Original IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Mario Day has died at the age of 69. The British-born musician, who later formed a band called MORE and was the frontman of WILDFIRE and SWEET, had reportedly been battling cancer for the last few years.
Day‘s passing was confirmed by SWEET guitarist Andy Scott in a social media post earlier today.
“PMD was the original singer with IRON MAIDEN and had a stint with the band MORE before joining SWEET. He passed away peacefully at his home in Australia.”
A decade ago, Day, who was with MAIDEN from 1975 to 1976, suggested in an online post that he had co-written the band’s song ‘Strange World’ but was never credited for his contributions. Day wrote at the time: “This is my opinion. When I sang in IRON MAIDEN, it was a new pub band and nobody wanted to see or hear them. We were all nobodys all trying to make the best music we could and fighting for an audience. In 1976, photos/recording were next to impossible to have if you were poor boys from East London, so I cannot prove I wrote the words and melody for ‘Strange World’.
As for before the time of albums and recording deals, I would say it was creative theft, not deliberate, as probably I would have done the same thing myself to keep it clean and simple. I think, however, if it made me a mega amount of money in the future, I would have done the right thing and [made] amends.
As back then we were all pulling for the same side and it still hurts to think the first-ever song I ever composed was on a big-selling album and nobody knows it was me. Not to mention how I scrape to earn a living while Mr. [Steve] Harris is living like a god!”
Day was booted from MAIDEN in 1976 due to his supposed lack of stage presence.
In December 2018, four-fifths of the original IRON MAIDEN lineup reunited for the first time in 42 years. Harris, who formed IRON MAIDEN on Christmas day in 1975, was photographed with Paul Mario Day and guitarists Dave Sullivan (1975 – 1976) and Terry Rance (1975 – 1976). Missing from the photo op was drummer Ron “Rebel” Matthews.
Day was replaced in MAIDEN by Dennis Wilcock. He went on to front SWEET and MORE while Rance still plays with AIRFORCE, which features former IRON MAIDEN drummer Doug Sampson.
MAIDEN‘s first demo recording, ‘Soundhouse Tapes’, featured Harris, singer Paul Di’Anno, guitarist Dave Murray and Sampson. It eventually landed MAIDEN a record deal with EMI in 1980. The band’s self-titled debut album brought about a new lineup with the addition of Clive Burr to replace Sampson and Dennis Stratton on guitar.