Name	Delilah
Artist	Tom Jones
From album	Delilah
B-side	"Smile" (Mills)
Released	February 1968
Format	7"
Recorded	1968
Genre	Pop
Length	3:20
Label	Decca F 12747Parrot 45-40025
Writers	Les Reed, Barry Mason,
Producer	Peter Sullivan
Last single	"I'm Coming Home"(1967)
This single	"Delilah"(1968)
Next single	"Help Yourself"(1968)

"Delilah" was a song written by Les Reed, with lyrics by Barry Mason and recorded by Tom Jones in 1968.

Success

It reached No 1 in the charts of several countries including Germany and Switzerland. It reached No 2 in the British charts in March 1968 and was the sixth best selling single of that year. The US Billboard chart records its highest position as 15.

Chart performance

{|class="wikitable sortable" !align="left"|Chart (1968) !align="center"|Peakposition |- |align="left"|German Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |align="left"|Swiss Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |align="left"|UK Singles Chart |align="center"|2 |- |align="left"|Norwegian Singles Chart |align="center"|2 |- |align="left"|Austrian Top 40 |align="center"|3 |- |align="left"|Canadian RPM Top Singles |align="center"|5 |- |align="left"|US Billboard Hot 100 |align="center"|15 |}

Overview

Jones narrates the song as a deceived lover who spies his woman in a silhouette on a window as she makes love to another man. Although he realizes that she is of no good to him, he goes temporarily insane. Waiting until after her paramour leaves at break of day, he knocks on the door to find her laughing and stabs her to death. Realizing his murderous act, the deceived lover begs her forgiveness before the police come to break down the door and take him away.

Cover versions

The song has also been covered many times by other artists, including a reggae cover by Horace Andy, the goth rock band Inkubus Sukkubus on their album Wild, the Irish American punk band Flogging Molly on their live album Alive Behind the Green Door and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band whose single reached No 7 in the UK chart in 1975. In 1988 "Delilah" was covered by Paddy Goes To Holyhead. This version can be found on the 4CD box The Hannover Sessions with The Sweet. The Finnish rock band The Leningrad Cowboys also performed a version of this song at Total Balalaka 1993. Austrian singer Peter Alexander recorded a German cover on his 1985 album Ein Abend Mit Dir.

In popular culture

The song has become popular with supporters of Stoke City Football Club who have adopted it as one of their most popular signature tunes.

References

Category:1968 singles Category:Tom Jones songs Category:Murder ballads Category:Number-one singles in Germany Category:Number-one singles in Switzerland Category:Songs written by Les Reed Category:Songs written by Barry Mason Category:Football songs and chants

Paul Mauriat (Marseille, 4 March 1925 – 3 November 2006 in Perpignan) was a French orchestra leader, specializing in light music. He is best known in the United States for his million selling remake of André Popp's "Love is Blue", which was #1 for 5 weeks in 1968. Other recordings for which he is known include El Bimbo, "Toccata" and "Penelope."

Biography

Mauriat grew up in Marseilles and began leading his own band during the Second World War. In the 1950s he became musical director to at least two well-known French singers, Charles Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier, touring with them respectively.

In 1957, Mauriat released his first EP Paul Mauriat, a four track RGM release. Between 1959-1964 Mauriat recorded several albums on the Bel-Air record label under the name Paul Mauriat et Son Orchestre, as well as using the various pseudonyms of Richard Audrey, Nico Papadopoulos, Eduardo Ruo and Willy Twist, to better reflect the international flavour of his recordings. During this period, Mauriat also released several recordings with Les Satellites, where he creatively arranged vocal backing harmony for such albums as Slow Rock and Twist, (1961), A Malypense (1962) and Les Satellites Chantent Noel (1964).

Mauriat composed the music for several French soundtracks (also released on Bel-Air) including Un Taxi Pour Tobrouk (1961), Horace 62 (1962) and Faits Sauter La Banque (1964).

He wrote his first song with André Pascal. In 1958 they were prizewinners in the Coq d'or De La Chanson Française with Rendez-vous au Lavendou. Using the pseudonym of Del Roma, Mauriat was to have his first international hit with Chariot, which he wrote in collaboration with friends Franck Pourcel (co-composer), Jacques Plante (French lyrics) and Raymond Lefèvre (orchestrator). In the USA the song was recorded as I Will Follow Him by Little Peggy March and became #1 on the Billboard charts in all categories for 3 weeks. In 1992 the song was featured prominently in the film Sister Act starring Whoopi Goldberg. More recently, Eminem included an extract in his song, Guilty Conscience.

Between 1967 and 1972 he wrote a lot of songs for Mireille Mathieu; Mon Credo (1,335,000 copies sold), Viens dans ma rue, La premiere etoile, Geant, etc. (to name but a few) and contributed 130 song arrangements for Charles Aznavour.

In 1965 Mauriat established Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, and released hundreds of recordings and compilations through the Philips label for the next 28 years. In 1994 he signed with Japanese record company Pony Canyon, where he re-recorded some of his greatest hits and wrote new compositions. Mauriat recorded many of these albums in both Paris and London, utilising several English classical musicians in these recordings.

In 1969, Mauriat started his first world tour, visiting countries like United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and other Latin American countries.

For several decades, some of Mauriat's compositions served as musical tracks for Soviet TV programs, such as "In the world of animals" (V mire zhivotnykh) and "Kinopanorama", among others.

Mauriat gave his final performance in 1998 in Osaka, but his orchestra continued to tour around the world before his death in 2006. Mauriat's former lead pianist, Gilles Gambus, became the orchestra's conductor in 2000 and led successful tours of Japan, China, and Russia. Gambus had worked with Mauriat for more than 25 years. In 2005, classical French Horn instrumentalist, Jean-Jacques Justafre conducted the orchestra during a tour of Japan and Korea. The Paul Mauriat Grand Orchestra ceased to exist after the Maestro's death in 2006.

Paul Mauriat had a special relationship with Japan, where he toured most throughout his lifetime. For this reason, Mme Irène Mauriat, Paul Mauriat's widow and only heir, authorised an exceptional concert tour led by Mr. Justafré which took place in late 2009, under the title 'Merci Paul: Paul Mauriat Memorial Concert". This was the only tour authorised by Paul Mauriat's widow after his death.

After this tour, in order to avoid any confusion, Mme Irène Mauriat issued a public declaration to remind fans that Paul Mauriat left no musical successor. No other orchestra is authorised to use his name. When Paul Mauriat retired from the stage, he remained fully in charge of his orchestra's artistic direction : choice of conductors, musicians, programmes, etc. He never delegated this role, and it was his wish that the orchestra's life would end with his own.

Paul Mauriat died on November 3, 2006 at the age of 81.

Career and awards

Relative to his peers, Paul Mauriat has one of the largest recording catalogs, featuring more than 1,000 titles just from his Polygram era (1965–1993). He was awarded with the Grand Prix from the French recording industry, a MIDEN trophy, and in 1997 won the prestigious distinction of "Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres" from the French Ministry of Culture. He has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and held 28 tours in Japan from 1969 to 1998.

In the early-mid 1980s, Paul Mauriat appeared in several Japanese coffee and wine TV commercials, which featured music from his orchestra.

A line of saxophones are named for Paul Mauriat, known as P. Mauriat Saxophones.

His 1967 single recording "Love is Blue", and the album Blooming Hits, each sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs by the Recording Industry Association of America in March 1968.

Discography

Singles

"Puppet on a String" (1967)

"Love Is Blue" { US # 1, 1968 - AC # 1, 1968 }

"Love in Every Room" { US # 60, 1968 - AC # 7, 1968 }

"San Francisco" { US # 103, 1968 - AC # 16, 1968 }

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" { US # 76, 1969 - AC # 24, 1969 }

"Hey Jude" { US # 119, 1969 - AC # 24, 1969 }

"Je T'aime Moi Non Plus" { AC # 35 - January 1970 }

"Gone Is Love" { AC # 32 - September 1970 }

"Apres Toi (Come What May)" { AC # 21, 1972 }

"Taka Takata" (1972)

Albums

{| | valign="top" |

Paris by Night (1961)

Plays Standards (1963)

Paul Mauriat Joue pour les Enfants (1963)

Album No 1 (1965)

Russie De Toujours (1965)

Album No 2 (1965)

Album No 3 (1966)

Prestige de Paris (1966)

Album No 4 (1966)

Bang, Bang (1966)

More Mauriat (1967)

Mauriat Magic (1967)

Album No 5 (1967)

Noëls (1967)

Album No 6 (1967)

Love Is Blue (1968)

Viva Mauriat (1968)

Mauriat Slows (1968)

Rain and Tears (1968)

Cent Mille Chansons (1968)

Rhythm and Blues (1968)

Doing My Thing (1969)

Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus (1969)

Un Jour, Un Enfant (1969)

Vole, Vole, Farandole (1969)

Prevailing Airs (1969)

Paul Mauriat Joue Chopin (1970)

C'est La Vie... Lily (1970)

Gone is Love (1970)

Comme J'ai Toujours Envie D'aimer (1970)

Paloma Embriagada (1970)

Un Banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue (1971)

Mamy Blue (1971)

Penelope (1971)

El Condor Pasa (1971)

Tombe La Neige (1971)

Apres Toi (1972)

L'Avventura (1972)

Last Summer Day (1972)

Paul Mauriat Joue Les Beatles (1972)

| valign="top" |

Le Lac Majeur (1972)

Forever and Ever (1973)

Nous Irons à Vérone (1973)

Last Tango In Paris (1973)

Good bye, My Love, Good bye (1973)

White Christmas (1973)

Viens ce Soir (1974)

Retalhos de Cetim (1974)

Je Pense à Toi (1974)

Le Premier Pas (1974)

I Won't Last a Day Without You (1974)

Have You Never Been Mellow? (1974)

L'Été Indien (1975)

Entre Dos Aguas (1975)

The Best of Paul Mauriat - 10 Years with Philips (1975)

From Souvenirs to Souvenirs (1975)

Lili Marlene (1975)

Stereo Spectacular (1975)

Love Sounds Journey (1976)

Michelle (1976)

Love Is Still Blue (1976)

Il Était une Fois... Nous Deux (1976)

Chanson D'amour (1977)

C'est La Vie (1977)

Hymne à l'Amour (1977)

Brasil Exclusivamente (1977)

L'Oiseau et l'Enfant (1977)

Overseas Call (1978)

Dans les Yeux d'Émilie (1978)

Brasil Exclusivamente Vol.2 (1978)

Too Much Heaven (1979)

Nous (1979)

Copacabana (1979)

Aerosong (1980)

Chromatic (1980)

Brasil Exclusivamente Vol.3 (1980)

Reality (1981)

Roma dalla Finestra (1981)

Pour Le Plaisir (1981)

Je n'Pourrais Jamais t'Oublier (1981)

| valign="top" |

Tout Pour Le Musique (1982)

Magic (1982)

I Love Breeze (1982)

Descendant Of The Dragon (1982)

Love with Many Phases(1982 in Hong Kong)(癡情劫）

Wild Spring (1983)

Summer Has Flown (1983)

Olive Tree (1984)

Piano Ballade (1984)

The Seven Seas (1984)

Chromatic (1984)

Transparence (1985)

The Best of Paul Mauriat 2 - 20 Years with Philips (1985)

Classics In The Air (1985)

Windy (1986)

Classics In The Air 2 (1986)

Song For Taipei (1986)

Classics In The Air 3 (1987)

Nagekidori (1987)

Best Of France (1988)

The Paul Mauriat Story (1988)

Serenade (1989)

Iberia (1989)

Remember (1990)

You Don't Know Me (1990)

Gold Concert (1990)

Retrospective (1991)

Nostal Jazz (1991)

Emotions (1993)

The Color Of The Lovers (1994)

Now And Then (1994)

Soundtracks (1995)

Quartet For Kobe (1995)

Escapades (1996)

Cri D'amour (1996)

30th Anniversary Concert (1996)

Romantic (1997)

Sayonara Concert (1998)

I Will Follow Him (2000)

All The Best (2003, In China)

Blooming Hits (2006, Universal Music Enterprises, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc., Santa Monica, CA)

Paul Mauriat Boxsets Vol 3 & 4 (2007, Universal Music, Japan)

|}

See also

Faites sauter la banque! (film, 1964)

References

External links

Ma Musique - O Maestro que Encantou o Mundo

2009 Merci Paul: Paul Mauriat Memorial Concert

Paul Mauriat Official Fan Club

Gilles Gambus Fan club

Peter's Paul Mauriat Page

Paul Mauriat - Love Is Blue

N. American home of P. Mauriat Saxophones

Paul Mauriat - Todo por la Musica

Paul Mauriat - Discography 1957-2000

INTERVIEW TO MADAME IRÈNE MAURIAT, 17.10.2010

Category:1925 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Bandleaders Category:Easy listening music Category:French musicians Category:French songwriters Category:People from Marseille Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Vice Vukov (August 3, 1936, Šibenik – September 24, 2008, Zagreb) was a Croatian singer and politician.

Biography

During the 1960s, Vukov was one of the most popular singers in Yugoslavia, appearing at the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the song "Brodovi" and at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 with the song "Čežnja".

In the aftermath of the Croatian Spring movement, he was branded a Croatian nationalist by Yugoslav authorities and had his apartment searched by the police during the 1972 wave of arrests of Croatian Spring leaders. Vukov was on an Australian tour at that time. His wife warned him not to return because he could be arrested too, so instead he went to live in France, returning to Yugoslavia in 1976. By that time, the authorities had lost interest in his case, but his singing career was effectively over; he was blacklisted, barred from performing publicly and all his records were pulled out of stores.

In 1989 an album of his new songs, albeit without his name on the cover, reappeared in Croatian music stores, signalling the political change. Soon after, Vukov made a public comeback with a series of 14 sold-out concerts at Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall. In 2001 he was suggested as ambassador to Switzerland.

On November 17, 2005, while descending the stairs in the Parliament building, Vukov tripped and fell, sustaining a serious head injury. He was hospitalized and underwent surgery, but fell into a coma shortly afterwards. In March 2006, according to his doctors, he was in a persistent vegetative state, with no chance for recovery. However, in November 2007, Vukov was reported as being conscious at times, aware of his surroundings, and his condition was described as stable. He died aged 72.

References

External links

Biography

Preminuo Vice Vukov

Hronika smrtne oholosti (Part 1)

Hronika smrtne oholosti (Part 2)

Category:1936 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Representatives in the modern Croatian Parliament Category:Croatian singers Category:Yugoslavian Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1963 Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1965 Category:Yugoslav musicians Category:Croatian columnists Category:People from Šibenik Category:Social Democratic Party of Croatia politicians

Caption	Walken in 2008
Birth date	March 31, 1943
Birth place	Queens, New York, U.S.
Birth name	Ronald Walken
Other names	Ronnie Walken, Chris Walken
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1953–Present
Spouse

Christopher Walken (; born March 31, 1943) is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New York, True Romance, Catch Me If You Can, Pulp Fiction, Wedding Crashers , Click, and Hairspray as well as music videos by recording artists such as Madonna, Journey and Fatboy Slim.

Walken's films grossed more than $1.8 billion in the United States. He has also played the main role in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Coriolanus. He is also a popular guest-host of Saturday Night Live, having hosted 7 times as of April 2008. His most notable role on the show was record producer Bruce Dickinson in the "More Cowbell" sketch.

Walken debuted as a film director and script writer with the short film Popcorn Shrimp in 2001. He also wrote and acted the main role in a play about Elvis Presley titled Him in 1995.

Early life

Named after actor Ronald Colman, His mother, Rosalie (née Russell; 1906–2010), was a Scottish immigrant from Glasgow, and his father, Paul Walken (1903–2001), emigrated from Germany in 1928 with his brothers, Wilhelm and Alois. His father owned and operated "Walken's Bakery" in Astoria.

Influenced by their mother's own dreams of stardom, he and his brothers Kenneth and Glenn were child actors on television in the 1950s. He landed a regular role in the 1953 television show The Wonderful John Acton as the show's narrator. During this time, he was credited as "Ronnie Walken".

Over the next two years, he appeared frequently on television (landing a role in the experimental film Me and My Brother) and had a thriving career in theatre. In 1964, he changed his first name to "Christopher" at the suggestion of a friend who believed the name suited him better. Coincidentally, Walken's last credited role under the name "Ronnie" was a character with the name of "Chris". Nowadays, he prefers to be known informally as "Chris" instead of "Christopher". In this science fiction film, which deals with mind control and normalization, he plays a sociopathic U.S. soldier stationed in Germany.

Paul Mazursky's 1976 film Next Stop, Greenwich Village has Walken under the name "Chris Walken" playing fictional poet and ladies man Robert Fulmer. Woody Allen's 1977 film Annie Hall has Walken playing the suicidal brother of Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). In 1978, he appeared in Shoot the Sun Down, a western filmed in 1976 that costarred Margot Kidder. Along with Nick Nolte, Walken was considered by George Lucas for the part of Han Solo in ; the part ultimately went to Harrison Ford.

Walken won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Michael Cimino's 1978 film The Deer Hunter. He plays a young Pennsylvania steelworker who is emotionally destroyed by the Vietnam War. To help achieve his character's gaunt appearance before the third act, Walken consumed only bananas, water, and rice for a week.

1980s

Walken's first film of the 1980s was the controversial Heaven's Gate, helmed by Deer Hunter director Cimino. Walken also starred in the 1981 action adventure The Dogs of War, directed by John Irvin. In 1982, he played a socially awkward, but gifted theater actor in "Who Am I This Time?" He surprised many critics and filmgoers with his intricate tap-dancing striptease in Herbert Ross's musical Pennies From Heaven. Walken then played schoolteacher-turned-psychic Johnny Smith in David Cronenberg's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone. That same year, Walken also starred in Brainstorm alongside Natalie Wood and (in a minor role) his wife, Georgianne.

In 1985, Walken played a James Bond villain, Max Zorin, in A View to a Kill. Walken dyed his hair blond to befit Zorin's origins as a Nazi experiment. Walken played the role of Federal Agent Kyril Montana in Milagro Beanfield War in 1988. He also played the leading role of Whitley Strieber in 1989's Communion, an autobiographical film written by Strieber that was based on his claims that he and his family were subject to alien abductions.

At Close Range starred Walken as Brad Whitewood, a rural Pennsylvania crime boss who tries to bring his two sons into his empire, his character mostly based on Bruce Johnston.

In Biloxi Blues, Walken played an eccentric drill sergeant known for his stinging sarcasm and sharp wit.

In 1989, he played the lead role of "Puss" in the Cannon theatre group's version of "Puss in Boots".

1990s

The Comfort of Strangers, an art house film directed by Paul Schrader, had the distinction of providing a role for Walken that disturbed even him. He plays Robert, a decadent Italian aristocrat with extreme sexual tastes and murderous tendencies who lives with his wife (Helen Mirren) in Venice.

King of New York, directed by Abel Ferrara, stars Walken as ruthless New York City drug dealer Frank White—recently released from prison and set on reclaiming his criminal territory. In 1992, Walken again played a supporting villain in Batman Returns as millionaire industrialist Max Shreck. Walken's next major film role was opposite Dennis Hopper in True Romance, scripted by Quentin Tarantino. His so-called Sicilian scene has been hailed by critics as the best scene in the film and is the subject of four commentaries on the DVD. Walken has a supporting role in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction as a Vietnam veteran giving his dead comrade's son the family's prized possession—a gold watch—while explaining in graphic detail how he had hidden it from the Vietcong by smuggling it in his rectum, after the boy's father, in whose rectum the watch had previously been concealed, had died of dysentery. Also in 1992, Walken appeared in Madonna's controversial coffee table book, SEX, and he played Bobby, Cassandra's manager in Wayne's World 2.

Later in 1994, Walken starred in A Business Affair, a rare leading role for him in a romantic comedy. Walken manages to once again feature his trademark dancing scene as he performs the tango. In 1995, he appeared in Wild Side, The Prophecy and the modern vampire flick The Addiction, which was his second collaboration with director Abel Ferrara and writer Nicholas St. John. He also appeared in Nick of Time, which also stars Johnny Depp.

In the 1996 film Last Man Standing, Walken plays a sadistic gangster. That year, he played a prominent role in the video game Ripper, portraying Detective Vince Magnotta. Ripper made extensive use of real-time recorded scenes and a wide cast of celebrities in an interactive movie. In 1997, Walken starred in the comedy films Touch, Excess Baggage and had a minor role in the film MouseHunt. He also appeared in the drama/thriller film Suicide Kings which also filled with suspense and humor.

In 1998, Walken played an influential gay New York theater critic in John Turturro's film Illuminata.

In 1999, Walken played Calvin Webber in the romantic comedy Blast from the Past. Webber is a brilliant but eccentric Caltech nuclear physicist whose fears of a nuclear war lead him to build an enormous fallout shelter beneath his suburban home. The same year, he appeared as the Headless Horseman in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. He also appeared in Kiss Toledo Goodbye with Michael Rapaport and Nancy Allen.

Walken also starred in two music videos in the 1990s. His first video role was as the Angel of Death in Madonna's 1993 "Bad Girl". The second appearance was in Skid Row's "Breakin' Down" video. He would later appear in the 2001 video for Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice", which earned a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.

Christopher Walken also made a brief cameo appearance in volume 3 of the Japanese manga series Hellsing by Kohta Hirano.

2000s

In 2000, Walken was cast as the lead, along with Blair Brown, in James Joyce's The Dead on Broadway. A "play with music", The Dead featured music by Shaun Davey, conducted by Charles Prince, with music coordination and percussion by Tom Partington. James Joyce's The Dead won a Tony Award that year for Best Book for a Musical.

Walken had a notable music video performance in 2001 with Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice. Directed by Spike Jonze, it won six MTV awards in 2001 and—in a list of the top 100 videos of all time compiled from a survey of musicians, directors, and music industry figures conducted by UK music TV channel VH1—won Best Video of All Time in April 2002. In this video, Walken dances and flies around the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles; Walken also helped choreograph the dance. Also in 2001, Walken played a gangster who was in the witness protection program in the David Spade comedy Joe Dirt and an eccentric film director in America's Sweethearts.

Walken played Frank Abagnale, Sr. in Catch Me If You Can. It is inspired by the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., a con artist who passed himself off as several identities and forged millions of dollars worth of checks. His portrayal earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. and in two 2003 movies, Gigli and Kangaroo Jack. Walken also starred in Barry Levinson's Envy in which he plays J-Man, a crazy guy who helps Ben Stiller's character, and in his starring role in 2004's Around the Bend he again has a dancing scene as he portrays an absentee father who has fled prison to reunite with his father, son, and the grandson he never knew, before dying.

Most recently, he played the role of Morty, a sympathetic inventor who's more than meets the eye in the comedy/drama Click, and he also appeared in Man of the Year, with Robin Williams and Lewis Black. He costarred in the 2007 film adaptation Hairspray—where he is seen singing and dancing in a romantic duet with John Travolta—and he portrayed the eccentric but cruel crime lord and Ping-Pong enthusiast Feng in the 2007 comedy Balls of Fury, opposite Dan Fogler.

Walken was in the movie Five Dollars a Day, released in 2008, in which he plays a con man proud of living like a king on $5 a day.

The film, The Maiden Heist, a comedy costarring Morgan Freeman, about security guards in an art museum, debuted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 25, 2009.

Walken can now be found in Universal Studios' "Disaster" attraction (formerly "Earthquake and the Magic of Effects"). Walken portrays the owner of "Disaster Studios" and encourages guests to be extras in his latest film, Mutha Nature. Walken is projected on a clear screen, much like a life-size hologram, and interacts with the live-action talent.

2010s

Walken returned to Broadway in Martin McDonagh's play A Behanding in Spokane in 2010, and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. He had a small voice role in NBC sitcom 30 Rock, in the "Audition Day" episode.

Popularity and imitators

Walken is imitated for his deadpan affect, sudden off-beat pauses, and strange speech rhythm. He is revered for his quality of danger and menace, but his unpredictable deliveries and expressions make him invaluable in comedy as well. Walken is noted for refusing movie roles only rarely, having stated in interviews that he will decline a role only if he is simply too busy on other projects to take it. He regards each role as a learning experience.

He is a frequently impersonated actor in Hollywood. Walken impressionists include Johnny Depp, Dave Grohl, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eddie Izzard, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, Dave Wittenberg, Sean Schemmel, Anthony Ahern, and Jeff Davis. He is also frequently referenced in various other works of pop culture, such as in the Fountains of Wayne song "Hackensack". Walken has played the main villain in a number of popular motion pictures. MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch aired a match between Walken and Gary Oldman, citing their portrayals of many memorable Hollywood villains. On February 15, 2008, he accepted Harvard's award as Hasty Pudding Man of the Year. Walken refers to himself as the “world’s worst impersonator”.

Jay Mohr impersonated Walken's voice for the season 12 The Simpsons episode "Insane Clown Poppy" for a brief scene in which Walken reads Goodnight Moon to a group of scared children at an outdoor book fair.

Appearances on Saturday Night Live

Walken has hosted the comedy sketch and satire TV series Saturday Night Live seven times, and has a standing offer from Lorne Michaels to host the show whenever Walken's schedule permits. One of his more famous SNL performances was a spoof of "Behind the Music", featuring a recording session of Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) the Reaper". In the guise of fictitious record producer Bruce Dickinson (not to be confused with Bruce Dickinson, lead singer for Iron Maiden), Walken makes passionate and slightly unhinged speeches to the band and is obsessed with getting "more cowbell" into the song. The phrase "Gotta have more cowbell" has since been adapted to merchandise, e.g. t-shirts, etc. He is also known for his part in one of Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch's "The Lovers" skits. His character brought a lady friend to meet The Lovers, and she is instead subjected to learning the past history that Walken's character shares with The Lovers. He also divulges private information about his sex life with his girlfriend, much to her horror ("She ventured places no lover had dared go before...specifically, the ear canal")!

Walken spoofed his role from The Dead Zone in a sketch titled "Ed Glosser: Trivial Psychic", in which the title character had the ability to accurately predict meaningless, trivial future events ("You're going to get an ice cream headache. It's going to hurt real bad—right here—for eight, nine seconds.").

He spoofed his role from A View to a Kill in a sketch titled "Lease with an Option to Kill", in which he reprised his role as Max Zorin. Zorin, who had taken on some qualities of other notable Bond villains (Blofeld's cat and suit, Emilio Largo's eye patch), was upset that everything was going wrong for him. His lair was still under construction; his henchmen had jump suits that didn't fit; and his shark tank lacked sharks, having a giant sea sponge instead. A captive James Bond, portrayed by Phil Hartman, offered to get Zorin "a good deal" on the abandoned Blofeld volcanic lair if Zorin let him go, to which he reluctantly agreed.

He performed a song and dance rendition of the Irving Berlin standard, "Let's Face the Music and Dance". Finally, there was the "Colonel Angus" sketch, laden with ribald double entendres, in which Walken played a dishonored Confederate officer. Walken's SNL appearances have proved so popular that he is one of the few SNL hosts for whom a Best of... SNL DVD is available (other celebrity hosts who have a Best of... SNL DVD are Tom Hanks, Steve Martin, and Alec Baldwin), an honor usually reserved only for SNL cast members.

Until 2003, Walken had a recurring SNL sketch called "The Continental", in which Walken played a "suave ladies' man" who in reality cannot do anything to keep women from giving him the cold shoulder. Though he is outwardly chivalrous, his more perverted tendencies inevitably drive away his date over his pleading objections. For instance, he invites a woman to wash up in his bathroom; once she is inside, it becomes obvious that the bathroom mirror is a two-way mirror when the "Continental" is seen lighting up a cigarette. What distinguishes "The Continental" is that various ladies are never seen; the camera represents their point of view.

Walken hosted Saturday Night Live on April 5, 2008, which was the first time an episode hosted by Walken did not have a "Continental" sketch or a monologue where he sings and dances. This episode, however, did include one sketch titled "Meet the Family" which spoofs many of Walken's idiosyncrasies. The sketch depicts a fictional Walken Family reunion where all of Christopher's relatives have his mannerisms, speech pattern, and sport his trademark pompadour hairstyle. In order of appearance, the other Walkens are Christopher's cousin Stanley (Bill Hader); Stanley's brother John (Jason Sudeikis); John's son Scott (Andy Samberg) and daughter Maxine (Amy Poehler) (who carries a doll that also has a pompadour); Nathan (Fred Armisen), a gay relative for whom "flamboyance" means dressing all in black and running his finger around the rim of a cosmo glass; Uncle Richard (Darrell Hammond) and Aunt Martha (Kristen Wiig), who think that The Deer Hunter was hilarious, and who are hosts of a Nigerian foreign exchange student named Oleki (Kenan Thompson). When he came to live with them, Oleki -- who has absorbed all of the Walken Family traits -- couldn't speak any English. But now (he says) he "talks like a normal teenaged American boy." The biggest laugh of the sketch occurs when Christopher expresses his sympathies for Scott's teenaged attitude: "I appreciate your situation. For a Walken, adolescence is a difficult time. You feel like you're the only normal person in a school full of nutjobs." Scott's response: "Wow! It's like you're lookin' right into my noggin!" (Will Forte also appears as a waiter at the beginning of the sketch, but does not do a Walken impression.)

Presidential candidacy hoax

Walken became the subject of a hoax controversy in 2006 when a fake website started in August of that year by members of internet forum Genmay.com announced that he was running for President of the United States. Some believed it was authentic, until Walken's publicist dismissed the claims. When asked about the hoax in a September 2006 interview with Conan O'Brien, Walken was amused by the hoax; and when asked to come up with a campaign slogan, he replied, "What the Heck?" and "No More Zoos!"

Filmography

Awards

Quotes

"I'll tell you how that happened. When I was a dancer, Monique Van Vooren had a nightclub act and she uses three guys as backup. She'd sing French and we would dance and provide vocals. She would introduce us at the end of the show and one night she said to me, 'You know, I don't really like ‘Ronnie.' I think you are more ‘Christopher.' Do you mind if I call you Christopher?" I said, "Call me anything you like, just don't call me late for lunch." -- Chris Walken, Film Comment, August 1992.

References

External links

Christopher Walken Before and After

Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American Methodists Category:American tap dancers Category:American people of German descent Category:American actors of German descent Category:American video game actors Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:Actors from New York City Category:People from Astoria, Queens Category:American actors of Scottish descent Category:The Prophecy Category:1943 births Category:Living people

Name	Bruce Dickinson
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Paul Bruce Dickinson
Alias	"Bruce Bruce" Dickinson (in Samson years)
Born	August 07, 1958Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, author, pilot
Genre	Heavy metal, hard rock
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, drums
Years active	1976–present
Label	EMI, Sanctuary
Associated acts	Samson, Iron Maiden, Ayreon, Tribe of Gypsies, Rise to Remain, Godspeed
Url	www.screamforme.com

Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) (nicknamed "The Air Raid Siren") is an English singer, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, director, screenwriter, actor, marketing director, entrepreneur and songwriter best known as the vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden.

Dickinson performed for some local bands including Styx (not the American band of the same name) in 1976, Speed, (1977–1978), and Shots in early 1979. He then joined hard rock band Samson later in 1979, where he gained some popularity. In this band he went by the name of "Bruce Bruce." He left Samson in 1981, citing musical differences. Shortly afterwards, in 1981, Dickinson was hired as Iron Maiden's new vocalist, replacing Paul Di'Anno, and debuting for that band with the 1982 album The Number of the Beast. During his time in that band, they issued a series of high impact releases, resulting in Dickinson gaining worldwide fame, and becoming one of the most acclaimed heavy metal vocalists of all time.

Dickinson quit Iron Maiden in 1993 in order to pursue his solo career, being replaced by Blaze Bayley. Dickinson's solo work ranged across a wide variety of heavy metal and rock styles. Dickinson rejoined Maiden in 1999 along with guitarist Adrian Smith. Since then, Dickinson has only released one more solo album, Tyranny of Souls. He is the older cousin of Rob Dickinson, lead singer of British alternative rock band Catherine Wheel. His son Austin Dickinson is the lead singer in Metalcore band Rise to Remain.

Childhood

Paul Bruce Dickinson was born in the small mining town of Worksop, Nottinghamshire. His mother Sonia worked part-time in a shoe shop and his father Bruce was a mechanic in the army. Dickinson's birth hurried the young couple into marriage. Initially, he was brought up by his grandparents; his grandfather was a coal-face worker at the local colliery and his grandmother was a housewife. This is referred to in his song "Born In '58" from the album Tattooed Millionaire.

Dickinson started school at Manton Primary. Soon afterwards, when he was six, his parents moved from Worksop to Sheffield and he consequently had to go to a new school, Manor Top, which Dickinson disliked. After six months, his parents decided to move him out to a small private school called Sharrow Vale Junior. Of this period, he recalled "I grew up in an environment where it struck me that the world was never gonna do me any favours. And I had very few close friends, because we were always moving. I think that's partly why I grew up feeling like such an outsider. I didn't have an unhappy childhood, but it was unconventional, to say the least". He also has a younger sister named Helen who was born in 1963. He tried to isolate himself from her as much as he could when he was young, supposedly out of spite because she, unlike him, was a planned pregnancy and birth.

Dickinson's first musical experience was dancing in his grandparents' front room to Chubby Checker's "The Twist". The first record Dickinson recalls owning was The Beatles single "She Loves You" which he managed to persuade his granddad to buy him. "I was only four or five but I really loved that scene, The Beatles and Gerry & The Pacemakers. ... I noticed they had B-sides, and that sometimes I liked them even more than the A-sides. That was when I first began noticing the difference between 'good' music and 'bad'." He believes that this marked the beginning of him thinking like a musician. He tried to play an acoustic guitar belonging to his parents, but it blistered his fingers.

By this time, Dickinson's parents were earning a good living from selling estate. A lot of Dickinson's childhood was spent living on a building site, until his parents bought a boarding house where his father sold second-hand cars off a forecourt. The income from their business success gave them the opportunity to give Dickinson—then 13 years old—a boarding school education and they chose Oundle, a public school in Northamptonshire. Dickinson enjoyed being away from home. "I didn't particularly enjoy being with my parents, so I saw it as an escape. I think it was because I hadn't built any real attachment to them when I was very, very young."

At Oundle, however, Dickinson was picked on and routinely bullied by the older boys of Sidney House, the boarding house that he belonged to. His interests at Oundle were often military. He co-founded the school wargames society with Mike Jordan, and he rose to a position of some power in the Combined Cadet Force.

Oundle was also where Dickinson became attracted to heavy rock. He has said :"I was 13 when I first heard Deep Purple's In Rock album, and it just blew me away! I heard this thing coming out of someone's room one day, and I went in and said 'Whoa! What's that?' And they just looked at me disdainfully and went 'It's "Child in Time" by Deep Purple. Don't you know anything?' But I was too amazed to care. The first album I ever bought was Deep Purple in Rock, all scratched to fuck, but I thought it was great."

Dickinson obtained bongo drums from the music room and practiced. Dickinson remembers trying to learn "Let It Be". Other than this tinkering though, he never learned an instrument at school, and as far as his contemporaries can recall, he could not read music. Any technical musical skills that Dickinson now possesses were acquired after his stay at Oundle.

Returning home to Sheffield in 1976, Dickinson enrolled at a local Catholic comprehensive school, although not a practising Catholic himself.

In the summer of 1976, he joined his first band. He had overheard two other pupils talking about their band and that they needed a singer. Dickinson volunteered to do the vocals. They rehearsed in the drummer's father's garage and the band were impressed by Dickinson's singing. It was at this point Dickinson decided to buy a microphone. The first gig Dickinson's new band did was at the Broadfield Tavern pub in Sheffield. Originally called "Paradox," the band changed name upon Dickinson's suggestion, to "Styx", unaware of the American act with the same name. They made local newspaper headlines when a steel worker was awoken by their performance. Of the incident, it was said: "He bottled the guitarist and chucked the drums off-stage." Soon after, the band split up.

University

After leaving his school Dickinson didn't really know what he wanted to do. He joined the Territorial Army for six months, which he did not enjoy. As army life was not what he wanted, he applied for a place at University. He had met the minimum grades for getting in and read history at Queen Mary College, in London's East End. His parents wanted him in the army, but he told them that he wanted to get a degree first. "That was what they wanted to hear so that was my cover story. When I got down there I started immediately finding and playing in bands."

In college, Dickinson got involved in the Entertainments Committee. "One day you'd be a roadie for The Jam, the next you'd be putting up the Stonehenge backdrop for Hawkwind or whatever." In 1977, Dickinson met a guy called Paul "Noddy" White. He was a multi-instrumentalist and he had a PA and other equipment. Dickinson suggested that, along with drummer Steve Jones, they form a band together. This would eventually evolve into the band "Speed", described by Dickinson as sounding like a 'crossover between Judas Priest and The Stranglers with a Hammond organ on top of it.' Dickinson recalled: "It had nothing to do with taking speed, we were a completely drug-free band, we just used to play everything ridiculously fast. Like speed metal, but ten years too early." Dickinson was the vocalist and occasionally played guitar. "I got Noddy to give me guitar lessons and I ... started writing stuff straight away. He showed me three chords and I'd write stuff just from those three chords."

Speed didn't last long, but it encouraged Dickinson to continue to work to be a musician. Dickinson spotted an ad in Melody Maker with the caption "Singer wanted for recording project". Since he had never been near a recording studio he replied immediately. He "wailed, wolfed, hollered and made noises" onto a tape and with it went a note that read; "By the way, if you think the singing's crap, there's some John Cleese stuff recorded on the other side you might find amusing." They liked what they heard and Dickinson came down to the studio. The band was called "Shots" and were formed by two brothers, Phil and Doug Siviter. They were amazed by Dickinson's vocal abilities and they started talking about what music they liked. "I started saying Ian Gillan, Ian Anderson, Arthur Brown, and Doug goes, 'That's it! Fucking Arthur Brown, man! Sometimes your voice is a dead ringer for Arthur! We've got to form a band.' This guy's got a studio and he wants to form a band with me! I was like 'Yes'." A song "Dracula" from this session can be heard as the closing track on The Best of Bruce Dickinson, disc two. According to Dickinson, this song is first thing he ever recorded.

Dickinson played pubs with Shots on a regular basis. One particular night, Dickinson suddenly stopped in the middle of a song and started interviewing a man in the audience, heckling for not paying enough attention. He got such a good response he started doing it every night until it became a regular routine. "Suddenly everybody was paying attention, cause they might be next. The first time I did it, afterwards the landlord of the pub was like 'Great show, lads, see you next week'. So we started sort of building this bit into the show. And that was when I first started to get the hang of, just not being a singer, but being a frontman, too."

The next step in Dickinson's career was taken in a pub called the Prince of Wales in Gravesend, Kent, where Shots were playing regularly. One night, Barry Graham ("Thunderstick") and Paul Samson paid a visit. The legend says that Thunderstick, who was there in his every day guise, became the victim of Dickinson's gimmick. "He looked a bit weird so I did a spiel on it". Obviously impressed with his stage-act, Thunderstick and Samson talked with Shots after the performance. A couple of weeks later, Samson called and asked him if he was willing to join their band, Samson. Dickinson was interested since this meant he could play larger gigs in London. Dickinson wanted to "do things with a bit of a weird edge to it." By then, Shots had almost become a heavy metal comedy act; the show had completely taken over the music.

Samson: 1979—1981

In my naïveté I thought people who were in rock 'n' roll bands were great artists, and it was a huge shock to the system to realise that they weren't, that they didn't even aspire to be, really. Some of them did, maybe, but some of them, like Samson, were very frightened of the idea.

—Bruce Dickinson.

In a gig by hard rock band Samson at Bishop's Stortford, Dickinson came onstage and performed one of their songs, "Rock Me Baby". He was offered the job as the band's vocalist immediately. Dickinson auditioned for Iron Maiden in September 1981, singing a version of "Remember Tomorrow", from their self-titled debut album, to which the band members answered "Hey... you got the job". Maiden had a strict and organized routine that suited the band's writing style, which Dickinson described as a "time table". The band embarked on a supporting tour around the globe.

On the following albums, 1983's Piece of Mind and 1984's Powerslave, Steve Harris's song-writing monopoly was pushed aside in favour of other members' ideas. During the World Slavery Tour, as part of the new theatrical elements, Dickinson wore a feathered mask during "Powerslave".

The band took a six-month break, which Dickinson spent practicing fencing. style, and had no writing credits. The album featured Dickinson's "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter", originally composed for , which despite receiving a Golden Raspberry Award for worst "original" song in 1989, it became the band's first single to top the UK singles chart. Dickinson said this was the first time they attempted to recapture something from the past. In an interview for Rhythm, a UK drum based magazine, Nicko McBrain stated that this incident inspired Dickinson to write the song These Colours Don't Run for Maiden's next album, stating: "When Bruce brought that to the table, he said 'I've got this song called 'These Colours Don't Run' and we all just laughed at him, saying, 'Yeah right, and where did that come from then?'."

In 2006, Iron Maiden released a new album, A Matter of Life and Death, and embarked on a supporting tour. In 2008, they held the Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, and in 2010 began The Final Frontier World Tour in support of the band's newest album, The Final Frontier.

Solo career

In early 1989, Zomba asked Dickinson to do a track for the movie , with a budget, a studio, and a producer, Chris Tsangarides. Dickinson took up the opportunity and called an old friend of his, former Gillan guitarist, Janick Gers. Shortly after meeting up, they had "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" ready for the studio. The song was composed with the assistance of bassist Andy Carr, and drummer Fabio del Rio. Later that year, Dickinson participed on a re-recording of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", as part of the humanitarian effort Rock Aid Armenia. His intention now was to release a solo album. His solo debut, Tattooed Millionaire, was written and recorded within weeks, and released in May 1990. Backed by the band Skin, Bruce Dickinson, with Mr. Bean, made a cover version of Alice Cooper's "Elected", which was used in 1992 for Comic Relief, and five years later, on Bean Soundtrack.

For his second solo effort, Balls to Picasso, Dickinson received the collaboration of American producer, Keith Olsen. Unhappy with the results, Dickinson started working with Tribe of Gypsies guitarist Roy Z, to improve Olsen's work. Tribe of Gypsies departed to continue with their work and Dickinson tracked down another band. Now his new writing partner was Alex Dickson.

Due to musical differences, the "Skunkworks" entity ceased to be when the tour ended. After a short period of inactivity, Dickinson once again teamed up with Roy Z and Tribe of Gypsies to record his next album, Accident of Birth. Adrian Smith was asked to guest and remained later as a full-time member. The album marked a return to heavy metal for Dickinson; being a much heavier album than Iron Maiden's, with a less progressive influence. It drew inspiration from William Blake's writings, with songs such as, "Book of Thel", having the same title of some of his poems, and the artwork featuring one of his paintings. almost ten years after her duet album with Freddie Mercury. Scream for Me Brazil was a live album that documented a show recorded in São Paulo in 1999, during the supporting tour.

In February 1999, Dickinson, along with Smith returned to Iron Maiden. Dickinson performed vocals on the song, "Into the Black Hole", for Ayreon's . Later that year, he collaborated with Judas Priest's front-man, Rob Halford, recording, "The One You Love to Hate", for Halford's debut, Resurrection. In late 2001, was released a compilation album, titled The Best of Bruce Dickinson. This work also included a limited edition disc of rarities and two new songs. His latest album, Tyranny of Souls was released in May 2005. This time the songwriting was all split between Roy Z and Dickinson. Many songs were composed by Roy sending recordings of riffs to Dickinson, while he was on tour with Maiden. In 2006, was released a three-DVD package, Anthology, containing concerts from his career, promo videos and footage from his work on Samson.

Other work

Dickinson's interests include literature, writing, fencing (at which he has competed internationally, and has founded a fencing equipment company under the brand name "Duellist"), railway technology and aviation. Due to the wide variety of Dickinson's pursuits, the Winter 2009 edition of Intelligent Life named him as a living example of a polymath.

Aviation

Dickinson holds an airline transport pilot's licence, and regularly flies Boeing 757 charter jets for the UK charter airline Astraeus, where he is employed as marketing director and captain. In mid-2006, Dickinson flew about 200 UK citizens home from Lebanon during the Israel/Hezbollah conflict. On 12 February 2007, Dickinson was given permission to fly Rangers F.C. to Israel for their UEFA Cup game against Hapoel Tel Aviv. Dickinson asked if he could pilot this flight as soon as he found Astraeus had the contract for it. After the collapse of XL Airways UK in September 2008, he piloted an Iceland Express aeroplane and flew home 180 stranded holiday makers from Egypt, as well as a Boeing 757 with a group of British RAF pilots from Afghanistan. "A lot of them recognised him because they are Maiden fans, but he was there in his professional capacity as a pilot," says an RAF spokesman. For their 2008-2009 Somewhere Back in Time World Tour, Iron Maiden chartered a Boeing 757 and had it specially converted to carry equipment for their concerts. Dickinson himself piloted the plane, dubbed "Ed Force One". On 16 September 2010, Dickinson was appointed as Astraeus's marketing director. Dickinson flew Liverpool F.C. from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to an away European tie with Napoli in Italy on the 19th of October 2010.

Radio and TV

Dickinson presented Bruce Dickinson's Friday Rock Show on BBC radio station 6 Music from 2002-2010. Jean-Jacques Burnel, bassist with The Stranglers, took over the presenting duties while Dickinson toured the US with Iron Maiden. In March 2010, the BBC announced that, after over eight years, Dickinson's show was to be axed. His final broadcast was on 28 May 2010, with the regular format abandoned in favour of a personal and musical tribute to the recently deceased Ronnie James Dio. Dickinson also scorned the BBC executives for the cancellation, playing the Johnny Paycheck version of Take This Job and Shove It. He has recently taken the helm of BBC Radio 2 serial Masters of Rock. He also presented the 5-part historical TV series about aviation, Flying Heavy Metal, which was shown on the Discovery Channel, and later on Discovery Turbo in the UK. He was also a guest on an episode of the Military Channel's The Greatest Ever, where he drove a Russian T-34 tank. The most recent television programme he has presented was a show on spontaneous human combustion for Sky One called Inside Spontaneous Human Combustion with Bruce Dickinson, in which he investigates the phenomenon of this occurrence by enlisting the help of several experts and performing various experiments to determine its possible cause.

Writing

Plotting it out was the doddle. It came from a series of mad conversations, actually, that all gestated together along with some Sherlock Holmes, some Biggles and Penthouse, and out it came.

— Bruce Dickinson commenting on Lord Iffy.

During a 1986-1987 Iron Maiden tour, and in the wake of a divorce, Dickinson started writing his first book. He spent sleepless nights trying to give birth to the main character, Lord Iffy Boatrace. Iffy was an English landlord, whose problems were always related to the lack of money and quested a wealthy life.

The book, The Adventures of Lord Iffy Boatrace (ISBN 0-283-06043-3), was released in 1990 and sold more than 30,000 copies almost immediately. Due to the high demand, the publisher, Sidgwick & Jackson, asked Dickinson to produce a sequel, which became 1992's The Missionary Position (ISBN 0-283-06092-1).

Dickinson has also turned his hand to scriptwriting, having written a film script entitled Chemical Wedding which has been made into a film starring Simon Callow, in which Dickinson played a few small cameo roles and composed the soundtrack. Dickinson has also appeared twice in The Paradise Club, a BBC series.

Personal life

Dickinson has three children with his wife Paddy Bowden: Austin Dickinson (born 1990), Griffin Dickinson (born 1992), and Kia Michelle Dickinson (born 1994).

Singing style

Dickinson never received a formal vocal training, but still possessed a wide vocal range which was trademarked by his quasi-operatic tenor. He was given the nickname "The Air Raid Siren" because when he joined Iron Maiden and recording his first album The Number of the Beast, their sound engineer Martin Birch wanted to get the right sound for the first four lines of the title song, and forced Dickinson to sing them over and over again for hours, until Dickinson grew so frustrated that he let out a tremendous scream originally not written in the song, but found to be so fitting by the band that they kept it as part of the intro. This scream soon became one of the things that the song is most recognized for. The note has not been replicated live in the original pitch since the early days.

Dickinson's singing varied notably in the 1990s in the recording of albums such as No Prayer for the Dying, Fear of the Dark and his first solo work Tattooed Millionaire, making use of a much more raspy and unpolished sound, befitting of the stripped down style of the albums. Since returning to Iron Maiden in 1999, his singing style has returned to much like it was in the 1980s with Iron Maiden, though soft and reflective passages have been incorporated with the familiar operatic wail to suit the more progressive direction of Iron Maiden since the reunion. His voice has also lowered with age, making him a dramatic tenor in opera terms.

Discography

;Iron Maiden

1982: The Number of the Beast

1983: Piece of Mind

1984: Powerslave

1986: Somewhere in Time

1988: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

1990: No Prayer for the Dying

1992: Fear of the Dark

1999: ''Ed Hunter, "Wrathchild" hidden track

2000: Brave New World

2003: Dance of Death

2006: A Matter of Life and Death

2010: The Final Frontier

;Bruce Dickinson

1990: Tattooed Millionaire

1994: Balls to Picasso

1996: Skunkworks

1997: Accident of Birth

1998: The Chemical Wedding

2005: Tyranny of Souls

;Samson 1979: Survivors

1980: Head On

1981: Shock Tactics

1990: Live at Reading 1981

* Dickinson appeared on the album's re-issue only, as it had been originally completed before he joined the band.

References

External links

Bruce Dickinson's official website

Category:1958 births Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:People from Worksop Category:Alumni of Queen Mary, University of London Category:Old Oundelians Category:English male singers Category:English heavy metal singers Category:Iron Maiden members Category:English tenors Category:English radio DJs Category:English aviators Category:English fencers Category:Living people