Blaze Bayley

Blaze Bayley (Bayley Cook, born May 29, 1963 in Birmingham, England) is the lead singer for the heavy metal band B L A Z E. He is, however, most known for his role as the lead singer of Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999. Bayley originally was part of a small band called Wolfsbane. However, when Bruce Dickinson departed Iron Maiden in 1993, Bayley was one of the singers that auditioned for the vacant post. He was selected over hundreds of others and first appeared on the album The X Factor, released in 1995. Bayley went on to tour with the band in support of the album. However, the tour had to be stopped short when Bayley fell ill due to allergic reactions to certain environments. The band returned to the studio and in 1998 released the album Virtual XI. The tour for the album was also cut short when Bayley fell ill again.

In early 1999, Bayley left Iron Maiden as Bruce Dickinson returned to the band, and in 2000 Bayley formed his own band, B L A Z E. With his new band he has so far released three studio albums and one live album, Silicon Messiah, Tenth Dimension, Blood & Belief and As Live As It Gets, respectively.

Bayley's voice is not considered to have a wide range and he is not capable of hitting very high notes. However, his voice is extremely powerful and very useful for heavy and dark songs, and Blaze's music has been moving more and more in that direction.