Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 when doctors found a cancerous tumor on the back of his tongue. Fortunately the tumor was removed while in its early stages and Dickinson was given the all-clear by doctors that same year.
In an interview with Triple M, Dickinson discusses the "golf ball-sized tumor" and how it really affected his singing. He adds once the tumor was removed, "suddenly all this air is getting to places that it used to get to when I was, like, 25" and his high notes were better than ever.
"The worrying thing was the 'alive' thing. The voice thing was actually — I actually genuinely wasn't bothered. I was just, like, 'You know what? I'll just settle for being alive and then we'll see what comes out.' But the guy who did the all the treatment for it was really cool. With all the radiation and stuff that I had, he said, 'Look, I'm gonna actually miss your larynx,' he said, 'so that bit of it should be absolutely fine.' And, actually, by the time they kind of cleaned out the pipes, 'cause I had a lump that was the size of a golf ball in the base of my tongue — well, that's gone. I mean, no surgery or anything. And I thought when that went, suddenly all this air is getting to places that it used to get to when I was, like, 25. So I'm thinking, 'Hey, wow! The high notes — oh my God! They're back properly.'"
Dickinson will bring you all the high notes he can on Iron Maiden's 2020 world tour, which you can get the dates for here.
[via Blabbermouth]
