Biography:

Paul Mario Day (19 April 1956 – 29 July 2025) was an English singer who was the original lead vocalist of heavy metal band Iron Maiden from 1975 to 1976.[1]

Iron Maiden

Day was the first lead singer for Iron Maiden from December 1975 to October 1976. On the Iron Maiden The Early Days DVD it was mentioned that Day was fired because he did not have enough stage charisma. He was replaced by Dennis Wilcock.[1] Years later he claimed co-authorship of the Iron Maiden song “Strange World”.[2]

Career post-Maiden

He later formed a band called More that played at the Donington Monsters of Rock Festival in 1981,[3] and also had onetime Iron Maiden guitarist Paul Todd (who was in Iron Maiden for two days and never recorded or played live and only did a photo session with them),[4] Def Leppard drummer Frank Noone in the line-up.[5] He was lead singer of Wildfire in 1983 to 1984. In 1985 Sweet were re-formed by Andy Scott and Mick Tucker then featuring Paul Day. He recorded a live album at the Marquee Club in London as lead singer of Sweet in 1986.[6] After this engagement he has lived in Australia since 1986 and was the lead vocalist of two bands from Newcastle, New South Wales. He has performed covers of rock songs with the band Defaced and sang and wrote for Crimzon Lake, now disbanded, an unsigned hard rock band.[7] He was in contact with the Australian progressive metal band Buffalo Crows in appearance as a guest musician. He was still claimed to be a new wave of British heavy metal-style musician.[8][9]

In 2013, Day recorded vocals for a jingle for Canberra Toyota, a Toyota car dealership located in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.[10]

Day was reported to live in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.[8]

42 years after Iron Maiden formed, the original 1975 line-up by Steve Harris held a reunion concert in London on 29 December. Only the former drummer Ron Matthews was absent, but Paul Mario Day (vocals), Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance (guitars) appeared.[11]

According to his social media pages, Day was said to be recording new material in early June 2025. However, he died from cancer at the age of 69 on 29 July.[12]

Credits: