2 late Heavy Rock singers Bruce Dickinson said he loved

For the past decades, Bruce Dickinson has been one of the most influential Heavy Metal singers in the world. His work with Iron Maiden has inspired countless generations of Rock artists, regardless of the subgenre their bands or music fall into.

During his career, he has had the chance to meet and see many incredible vocalists perform and once mentioned two that he loved.

2 late Heavy Rock singers Bruce Dickinson said he loved

Chris Cornell (Soundgarden/Audioslave)

“(Modern day) singers overall (that I admire), one who is unfortunately no longer with us, Chris Cornell, was one of the finest voices I’ve ever heard of any generation. And sadly, he’s gone. (…) One of my favorite performances of Chris Cornell, to show just how damn good he was, was doing the James Bond Theme  (“You Know My Name”). That’s a great vocal performance. And funny enough, he shares that honor of great vocal performances with Tom Jones, who did “Thunderball. (I didn’t have the chance to meet Cornell) in any meaningful sense, no. Not sit down and have a nice chat with him.”

“(…) The thing about Chris, for me, was that he had a greater emotional range than Ronnie (Dio), if I’m honest. (…) Chris Cornell was taken away from us before he’d even begun to give his best, I think. Very sad,” Bruce Dickinson said in an interview with Songfacts in 2024. To Bruce, Soundgarden was like a modern-day Led Zeppelin. “I was a massive Chris Cornell and Soundgarden fan — massive. (…) Soundgarden, to me, they were like a modern-day Led Zeppelin, updated and his voice was just the finest voice of his generation,” Bruce Dickinson told Loudwire in 2025.

André Matos (Angra, Viper, Shaman)

“The guy from Angra (André Matos) is also gone. So all of these guys are gone, and they had the ability to really move people. He and Cornell could yell and scream like the best. But they also had the ability to move people with their voices,” Bruce Dickinson told Songfacts.

Curiously, the late Brazilian singer André Matos, who had been a member of Angra, Viper and Shaman, was one of the singers Iron Maiden considered to replace Bruce when he left the group in the 90s. Although the British singer Blaze Bayley ended up being the chosen one, Matos later had the chance to meet the band and Bruce, becoming a good friend of theirs. Bruce joined Angra on stage in 1999 during a show in Paris, France to sing with André Maiden’s classics “Run to The Hills” and “Flight of Icarus”.

“It’s a widely talked about episode, but to me it doesn’t matter that much. When Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden, they started looking for replacements in several countries. In Brazil, they reached out to me. I was very young, around 21 or 22. Just having to send my material already made me nervous.”

He continued:

“Psychologically, I wouldn’t have been prepared. But logically, if they had called me it would have been an offer I couldn’t refuse. I think not going was actually good for me, because I was able to develop much more as a musician. Later on, I even became friends with the guys in Iron Maiden and with Bruce himself.” André Matos said in an interview with Marcos Paulino in 2012. Matos was on Bruce’s BBC radio show in 2010, when he was promoting his solo album “Mentalize” (2009).

André Matos passed away in 2019 at the age of 47, the victim of a heart attack. Besides his solo work and his work with Viper, Angra and Shaman, he was also a special guest on several albums by other bands. Some of them were Avantasia, Dr. Sin, Korzus, Epica and Soulspell.