Bruce Dickinson names some of his favourite singers

(Image credit: John McMurtrie)

Bruce Dickinson has named some of his favourite rock singers, and one of them isn't a name usually considered when such matters are discussed.

In a new interview with SongFacts, the Iron Maiden frontman – who is currently promoting his upcoming album The Mandrake Project – extols the virtues of several singers, including Welsh crooner Tom Jones.

"If anybody wants to hear an amazing, balls-out metal voice, go have a listen to Tom Jones and imagine if that voice was doing metal or rock," says Dickinson. "Obviously back in the day, he wasn't. But oh my God, he's just awesome. Power, resonance, tone... fabulous."

Dickinson is also full of praise for four singers who are no longer with us: Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, who he calls "one of the finest voices I've ever heard of any generation", country star Johnny Cash, late Angra frontman Andre Matos, and Ronnie James Dio.

"One of my favorite Ronnie Dio performances is on The Butterfly Ball," says Dickinson. "Love Is All. God. You can hear that is the younger-voice version of Ronnie, because Ronnie's voice got darker over the years, but all the power was still there. I remember listening to Love Is All and going, 'Oh my God, his voice is like crystalline. Crystalline with this furry bit underneath.' It was gorgeous. I'm a huge Ronnie fan."

The Mandrake Project is released this Friday, and Dickinson has revealed that he's already thinking about songs for the follow-up, with a number of different ideas lined up for longtime guitarist and collaborator Roy Z. He'll also be hosting a number of album-signing sessions in UK record shops in early March, but all events are sold out.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.