The family of former Iron Maiden frontman Paul Di'Anno has revealed the singer's cause of death.
Di'Anno, the singer of Maiden's first two albums, passed away in October after dealing with numerous health problems in recent years. His former bandmate Steve Harris and current Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson paid tribute to the influential metal singer following his death, and Dickinson praised Di'Anno during an Iron Maiden concert in Minnesota just days later.
Now, Di'Anno's family has opened up about the cause of his death, revealing that his passing, due to a heart complication, was instantaneous and “hopefully painless,” in his own words.
The following statement was published in Di'Anno's Facebook page on Monday (November 11):
“Dear fans and friends, we have received permission from Paul's family to bring you the news of Paul's cause of death, after the autopsy results have been received. His sisters Cheryl and Michelle confirmed: “He basically had a tear in the sac around his heart and blood filled into it from the main aorta artery and that caused the heart to stop.” Paul's death was instantaneous and, hopefully, painless. Rest in peace.
This weekend, an In Memoriam show was held at Underworld Camden, attended by many of Paul's fans, friends, colleagues and family. With a magnificent musical set, his musical colleagues bid a dignified farewell to their friend.”
As the statement mentions, a tribute show was held for Di'Anno last Thursday (November 7) at Underworld Camden, a venue where the singer had sold out a show in 2023 and planned to play again before his death. The evening featured performances by Electric Gypsy, Gypsy's Kiss and Hi-On Maiden, all of which were scheduled to support parts of a planned future Di'Anno tour, which sadly did not happen.
Those bands, as well as other musical colleagues such as Terry Wapram (ex-Iron Maiden) and Tino Troy (Praying Mantis), played songs from Di'Anno's catalog and shared anecdotes from the stage. Limited merchandise that had already been printed for the aforementioned tour was also on sale.
In recent years, Di'Anno faced serious health problems, including two knee replacement surgeries due to previous motorcycle accidents that left him confined to a wheelchair. Following the advice of his doctors, he originally announced his retirement from touring in 2020.
But Di'Anno, who received no royalties for Iron Maiden songs after receiving payment at the time of his departure, formed a new band, Warhorse, alongside Czech musicians Ante Pupačić and Hrvoje Madiraca. With Warhorse, Di'Anno returned to performing live and the trio released a self-titled debut album in July of this year.
That same month, Di'Anno also had the opportunity to meet Bruce Dickinson for the first time after the latter's solo concert in Zagreb, Croatia. Coincidentally, Di'Anno was around for a promotional signing event for the release of the Warhorse album.
Below you can see images from the Di'Anno tribute concert at Underworld Camden.
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