The extraordinary life of original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di’Anno is chronicled in the upcoming documentary Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer, which will be released this summer by Cleopatra Entertainment. The project was directed, produced, written and edited by filmmaker and journalist Wes Orshoski, whose previous work includes Lemmy (about Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister) and The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead. See the trailer below.
Di’Anno sang on Iron Maiden’s 1980 self-titled debut and its 1981 follow-up, Killers, which helped propel the U.K. metal band to worldwide fame. He exited the band in 1981 for personal reasons, only to be replaced by Bruce Dickinson, who immediately elevated Maiden to the stadium-filling status it maintains 45 years later. Di’Anno continued to perform in various projects, including the long-running Killers, but by the mid-2010s, he was wheelchair-bound due to a variety of health problems.
Orshoski’s film picks up in 2017 as two diehard Maiden fans, Stjepan Juras and Kastro Pergjoni, attempt to help Di’Anno get the medical help he requires as well as nudging him back onto the live stage. The musician eventually died in October 2024 at the age of 66 and was saluted by Maiden onstage at their next show in St. Paul, Mn.
Orshoski tells SPIN that during the making of the Di’Anno, “Paul was incredibly vulnerable. He understood that he was taking a risk, allowing me to film some of the hardest moments of his life. And for me, some of those moments were incredibly gut-wrenching to film. But he had a fearless attitude about it: whatever got him to the next gig, the next chance to play, the next opportunity to chase that high of connecting with fans. If this film helped in that pursuit, it was worth it to him.”
Di’Anno also features appearances by Metallica’s James Hetfield, KISS’ Gene Simmons, Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris and members of Exodus, Slayer, Megadeth, Overkill and Sepultura.
