The trailer for Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer, a new documentary about the later life of early Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno, has been released.
James Hetfield of Metallica, Gene Simmons of Kiss and Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer, as well as founding Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris and former singer Blaze Bayley, appear in the new trailer, with the full doc set to drop at some point this summer. Watch the trailer below.
Di’Anno was written, directed and edited by Wes Orshoski, best known for his work on the 2010 documentary Lemmy, about the titular Motörhead founder, singer and bassist. Production on the new project began back in 2017, and it will tell the story of Di’Anno’s final years, through his health issues and the COVID-19 pandemic to the period where he relocated to Croatia, underwent knee surgery, reconnected with his former bandmates, fell in love and returned to the stage. The singer later passed away following an aortic dissection aged 66 in October 2024.
Orshoski is interviewed in the new issue of Metal Hammer, where he talks about the lengthy process of making Di’Anno. “I was gonna be done with it in a year,” he remembers. “Paul led me to believe on the phone that he’d be up on his feet in a couple of months, then we’d be filming him back on tour in South America. So the first time I met him was at the entrance to Salisbury Hospital. I was in the room when the doctor said he could lose his leg. Within the next hour, I realised this guy wasn’t gonna stand any time soon.”
Di’Anno joined Maiden in 1978 and was their third singer overall, after Paul Mario Day and Dennis Wilcock. With his punkish snarl and love for leather jackets, he brought a hard-edged attitude to the band both visually and sonically. He sang on their 1980 self-titled debut album, which reached number four on the UK charts, and its acclaimed follow-up Killers. He also fronted the band during their earliest tours, including a breakthrough European run supporting Kiss.
Di’Anno parted ways with Maiden in 1981, after the band noticed his increasingly erratic behaviour on tour. He was replaced by Bruce Dickinson. He sang in a number of bands afterwards, including his namesake project Di’Anno, Gogmagog and Killers.
Work on Di’Anno was finished shortly before the singer’s death. It’s already been screened at a number of film festivals, with plans for it to come out worldwide on both streaming services and on home entertainment DVD and Blu-ray formats.
