Di'Anno: Iron Maiden's Lost Singer

"Di'Anno: Iron Maiden's Lost Singer" - (Wes Orshoski) - (Three Count Films/Cleopatra/MVD)

This documentary film should be considered essential viewing for fans of Iron Maiden's early days as well as Maiden fans in general. Director Wes Orshoski has done a very good job at telling what happened to Paul Di'Anno, who was Iron Maiden's singer for their first two albums, Iron Maiden and Killers. Di'Anno became wheelchair bound and unable to walk after wracking his legs by falling off of a motorcycle, playing football and the rigors of touring. There is a little footage here of Paul singing before all of this happened and fans will love this, but mostly the film is about how two fans from Croatia tried to get the singer back on his feet, literally. They crowd sourced funds to bring Di'Anno to Croatia for treatment, something he was unable to get in the U.K. Unable to fly, Di'Anno piled into a special ambulance for the long ride to Croatia. The journey was difficult but Paul arrived with a fairly positive attitude, hoping that an operation could take place fairly immediately. That hope went by the wayside when all were told that Paul's (right) leg was in no shape for the needed operation and that he'd have to undergo a certain amount of therapy first. Much of this film is hard to watch as it is not easy to watch a fellow human being in such pain. But Orshoski leaves the difficult scenes in and shows Di'Anno lashing out in anger and frustration, at his doctors and benefactors, when told the money for his treatment has run out. A breakthrough comes when Iron Maiden comes to Croatia and Paul meets with his former bandmate Steve Harris for the first time in decades; shortly after that meeting Iron Maiden agrees to fund the rest of Di'Anno's treatment. The leg operation is successful but Paul is still confined to a wheelchair, from which he launches a semi-successful tour of South America, and later other territories as well. So Di'Anno gets his wish to continue to perform for his fans. Fans will dig all the clips from famous fans, like one of Di'Anno singing with the all-woman Iron Maiden tribute group The Iron Maidens and commentary from the likes of Gene Simmons, Blaze Bailey, James Hetfield and David Ellefson. Various early members of Iron Maiden (but not Harris) also comment. While not providing the exact happy ending that Di'Anno had hoped for, the whole Croatia thing ended up being very good for all concerned and is a perfect example of the positivity that lies behind the notion "where there's a will there's a way." Di'Anno passed away in 2024 from heart failure. Order your copy here (ad)

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