Nicko McBrain

The former Iron Maiden drummer, touring with a spoken-word show!? Hackney, 1952. Little Michael McBrain keeps time on his mother's saucepans long before he knows what a crash cymbal is. His father eventually gives in: at 11, he has his first drum kit.

By 14, he is already playing in the wedding bands around the neighbourhood (not exactly the kind of stage that predestines you to become a metal legend, but that is where you learn tempo, placement and listening). Jazz, rock, soul… Nicko takes it all in, and it shows.

He serves his apprenticeship in the Soho of the 1970s, between grotty studios and poorly paid gigs, alongside Streetwalkers, the Pat Travers Band, and then Trust. And it is precisely with Trust, supporting Iron Maiden on the Killers tour in 1981, that fate does its work.

A year later, he is behind the kit of the band!? Ever since, Nicko has been “Mr Iron Maiden”. ” at the end of every interview, the one whose smile is almost as famous as his tom rolls. His drumming?

Powerful, full of flair, with that simple yet devilishly fast bass drum, which shaped the band's sound across no fewer than 14 studio albums and marathon tours, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide.

Alongside Steve Harris on bass, it is an almost telepathic connection: their rhythm section carried riffs and anthems so far, so iconic, that even non-metal fans know them by heart (or almost). But he is loved for more than his drumming.

It is for the man himself: his all-consuming passion for old cars, his restaurant in Florida (Rock'N'Roll Ribs, no less), and that totally unlikely appearance on The Sooty Show, a 1980s British children's programme that people still bring up at parties.