{"id":609139,"date":"2026-09-23T10:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609139\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:52:13","slug":"iron-maidens-nicko-mcbrain-recalls-meeting-ozzy-osbourne-and-how-the-prince-of-darkness-saved-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/609139\/","title":{"rendered":"Iron Maiden\u2019s Nicko McBrain recalls meeting Ozzy Osbourne \u2013 and how the Prince Of Darkness saved his life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Semi-retired Iron Maiden<\/a> drummer has recalled the moment he met Black Sabbath<\/a>\u2019s Ozzy Osbourne<\/a>, and the late singer\u2019s claim that he once saved McBrain\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Talking exclusively to Metal Hammer, the drummer, 74, says that he first met the Prince Of Darkness on a boat crossing the English Channel. He doesn\u2019t remember much of what happened next, but the next time he and Osbourne came face-to-face, Osbourne alleged that he saved McBrain\u2019s life by stopping him from falling into the sea that day.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought there was no way Ozzy would remember meeting me for the first time,\u201d McBrain says. \u201cHe came into my room while we were on this boat with all these drugs falling out his hands. But he did, crystal clear when we ran into each other again later.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe said, \u2018Do you remember me saving your life?\u2019 I was like, \u2018No?\u2019 He said I was so out of it, I was stumbling towards the railing and he grabbed me before I went over. All I remember was it was a rough crossing, going over the Channel. But apparently he\u2019d saved me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Osbourne, who was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979 and pursued a massively successful solo career, and Iron Maiden were two of the biggest heavy metal<\/a> artists of the 1980s. McBrain isn\u2019t the only member of the band to have an unhinged, inebriated encounter with the Prince Of Darkness. In an interview with Jeremy Clarkson in 1999, frontman Bruce Dickinson revealed that he and Osbourne once drunkenly conspired to steal a taxi together<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a couple beers and said to me, \u2018Let\u2019s nick a taxi,\u2019\u201d Dickinson remembered. \u201cI asked, \u2018How you gonna do that?\u2019 He said, \u2018Well, you call it and I\u2019ll distract him \u2013 no, you distract him and I\u2019ll hit him over the head! Can you drive?\u2019 When I said yes he went, \u2018Good, I can\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

McBrain joined Maiden in 1982, replacing Clive Burr, and retired from the metal legends\u2019 live lineup in December 2024, almost two years after suffering a transient ischaemic attack (TIA, or mini-stroke) which paralysed his left side. The drummer regained his ability to play in time for the band\u2019s Future Past world tour in June 2023, but his abilities remain limited.<\/p>\n

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Talking to Hammer, McBrain reveals that he could only feel \u201c70 percent\u201d of his hand<\/a> during the Future Past shows: \u201cIt was incredible to get any use back out of it at all \u2026 Like, I couldn\u2019t do the drum fill in the intro of [1983 single] The Trooper, so I had to adapt it. Steve [Harris, bassist\/bandleader] and the band were so supportive, but my body just wasn\u2019t bouncing back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon Dawson replaced him on the road, but McBrain is still officially Maiden\u2019s drummer. He says that, should the band enter the studio to make another album after 2021\u2019s Senjutsu<\/a>, he\u2019d be \u201cdelighted\u201d to contribute. However, his condition means the material would have to be \u201cmore simple\u201d.<\/p>\n

McBrain will release his autobiography, Hello Boys And Girls, on October 22 via Harper NonFiction. The publisher calls it \u201ca thrilling, hilarious and deeply personal autobiography\u201d that \u201ctakes readers behind the scenes of one of Britain\u2019s biggest-ever bands\u201d. He\u2019s currently touring the US with his Maiden cover band Titanium Tart.<\/p>\n

Maiden are also in the States, continuing their 50th-anniversary Run For Your Lives world tour. The setlist features songs from their first nine albums, 1980\u2019s Iron Maiden up to 1992\u2019s UK chart-topping Fear Of The Dark. They\u2019re reissuing the same albums in a vinyl box set on December 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Semi-retired Iron Maiden drummer has recalled the moment he met Black Sabbath\u2019s Ozzy Osbourne, and the late singer\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-609139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}