Clive Burr

Clive Burr was Iron Maiden's drummer between 1979 and 1982, a short spell that covers three of the band's most decisive records: Iron Maiden (1980), Killers (1981) and The Number of the Beast (1982). Born in London, he arrived from Samson, and his joining coincided with the moment the group stopped being an NWOBHM prospect and became an international band. His playing was looser than that of his successors. Burr came from a rock school with swing in it, and his fills have an almost improvised flexibility — what you hear on "Run to the Hills" is a drummer pushing the music from the inside, not holding down a tempo. That elasticity gives the first three albums a texture unlike anything Maiden recorded afterwards, and is one of the reasons The Number of the Beast remains the band's most cited record. He left at the end of 1982, in circumstances involving the wear of touring and personal matters, and was replaced by Nicko McBrain. In the 1990s he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which took him off stage and eventually into a wheelchair. Iron Maiden organised benefit shows in his name, from 2002 onwards, to fund his treatment. He died on 12 March 2013, aged 56.