Blaze Bayley

Blaze Bayley (born Bayley Alexander Cooke) began his music career singing for the heavy metal group Wolfsbane upon its inception in 1984. Though the group built its own niche following, Bayley still dreamed of breaking big and being the lead singer of an internationally known hard rock group. His dream came true after the lead singer for the band Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickenson, left the group--thus opening the door for Bayley to audition for the role, and eventually win it in 1994. He'd go on to release two albums and tour with the seminal British metal group, although the LPs charted poorly and fans of the band did not receive Bayley with open arms. Because Iron Maiden's listener base was starting to shrivel up with Bayley behind the mic, the original members of the band were more than content when Dickenson returned to the group's vocal duties 1999. Since the amicable departing, Bayley has gone on to helm a number of solo endeavors and even reunite with his old band-mates in Wolfsbane to play rare live shows.