Steve Harris
(the bass player in Iron Maiden)
 

(private photo, Norway 1983)

There is probably very little you can say about Steve Harris that the long-standing Maiden fan won't have heard already. The founding member of the band who first thought of the name 'Iron Maiden' back in the Seventies when he used to rehearse in his grandmother's front room; the leader of the gang who has led his troops through the ups and downs of a tumultuous 20-year recording career; the bass player with the sound so distinctive it could be the rattle of machine-gun fire as it thunders out of the speakers on album after album of superb take-no-prisoners rock music; the football fanatic who could have played for his beloved West Ham United (where he was on the books, briefly, as a teenager) before abandoning a budding career as a soccer star for a lifetime of over-the-top metal mayhem; and the talented songwriter who, alone, is responsible for some of the greatest musical moments in a career over- burdened with such jewels - from early mould-breaking masterworks like 'Rime Of the Ancient Mariner' to latter day creations like the towering 'Fortunes Of War' or, most recently, the anthemic 'Clansman', from last year's superb 'Virtual XI' collection...what is there, at this stage of the game, that I can tell you that most of you don't already know about this hugely charismatic figure?