"Paul was a lovely person and good mate." Iron Maiden pay tribute to their original vocalist Paul Mario Day following his death, aged 69

Iron Maiden have paid tribute to their original frontman, Paul Mario Day, who died yesterday, July 29, aged 69.

East London-born Day was part of the first Iron Maiden line-up that Steve Harris assembled in December 1975, and fronted the band for around 10 months before being replaced by Dennis Wilcock in October 1976.

Wilcock, in turn, quit the band in the spring of 1978, with Paul Di'Anno taking over frontman duties in November that year.

In an instagram post saluting their original singer, who passed away at his family home in Newcastle, Australia, Iron Maiden stated: "We are deeply saddened that Paul Mario Day, Iron Maiden’s first ever vocalist back in 1975, has passed away. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences go out to Paul’s family and friends.

"Paul was a lovely person and good mate. Rest in peace Paul."

The news of Day's passing was shared in a social media post by his bandmates in More, the group he started following his exit from Iron Maiden. The statement hailed Day as "a huge part of the new wave of British heavy metal".

More actually toured the UK as support to Iron Maiden when Steve Harris' band were promoting their second record, Killers, in 1981, illustrating that there was no bad blood between Day and Harris. The singer would leave More ahead of the release of their second and final album, 1982’s Blood & Thunder.

Following a stint with the band Wildfire, Day joined glam rockers Sweet in the mid '80s. On social media, guitarist Andy Scott described the singer's passing as "a sad day for all Sweet fans."

"In 1985," he wrote, "Mick Tucker and myself put together the first new line-up of Sweet after the hiatus of the original band. We needed a singer and when Paul arrived for the audition we looked no further."