(dedicated guitar)

Date of birth 10th May 1968

BRUCE JOHN DICKINSON is obsessed by guitars.  His practising was and probably still is 8 hours a day, seven days a week quite literally when the band has "time off".  Within the band this was known as "widdling".  Whoever shared hotel rooms with Bruce was resigned to putting up with his constant "widdling", sometimes even in the bathroom.

Born in Berwick Upon Tweed near the Scottish border, Bruce was six when the Dickinson's moved to Scarborough.  Father John is still a 50's raver so Buddy Holly, Little Richard and early Beatles music was around the house a lot.  John and Bruce built a guitar which promised much but ended badly when Bruce wired it into the mains - everything blew up!

By the age of 14 Bruce was playing along to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton records and developing a classic rock technique to his playing.  After joining forces with Toby and Mark, Bruce brought his younger Jimmy along to play keyboards and together they entered the T.S.B. Rock Talent competition and had their egos severely bruised when they came nowhere!

However soon they "got it together" to the level of selling out the 1000 capacity Scarborough Opera House before they had even played in The Marquee!  When they did venture south they played for £20 in The Black Horse in Rathbone Place among other places and slept on an attic floor with mates as roadies for an entire month.

Their development as a band, from signing to Polydor in 1998, to touring with Aerosmith and Cinderella to having hit records meant the world to Bruce.

Little known facts...

Outside of the band, Bruce plays guitar all the time except when he's making the acquaintance of the opposite sex and enjoying a few amber nectars!  He also goes fishing - God knows why!

Since 1994...

Shortly after The Little Angels split, Bruce Dickinson, Jimmy Dickinson and Mark Richardson moved on to form a band called b.l.o.w. with Dave Gooding and Nickey Boyes.   b.l.o.w. called it a day about a year or so later.

Ever since Bruce has immersed himself in Academia.  Between 1997 and 2001 he taught music at Guildford Music Academy, and loved it.  During this period he had all his hair cut off and became a proud father of a boy aged 4 and a girl of 2 1/2. 

In December 2001 Bruce left his work at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, and started up his own contemporary music school "The Brighton Institute of Modern Music" in Brighton. 

Bruce has also, during the last few years, worked as an occasional freelance journalist for *Guitarist* magazine.  In an interview with Classic Rock magazine in December 2002, Bruce said ""I will not reform Little Angels in a million years"