What Heavy Metal singers from the 80s look like nowadays

Almost all the members of the Heavy Metal bands of the 70s had long hair and tight pants. In the 80’s Heavy Metal the guitars were faster and the singers usually had an amazing vocal range. Many vocalists that became famous at that time are still singing today. But, their look has changed a lot 40 years later.

What Heavy Metal singers from the 80s look like nowadays:

Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)

Bruce Dickinson was born in Nottinghamshire, August 7, 1958. He is a singer, broadcaster, writer, businessman, speaker, historian, brewmaster and pilot, best known for his work as the vocalist of Iron Maiden.

Bruce began his music career in bands that played in small bars during the 1970s, while he was in school in Sheffield and at college in London. In 1979 he joined the rock band Samson, with whom he recorded two studio albums and gained some popularity under the name Bruce Bruce. He left Samson in 1981 to join Iron Maiden, replacing Paul Di’Anno, and debuting on the album The Number of the Beast the following year. During his first participation in the band, several successful albums were released, resulting in Bruce’s worldwide fame and becoming one of the most acclaimed vocalists in the heavy metal genre.

Eric Adams (Manowar)

Eric Adams was born in Auburn, July 12, 1952. He is an American singer, vocalist of the heavy metal band Manowar. Born in an Italian family, Adams,  singing at the age of 8 in a church choir. His first band was called “The Kidz”, and was formed by him and 3 other boys from Auburn, releasing, in 1965, an EP called Meet The Kidz.

In the 70s, Eric participated in the band “The Harlequins”, and with them he also recorded a single. In 1980 he formed, together with bassist Joey DeMaio, the band Manowar, recording the first album, in 1982, Battle Hymns.

He is known for his vocal prowess, having a great vocal extension, managing to hold high notes for more than 40 seconds in his shows. Regarding his influences, Eric says that when he was a boy he went to all Deep Purple shows, because he loved Ian Gillan’s voice.

Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe)

Vince Neil was on solo career since Mötley Crüe‘s end in 2015. But in 2020 he is back as the frontman for their reunion tour that was scheduled to begin in June, but had to be postponed due to the Coronavirus. The singer was born in Hollywood, February 8, 1961.

Udo Dirkschneider (Accept)

Udo Dirkschneider was born in Wuppertal, April 6, 1952. He is a German heavy metal singer, best known for his stint in the band Accept and his current band U.D.O. The vocalist is well known for his unique voice, his short stature, his camouflaged clothes and his short blond hair. Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach declared that Udo has “the most heavy metal name of all time”.

Klaus Meine (Scorpions)

Klaus Meine was born in Hanover, Germany  25 May 1948. He is a singer-songwriter and vocalist of Scorpions. He still touring around the world with the band. Klaus Meine was a vocalist and guitarist for two bands, the first was called The Mushrooms and the second was Copernicus, this in the early 60s, before joining the band Scorpions.

Michael Kiske (Helloween)

Michael Kiske was born in Hamburg, January 24, 1968. He is best known for being Helloween vocalist. Kiske started his career very early when at the age of 17 he was already singing in a band formed by high school friends, called Ill Prophecy. Shortly thereafter (in 1986) he left the band to join Helloween, replacing Kai Hansen on vocals.

Michael Kiske recorded four studio albums and one live. In 1994, after a disagreement with some members and due to musical differences, he left the band. Kiske then decided to dedicate himself to his solo career. But he is still frequently invited to participate in several other bands.

Dee Snider (Twisted Sister)

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider announced he had retired from music for a while recently. After the band was over in 2016 he continued to tour as a solo act. The singer was  born March 15, 1955 in New York.

Joey Belladona (Anthrax)

Joey Belladonna is an American musician, best known as the lead singer of the heavy metal band Anthrax. He is part Native American from his mother’s side (from the Iroquois tribe), Italian-American part from his father.

In his youth, he accompanied bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Kansas and Rush. He says these bands created “very complex things, but still assimilable and notorious, with great vocals.”  The musician was Anthrax singer from 1985 to 1992, 2005 to 2007 and 2011 to nowadays. His voice appeared on 10 albums and sold approximately 8 million records worldwide.

Conrad Lant “Cronos” (Venom)

Conrad “Cronos” Lant was born in London, 15 January 1963. He is Venom‘s vocalist and bassist.  An interesting curiosity about Conrad is that he wants the song “In League With Satan” from Venom’s 1981 debut album Welcome to Hell to be performed at his funeral.

Cronos is known for his brutal singing style, which has become increasingly heavy over the years. His heavy vocals influenced almost every metal genre. He is also considered the godfather of black metal and extreme metal in general. Its influence and legacy for black metal are irreplaceable.

James Hetfield (Metallica)

James Hetfield was born in Downey, August 3, 1963. He is an American vocalist, guitarist, music producer, entrepreneur and car customizer. Being the co-founder (together with Lars Ulrich) and the main composer of the heavy metal band Metallica. In 2004, James was considered the 2nd best heavy metal base guitarist of all time by Guitar World magazine.

James Hetfield was raised in a traditional American family, strict followers of Christian Science. Whose values ​​began to be questioned by him during his adolescence, which created several conflicts with his father, Virgil Hetfield, who was a truck driver. James would return to the faith only in the mid-1990s. His mother, Cynthia, was a lyrical singer when young, and helped James with his first steps in music when he was a child. Virgil left home when James was thirteen (1977) and never came back. James returned to contact his father only after the release of the Black Album. But said in an interview that he found his father’s behavior inappropriate, as he only sought him out to sign certain ‘papers’.

Biff Byford (Saxon)

Biff Byford was born in Honley, West Yorkshire, January 5, 1951. He is an English singer known as the vocalist of Saxon. Byford formed the band Son of a Bitch with guitarists Graham Oliver and Paul Quinn, bassist Steve Dawson and drummer Pete Gill in 1976. Before that, Byford had been the vocalist for Blue Condition since 1970.

In 1978, the band Son of a Bitch changed its name to Saxon and released an album of the same name in 1979. Saxon was one of the precursor bands to NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal). Coinciding with NWOBHM at the turn of the decade, Saxon had eight albums and five singles in the UK’s Top 40 between 1980 and 1986. After that, the band began a decline in popularity, leading to an eventual separation in 1995, with Oliver and Dawson forming a new band with the same name.

Saxon of Byford continued his career based in Germany, recording new albums and touring throughout the 90s. Until attracting worldwide attention again in 2007, with the album The Inner Sanctum. In April of the same year, Byford released an autobiography entitled Never Surrender, the same name as a famous Saxon song. Since 2003, he has worked part of the time as an administrator for Amadeus Orchestra.

Dave Mustaine (Megadeth)

Dave Mustaine was born in La Mesa, September 13, 1961. He is the vocalist, guitarist, leader and main composer of Megadeth, which he founded after he was fired from Metallica due to his constant drug and alcohol problems. Dave is one of the pioneers of thrash / speed metal style, being acclaimed icon for both these genres and for rock in general.

He is married to Pamela Casselberry and has two children, Justis and Electra.

Tom Araya (Slayer)

Tom Araya was born in Viña del Mar, Chile, June 6, 1961. He is the singer of Slayer. Araya moved to the United States at a young age with his family. He learned to play double bass at the age of eight and started playing Beatles and Rolling Stones songs with his brother. In 1980, he got a job as a respiratory therapist and used his salary to co-finance the production of the band’s first album Slayer.

Most of his contributions to the lyrics of the band’s songs address serial killers, a topic he finds interesting.

Don Dokken (Dokken)

Dokken’s vocalist and guitarist Don Dokken continues to tour with his version of the band, without guitarist George Lynch. The singer that was born in June 29. 1953 had recently a problem after a surgery that made him lost the movement of his hands temporarily.

Rob Halford (Judas Priest)

Rob Halford was born in Sutton Coldfield, 25 of August of 1951. Known as The Metal God he is the singer of Judas Priest, one of the most famous Heavy Metal bands of all time.  Halford was one of the first heavy metal musicians to assume their homosexuality before the media. He declared himself “gay” in 1998, in an interview with MTV News.