Bruce Dickinson has revealed that he was prepared to find Iron Maiden a new singer when he was battling throat cancer.In 2014, the longtime metal singer was diagnosed with throat and tongue cancer.
In 2015, he underwent chemotherapy and treatment for the “golf ball” sized growth on his tongue. In May that year, he was given the all-clear, and began working his way back to singing and performing live with Iron Maiden.However, the frontman has now revealed in a chat on the Rich Roll podcast – per Blabbermouth – that he was prepared to leave the band and find his replacement so they could carry on performing.He explained: “When I had throat cancer, the last thing on my mind was, ‘Would I ever sing again?’ The first thing on my mind is, ‘Am I gonna get through this and be alive?’ And the last thing on my mind was would I ever sing again?
And I thought, ‘Well, we’ll get to that stage when I’m done and we start trying to sing.’Dickinson continued: “And I was quite prepared to accept that I might not be able to sing with Iron Maiden again.
I might be able to sing, I might be able to vocalise, I might be able to sing in a different way, but if I couldn’t sing the way I have to sing with Iron Maiden, I’ll help them find a great replacement.