of the album. Another Iron Maiden album with Bayley on vocals, Virtual XI was released in 1998.
The two Iron Maiden albums released during Bayley's time in the band did not chart as well as that to which the band were accustomed. The X Factor peaked at No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart and Virtual XI hit only No. 16, both being the lowest-charting Iron Maiden studio albums since Killers was released in 1981, which peaked at No. 12.
In February 1999, Iron Maiden announced that vocalist Bruce Dickinson was returning to the band, and Bayley departed by mutual consent, and he remains on good terms with his former bandmates. Iron Maiden occasionally performed songs from the two Maiden albums featuring Bayley, including "Man on the Edge" and "Futureal", which he co-wrote, though no Bayley-era songs have been on the band's set list since 2004. Likewise, Bayley has performed Iron Maiden songs originally recorded by the Dickinson and Paul Di'Anno led line-ups at some concerts.
Blaze (1999-2007)
Following Blaze Bayley's departure from Iron Maiden in 1999, he formed his own band, BLAZE, in March that year. Bayley recruited guitarist Steve Wray, guitarist John Slater, bassist Rob Naylor, and drummer Jeff Singer, and signed a deal with German label SPV, releasing the band's debut studio album in 2000, Silicon Messiah. The album was followed up by Tenth Dimension in 2002 and the band's first live album in 2003, As Live As It Gets.
After recording the live album, Jeff Singer announced he was leaving the band. Three months later, Rob Naylor was also leaving. Session drummer Phil Greenhouse and bassist Wayne Banks were hired for the rest of the Tenth Dimension tour until permanent replacements could be found. Guitarist Jason Banks was drafted in for a few gigs at the end of 2003 to cover for John Slater.
At the end of 2003, Blaze began writing material for their third studio album, Blood & Belief. Phil Greenhouse was replaced on drums by Jason Bowld for recording and Dave Knight for touring. The band began to tour for the album shortly after it was released in 2004, but were set back again by the news that John Slater could not perform a large section of the tour. Despite rejoining the band later in the year, Slater eventually left the band in September with Steve Wray to form the band Rise To Addiction. Bassist Wayne Banks and drummer Dave Knight left the band to join the Robin Gibb band in September 2004.
Blaze performed a number of shows in 2004 and 2005 with the lineup of Bayley, guitarist Oliver Palotai, guitarist Luca Princiotta, bassist Nick Douglas, and drummer Daniel Löble. The two guitarists were eventually kept on as full members. The band's lineup shifted once again when Löble quit to join German power metal band Helloween early in 2005 and when Douglas returned to another German heavy metal band, Doro. The two were replaced by unknown German musicians Daniel Schild and Christian Ammann respectively. With the new line up, Blaze began to work on a fourth studio album for a release in 2007, but in January that year it was announced the entire line-up had to part ways with Bayley due to serious financial matters. Following the lineup change, Bayley opted to rename the band under his name, Blaze Bayley.
Blaze Bayley Band (2007-2011)
In February 2007, Blaze Bayley Band (also known as BBB) added guitarists Nicolas Bermudez and Rich Newport, bassist Dave Bermudez, and drummer Rico Banderra and recorded the live DVD album Alive in Poland, released later on that year. Bayley announced that Rich Newport had left the band to pursue a career as a guitar teacher later on that year, and Jay Walsh would replace him onstage for the remainder of the tour. Jay was made a full member of the band in November 2007. Bayley also announced the addition of drummer Lawrence Paterson, formerly of British metal bands Chokehold and Shadowkeep at the same time.
In July 2008, Blaze Bayley Band (BBB) released their debut studio album, The Man Who Would Not Die. The album also contained the band's first single, "Robot", despite only being available digitally. It is sometimes regarded as a mini-compilation as it includes many bonus tracks. In September Debbie Hatlands, Blaze's wife and manager of the band, dies of a stroke after some weeks of recovery. The singer and the band, although wasted from the loss, bravely continue to perform in honour of her love and committed work. The band records another DVD live at Z7, The Night That Will Not Die, which was released in March 2009. Blaze Bayley announced that the band started recording for their new album on 28 September 2009. A contest was run on the band's forum.The two first people who guessed the title of the new album received a free signed copy. The title was revealed to be Promise and Terror a few days later.
The 2nd album Promise and Terror was released on 1 February 2010. Professional reviews have generally been very positive about the album. The album was produced by Jason Edwards.
On 6 February 2010 BBB started their 2010 world tour in Dudley UK. They spent the next months playing the UK, France, Italy, Germany before leaving for the South American leg of the tour. They then returned to Europe later in the year.
In May 2010 Larry Paterson, the drummer for the band left due to unspecified personal and professional reasons. Paterson was also the author of the book "At The End of the Day", a biography of the Blaze Bayley Band. Also their manager, Anna, announced her departure from the band. She claimed that the band's idea of where to go next and hers were not in the same direction.
Following the departure of Larry Paterson the Blaze Bayley Band engaged Italian drummer Claudio Tirincanti to continue the Promise and Terror tour.
On 10 July 2010 Blaze Blayley claimed live on stage that his current album was his best-selling as a solo-artist shedding some light on the recent changes in his line-up and management.
On 18 December 2010 they played a Big Bash at JB'S in Dudley Birmingham. Despite the snowy weather the band made it back from mainland Europe to play the show.
The BBB embarked on a short European tour in early 2011 and were supposed to follow that up in May 2011 with more dates in the UK. But surprisngly on 29 March via his official channels, Blaze Bayley stated that he had to part ways with the band due to both health and financial reasons. Later emerged that a great problem has been the fact that the Bermudez brothers were frequently due to be bought flights back home to Colombia to renew their visas. The matter was heavy not only from the financial and burocratical point of view, but also musically: the BBB had frequently to find last minute substitutes, in the likes of Luke and Chris Appleton from the band Fury Uk or Dave Andrews that later will enter in the live band of the singer.
Solo career (2011 - present)
On 31 March 2011, Blaze announced that he would continue as a solo performer working with different musicians. The new official line-up for live gigs features the confirmed Claudio Tirincanti on the drums, old occasional touring member Dave Andrews on the guitar, and two Belgian musicians (Steve Deleu from Fireforce and Nick Meganck, ex Ogress) respectively on the other guitar and bass. Later this will be also the live band of former Judas Priest singer, Tim "The Ripper" Owens.
Alongside the reunion and new recordings of Wolfsbane, Bayley has played a two-week acoustic solo tour in the UK in Sept 2011 with fellow Wolfsbane guitarist Jase Edwards plus a few unplugged gigs in Italy with Andrea Neri on the guitar. Footage of the acoustic shows with Jase Edwards can be seen on the Official Blaze Bayley YouTube Page.
On 19 August 2011 Blaze announced that recording of a live DVD filmed at his show in Antwerp, Belgium on 23 September 2011, in which he presented also the first new song with the renewed line-up, called "Black Country". In February 2012 Bayley toured Russia with Paul Di'Anno, starting a partnership between the two ex Iron Maiden singers.
The singer hit the stages of some summer festivals and after that has been travelling to the USA in October/November 2011 for his first full US Headline tour since his days with Iron Maiden, supported by North-American musicians of the Canadian band Man the Destroyer plus American guitarist Rick Plester, of international fame, who will work with Bayley in the near future.
On 18 December 2011 the last show of the Promise and Terror world tour took place at De Rots In Antwerp Belgium. High Definition footage from the penulitmate UK show on 15 December is available on the Official Blaze Bayley YouTube channel.
On 26 December 2011 in a personal Christmas message on his website Blaze announced that his new album The King of Metal would be released on 8 March 2012. On the same day Blaze officially announced the first two legs of the King of Metal world tour on the official Blaze Bayley Facebook Page. The King of Metal album is recorded between Italy and Holland, mixed by Tony Newton at Steve Harris home studio, Rick Plester in the Usa and Raoul Soentken in The Netherlands).
New line-up consists of 3 Italians (the confirmed drummer Claudio Tirincanti, Neurasthenia's bassist Lehmann, guitarist Andrea Neri) and Dutch Thomas Zwijsen, a young talented classic guitarist who became a cult-musician on Youtube for his acoustic arrangements of Iron Maiden's classics. Zwijsen co-wrote most of the music of the new Bayley's cd. The same line-up who recorded the album will be the next live band for Blaze Bayley in the King of Metal European Tour, which counts more than 60 gigs.
The busy schedule of 2012 sees also an acoustic tour with Zwijsen (July), some appearances with Czech band Seven, a few gigs with Wolfsbane (October), a second co-headlining tour with Paul Di'Anno in Eastern Europe, Australia and New Zealand (November), and the prosecution of the Acoustic gigs that in 2013 will touch also Brazil and Europe with Zwijsen on classical guitar and Dutch violinist Anne Bakker.
In partnership with Thomas Zwijsen Blaze has also released an EP ("Russian Holyday") of classically arranged tunes, working with Yellowdog Creative Project Management for the release. The artwork of the EP was created by Akirant.es.
Blaze Bayley then announced he is working on a "Best Of" album as a tribute to his 30th anniversary as a singer, due to be released November 2013, and a new "full metal" album after the acoustic experience, which could see the light in 2015.
Blaze Bayley musicians
Main line-up
Blaze Bayley - Vocals (1999–present)
Thomas Zwijsen - Guitar (December 2011 – present)
Andrea Neri - Guitar (June 2011 – present)
Lehmann - Bass (January 2012–present)
Claudio Tirincanti - Drums (April 2010 – present)
Former bands
B L A Z E
(March 1999 - January 2003)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
John Slater - guitar
Steve Wray - guitar
Rob Naylor - bass
Jeff Singer - drums
B L A Z E
(January - April 2003)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
John Slater - guitar
Steve Wray - guitar
Rob Naylor - bass
Phil Greenhouse - drums
B L A Z E
(April 2003 - December 2003)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
John Slater - guitar
Steve Wray- guitar
Wayne Banks- bass
Phil Greenhouse- drums
B L A Z E
(January 2004 - September 2004)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
John Slater - guitar
Steve Wray- guitar
Wayne Banks- bass
Jason Bowld- drums
B L A Z E
(October 2004 - December 2005)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
Oliver Palotai - guitar
Luca Princiotta- guitar
Nick Douglas- bass
Daniel Löble- drums
B L A Z E
(December 2005 - January 2007)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
Oliver Palotai - guitar
Luca Princiotta- guitar
Christian Ammann- bass
Daniel Schild- drums
Blaze Bayley band
(March 2007 - October 2007)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
Rich Newport- guitar
Nicolas Bermudez - guitar
David Bermudez- bass
Rico Banderra- drums
Blaze Bayley band
(November 2007 - March 2011)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
Jay Walsh - guitar
Nicolas Bermudez - guitar
David Bermudez- bass
Lawrence Paterson - drums
Blaze Bayley band
(April 2010 - March 2011)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
Jay Walsh - guitar
Nicolas Bermudez - guitar
David Bermudez- bass
Claudio Tirincanti - drums
Blaze Bayley
(March 2011 - December 2011)
Blaze Bayley - vocals
Dave Andrews - guitar
Steve Deleu - guitar
Nick Meganck- bass
Claudio Tirincanti - drums
Other musicians
Bayley vs Di'Anno live
In 2012, former Iron Maiden singers Blaze Bayley and Paul Di'Anno started a partnership doing some co-headlining tours and sharing the same musicians.
- for their Russian, Ukrainian, Czech Republic, Slovakia gigs of 2012-2013 the band has been:
Blaze Bayley - Vocals
Andrei Smirnov - Guitar
Ilya Mamontov - Guitar
Nikolay Korshunov - Bass
Andrey Ischenko - Drums
- for their following Australia/New Zealand tour Bayley and Di'Anno shared Australian musicians:
Blaze Bayley - Vocals
Doug Dalton - Guitar
Jimmy Lardner-Brown - Guitar
Stu Tyrrell - Bass
Dom Simpson - Drums
- for the italian gigs of 2013 the two singers has been backed by official Iron Maiden tribute band Children of the Damned:
Blaze Bayley - Vocals
Carlo Micheletti - guitar
Michele Galli - guitar
Matteo Panzavolta - bass
Gianluca Calanca - drums
Acoustic
- for acoustic touring Blaze recently involved those musicians:
Thomas Zwijsen - Guitar - acoustic tours 2012-2013
Anne Bakker - Violin - acoustic tour 2013
Andrea Neri - Guitar - acoustic tour Italy 2011
Jase Edwards - Guitar - acoustic tour Uk 2011
North America
-in the Usa and Canada the singer performs with the following band:
Blaze Bayley - Vocals (1999–present)
Rick Plester - Guitar (October 2011 – present)
M.G. Jones - Guitar (October 2011 – present)
Chris Declercq - Guitar (guest 2011)
Matt Maclean - Bass (October 2011 – present)
Bill Legue - Drums (October 2011 – present)
Occasional
- in Istanbul 2011, in the first gig played just after the split of BBB, the singer has been supported by Turkish band Apsent.
Blaze Bayley - Vocals
Yiğit Özdağlı - Guitar
Denisan Sarı - Bass
Levent Ağralı - Keyboards
Erhan Çabuk - Drums
- for the sequent Italian summer tour of 2011 the singer has occasionally performed with the following lineup:
Blaze Bayley - Vocals
Andrea Neri - Guitar
Lorenzo Carancini - Guitar
Simone Massimi - Bass
Roberto Pirami - Drums
- in Czech Republic the singer performed with local act Seven of international fame:
Blaze Bayley - Vocals
Honza "Kirk" Běhunek - Guitar
Tomáš "Thomas" Kuchta - Bass
Lukáš Kuneš - Drums
- in some gigs of 2012 Neil, member of Neurasthenia as Lehmann, has performed on guitars as stand-in for Andrea Neri
- in March 2013 for a charity gig in Redhill (Uk) the line-up has been:
Blaze Bayley - Vocals
James Cornford - Guitar
Pete Welsh - Guitar
Jim Houghton - Bass
Rai Whisker - Drums
Discography
Wolfsbane
Live Fast, Die Fast (1989)
All Hell's Breaking Loose Down at Little Kathy Wilson's Place (1990)
Down Fall The Good Guys (1991, remastered 2012)
Massive Noise Injection (1993)
Wolfsbane (1994)
Lifestyles of the Broke and Obscure (2001)
Howling Mad Shithead - The Best of Wolfsbane (2010)
Did it for the Money (EP, 2011)
Wolfsbane Save the World (2012)
The Lost Tapes: A Secret History (2012)
Iron Maiden
The X Factor (1995)
Best of the Beast (1996)
Virtual XI (1998)
Ed Hunter (1999)
Eddie's Archive (2002)
Edward the Great (2002, 2005)
Visions of the Beast (2003)
Blaze
Studio albums
Silicon Messiah (2000)
Tenth Dimension (2002)
Blood & Belief (2004)
Live albums
As Live As It Gets (2003)
Blaze Bayley
Studio albums
The Man Who Would Not Die (2008) Released on Ltd Ed vinyl December 2010
Promise and Terror (2010)
The King of Metal (2012)
Live albums
The Night That Will Not Die (2009)
Compilation albums
Best of (2008, available only through the band's official website)
Singles
"Robot" (2008, available only through the band's official website)
DVDs
Alive in Poland (2007)
The Night That Will Not Die (2009)
Blaze Bayley & Thomas Zwijsen
EPs
Russian Holiday (2013)
Notes
Promotional videos were released for the Blood and Belief song "Hollow Head" and the Silicon Messiah song "Ghost in the Machine", but these were originally only made available to fan club members. Later on, the video for "Silicon Messiah" was put on to the second disc of a limited edition of Tenth Dimension along with an EPK titled Inside the Tenth Dimension. The video of "Hollow Head" was only made available worldwide in 2007 and can be found on the Alive in Poland DVD under the "Extras" menu. The video of "Robot" was also released in February 2009.
Guest appearances
Cerebral Fix - Bastards (1991, vocals on "Smash It Up")
The Almighty - Powertrippin' (1993, background vocals on "Jesus Loves You ... But I Don't")
Armageddon over Wacken Live 2004 (CD/DVD, 2005, with Doro)
Doro - Classic Diamonds - The DVD (2004, lead vocals on "Fear of the Dark")
Doro - 20 Years A Warrior Soul (2006, sharing vocals on "Bad Blood" and "All We Are")
Dragonsclaw - Prophecy (2011) (vocals on "Prophecy is a Lie")
Lonewolf - Army of the Damned (2012) (vocals on "The One You Never See")
Trooper - Mercy Killer (2012) (lead vocals with Alin 'Coiotu' Dinca on "Mercy Killer")
Sinnergod - It's A Wonderful Life (Single) (2012)
SoulSpell - Hollow's Gathering (2012)
Ouijabeard - Die and let live (2012)
Thomas Zwijsen - Nylon Maiden (2012, vocals on "The Clansman")
Vessel - Introspective (2012, vocals on five tracks)
Chris Declercq - A Miracle away (Digital single) (2012)
A Sound of Thunder - Time's Arrow (2013) (vocals on "My Disease")
Ghostshift - Is My Enemy (2013) (vocals on "Short Days Ago")
Grimskull - Grimskull (2013)
Genghis Khan - Revenge in the Shadows (tba, Single)
Wolfpakk - tba
Black Horizon - tba
Maiden United - tba
Personal life
On 14 February 2007, Bayley married Debbie Hartland, his long-time girlfriend, on the island of Gran Canaria. On 6 July 2008, Hartland suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was hospitalised. She died on 27 September 2008, after having suffered a stroke two days before.
Blaze Bayley got engaged on Christmas Day 2010 to his girlfriend Eline.
Bayley in 2011 has announced that he has parted ways with his previous musicians due to financial and medical reasons.
