Blaze Bayley is an English heavy metal singer, who started his career as singer of Wolfsbane in 1984, before joining Iron Maiden in 1994. Following his departure from Iron Maiden in 1999, he began a solo career with his eponymous band BLAZE, which featured guitarists Steve Wray and John Slater, bassist Rob Naylor and drummer Jeff Singer. His current main touring band is the melodic death metal band Absolva, which features guitarists Chris and Luke Appleton (both of whom first played with Bayley in 2009), drummer Martin McNee (since 2013) and bassist Karl Schramm (since 2014).
In September 2004, Bayley parted ways with his band,[1] who by that point had been joined by Dave Knight (drums) and Wayne Banks (bass),[2] replacing Naylor and Singer respectively,[1] the drummer postion was filled by Jason Bowld (Pitchshifter) by late 2003.[3] His new band included bassist Nick Douglas (Doro), guitarists Oliver Palotai (Uli Jon Roth) and Luca Princiotta, and drummer Daniel Loble.[4] By 2005, Douglas and Loble had been replaced by Christian Ammann and Daniel Schild respectively.[5]
By January 2007, Bayley had parted ways with this backing band.[6] In March that same year, Bayley announced his new band, now under the name Blaze Bayley, featuring Rico Banderra on drums, Nick Bermudez on guitar, David Bermudez on bass and Rich Newport on guitar.[7] By 2008, Newport and Banderra had been replaced by Jay Walsh and Lawrence Paterson respectively.[8] In 2010 Paterson was replaced by Claudio Tirincanti.[9]
In March 2011, Bayley split with all members except Tirincanti.[10] His new backing band featured guitarists Steve Deleu and Dave Andrews, and bassist Nick Meganck.[11] By 2012 his backing band featured Tirincanti, as well as bassist Matteo "Lehmann" Grazzini and guitarist Andrea Neri.[12] Also in 2012, he performed acoustic shows with classical guitarist Thomas Zwijsen.
In 2014, Bayley started touring with the band Absolva as his backing band, at this point they consisted of guitarists Chris and Luke Appleton, drummer Martin Mcnee and bassist Dan Bate. By September, Bate had left and was replaced by Karl Schramm.[13] The band were also reduced to a trio when Luke stopped performing with the band due to his commitment to Iced Earth.[13] Although he returned as a guest for shows between 2018 and 2019,[14][15] before returning full time in 2021 after Iced Earth's hiatus.[16]
In April 2025, Schramm departed both bands,[17] and Luke took up bass, his original instrument.[18]
From 2012, former Iron Maiden singers Blaze Bayley and Paul Di'Anno started a partnership doing some co-headlining tours and sharing the same roster of musicians.
- Russian Federation and occasionally Scandinavia:
- Starting from 2013 Bayley hit the stage for brief US tours with an all star project named The Foundry, involving members of Disturbed, Adrenaline Mob, Danzig, Black Simphony, Scorpions, Fates Warning and Twisted Sisters:
- In most of South American tours Blaze (initially with Zwijsen) has been backed by musicians of "The Best Maiden Tribute" and Tailgunners from Brazil:
- For the Italian summer tour of 2011, soon after the dissolution of Blaze Bayley Band, the singer has occasionally performed with the following lineup:
- In one festival in France of 2012 Neil, bandmate of Lehmann in Neurasthenia, has performed on guitars as stand-in for Andrea Neri
- Bayley occasionally performed full shows with the bands Seven (Czech Republic), Trooper (Romania), John Steel (Bulgaria), Hammerheart (Slovakia), Apsent (Turkey, first gig ever after the dissolution of Blaze Bayley Band), Lunar Explosion and Flash of The Blade (Italy)[23]
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