Blaze Bayley was born in Birmingham, England in 1963 and first achieved fame as the vocalist of Wolfsbane, band he fronted from 1984 to 1994 until he passed the audition and was invited to join Iron Maiden. He stayed in the band until Bruce Dickinson's return in 1999 and recorded 2 studio albums with the Heavy Metal group: “The X Factor” (1995) and “Virtual XI” (1998). In an interview with SoundMojo's "Innersleeve" (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), the musician said that the Maiden members are still his friends and also stated that he was very lucky to be part of the group. Blaze Bayley says Iron Maiden is the most important Metal band "Well, I'm very lucky in a way. Before I joined Iron Maiden, I was an Iron Maiden fan and I knew what happens to the singers of Iron Maiden and from KISS, ex-members of KISS, bands like that. You will always be associated with that famous band. If you played with Ozzy Osbourne or whatever, you'll always be associated with those guys. And so I was ready for that." I'm still friends with the guys. I go and see Steve Harris with his British Lion band. And also I saw Maiden twice on this tour and said hi to the guys. So I'm incredibly lucky that in my chosen profession of being a heavy metal singer, I got what is to me the top job, the number one job in the world of my profession." "That is being the singer of what I consider to be the most important heavy metal band in the world. I'm very lucky to have had that, to have spent five years with Iron Maiden, two albums, a few B-sides — I'm incredibly lucky," Blaze Bayley said. Blaze was chosen after hundreds of auditions. He suffered a serious motorcycle accident put him out of commission for a year, but he was able to record vocals for the band’s album The X Factor. He then went on tour with the band in support of the album. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9yLBNa-iCQ&pp=ygUWaXJvbiBtYWlkZW4gdmlydHVhbCB4aQ%3D%3D
