{"id":621264,"date":"2026-04-22T15:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621264\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:07:09","slug":"ex-iron-maiden-singer-blaze-bayley-opens-up-about-quitting-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621264\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley opens up about quitting alcohol"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Iron Maiden<\/a> frontman Blaze Bayley<\/a> has opened up about his decision to quit drinking.<\/p>\n

Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the 62-year-old, who fronted the British heavy metal titans from 1994 to 1999, reveals that he\u2019s been sober since June 2019, having kicked alcohol to focus on his mental health.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI was diagnosed with depression 25 years ago and I didn\u2019t even know what it was,\u201d the singer says. \u201cIn the end, I decided I didn\u2019t want to take antidepressants anymore. I\u2019d already stopped drinking on show days or the day before a show, but when I was off tour I slipped back into the habit of drinking \u2013 doing things you shouldn\u2019t like drinking alone, so I decided to stay stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds, \u201cI\u2019m not a full-blown alcoholic who could down a bottle of vodka each day, but there\u2019s not a part of me that goes, \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t really care about not drinking today\u2019 which is a bit of a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bayley urges people who may have problems with alcohol to \u201ctry quitting and give it six months\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst year I took it for granted a bit, but by the second year I was looking back at the trail of destruction I left behind me and there was nowhere near as much as there was when I\u2019d been drinking,\u201d he continues. \u201cI couldn\u2019t help but think about all the crap decisions I\u2019d made while drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

He feels \u201cliberated\u201d for having given up drinking, explaining, \u201cI can get on my motorcycle and ride any time day or night. I can go anywhere because I\u2019m not drunk, so I\u2019m never in a situation where I can\u2019t ride. I have petrol instead of booze. For anybody with mental health issues who suffers from depression \u2013 try it. I wish I\u2019d stopped drinking years before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Bayley rose to prominence as the lead singer of Staffordshire hard rockers Wolfsbane, whose 1989 debut album Live Fast, Die Fast was produced by the vaunted Rick Rubin and released via his Def American label. He joined Maiden to replace outgoing frontman Bruce Dickinson<\/a> and made two albums with them, 1995\u2019s The X Factor and 1998\u2019s Virtual XI. The albums were met with mixed reviews and were commercial disappointments, leading to Bayley being dismissed and Dickinson returning to the fold.<\/p>\n

For his stint in Maiden, Bayley will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in November, alongside the band\u2019s current members, plus ex-guitarist Dennis Stratton, late ex-singer Paul Di\u2019Anno and late ex-drummer Clive Burr. Bayley tells Hammer that being added to the Hall was \u201ccrazy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started out, I just wanted to be like Ronnie James Dio, and Dio is in the Heavy Metal Hall Of Fame and so am I,\u201d he says \u201cThe Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is another level entirely, it\u2019s not really \u2018rock\u2019n\u2019roll\u2019 as we think of it, it\u2019s the music business hall of fame because it has everybody. So it\u2019s absolutely wild!\u201d<\/p>\n

Maiden\u2019s current lineup won\u2019t be at the induction ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio, as they will be on tour in Australia at that time. Whether or not Bayley and his fellow former members will attend remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Iron Maiden frontman Blaze Bayley has opened up about his decision to quit drinking. Talking exclusively to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-621264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}