A versatile and energetic English singer, songwriter, and musician, Bruce Dickinson is best known for his long tenure as lead vocalist for the iconic heavy metal outfit Iron Maiden. Since making his debut with the band in 1982 with the genre classic Number of the Beast, he has established himself, alongside contemporaries like Rob Halford and Ronnie James Dio, as one of the most acclaimed and instantly recognizable vocalists to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. He left the group in 1993 to pursue a solo career, leaving seven gold and platinum-selling LPs in his wake, but returned to the fold in 1999, where he would spend the next two decades adding exclamation points to the Iron Maiden legacy via late-career highlights like Brave New World and The Book of Souls.