Bruce Dickinson says he’d have helped replace him if his cancer battle had cost him his singing voice. The 66-year-old, who underwent chemotherapy for cancerous tumours on his tongue and neck in 2015, tells the podcast he was “quite prepared” to not sing with Iron Maiden again following his diagnosis, calling the band’s music “sacrosanct”. “When I had throat cancer, the last thing on my mind was, would I ever sing again?” he says (via ).
“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.’” The singer continues, saying it was unclear during his cancer battle what effects the disease would have on his voice. “I might be able to sing, I might be able to vocalise, I might be able to sing in a different way,” he reflects, “but if I couldn't sing the way I have to sing with Iron Maiden, I’ll help them find a great replacement.
Because the music is sacrosanct.” In , Dickinson revealed he first noticed a lump on his neck while recording the Iron Maiden album the previous year. “Doctor Google and Professor WIkipedia told me that there was a strong possibility that this might be a cancerous tumour,” he said.
“I thought, ‘Well, if it is, do I really want to know now? Or would I prefer to wait six weeks until I’ve done my vocals and finished the record?’ So, that’s wha.