Bruce Dickinson Shares His Financial Worries Concerning His Solo Career After Iron Maiden

During a recent conversation with Katie Daryl, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson looked back on the time his aviation career first started. Apparently, the rocker wanted another source of income after his departure from the band since he had concerns surrounding his solo career.

Due to the rising tension between band members, especially due to artistic differences, Bruce Dickinson decided to leave Iron Maiden to concentrate on his solo career after the Fear of the Dark Tour. However, the musician couldn’t leave the band as they had already booked the following tour in 1993.

Following a tour filled with feud since Dickinson was accused of deliberately under-performing, the vocalist left the band after his last performance on 28 August 1993 which was filmed by the BBC at Pinewood Studios and released as a live video the following year named ‘Raising Hell.’

After his departure, Bruce Dickinson focused on his solo music career and released a number of studio albums such as ‘Balls to Picasso,’ ‘Skunkworks,’ and ‘Accident of Birth.’ However, being a musician wasn’t his only profession during that time as Dickinson learned to fly in Florida in the 1990s and worked with a number of airline companies during that period.

Bruce Dickinson, who now holds an airline transport pilot’s license, was recently asked during an interview the reason he worked as a pilot and trainer while he was also making music. When the interviewer said he didn’t actually need the money, the rock star proved her wrong as the first reason he wanted the job was financial worries.

Apparently, Dickinson wasn’t as confident in his solo career as he was with Iron Maiden which triggered his concerns in terms of managing himself financially. Therefore, he used his aviation career as a second source of income just in case his solo carer wouldn’t make enough money for him.

About his aviation career, Dickinson said:

“I wasn’t going to turn it down, that was the point. I did t and I started on that road when I was doing my solo tour and solo stuff. I thought I may need something to supplement my income because I thought, ‘This is great doing this stuff, but I’m not sure it’s going to be anything like stratospheric as the Iron Maiden stuff even though it’s very good.”

Fortunately for him and his fans, Bruce Dickinson rejoined Iron Maiden in 1999 after he was approached by manager Rod Smallwood. While his bandmates had second thoughts about the vocalist initially, they have been actually working together with great harmony, and their latest album ‘Senjutsu’ is the proof.

You can check out the entire interview below.