THE BEAST

Ex- IRON MAIDEN   singer   Paul Di'Anno , who is currently in Croatia awaiting three major surgeries on his knees, will have the remaining costs of his operations and treatment funded by his former bandmates.

Earlier today (Monday, June 20),  Kastro Pergjoni , operations director of the Cart & Horses pub in Stratford, London, England where   IRON MAIDEN   made its live debut in 1976, who recently raised thousands of dollars so   Di'Anno   can undergo his long-delayed knee surgery, took to the   Cart & Horses Facebook page   to share the following message: "I am very excited to announce that the   IRON MAIDEN   team have kindly agreed to cover the remaining cost of   Paul Di'Anno 's operation. Not only are   IRON MAIDEN   the best band on this planet, they are kind-hearted and supported by an amazing team. As a result of this fantastic news, I will be closing the fundraising on the 21st June 2022."

Over the weekend,   Stjepan Juras , a   MAIDEN   fan and author of many   MAIDEN -related books, who is taking care of   Paul   while he has been receiving physiotherapy and lymphatic drainage treatments in Croatia,   revealed on Facebook   that the 64-year-old singer will undergo three operations over two days in July. The procedures will be followed by a period of hospital recovery, intensive care and rehabilitation, including re-learning of walking. If all goes well,   Paul   should be able to walk fully by the end of 2022. However, if the set of treatments fails, then a leg amputation will be the only option.

Last month,   Di'Anno   came face to face with   MAIDEN   bassist   Steve Harris   for the first time in three decades before the band's concert in Croatia.

Harris , whose group kicked off the 2022 leg of its   "Legacy Of The Beast"   world tour at the 22,000-capacity Arena Zagreb, came out before the show to greet a wheelchair-bound   Di'Anno   and chat with him for a few minutes.

After his friendly meeting with   Harris ,   Di'Anno   stuck around long enough to watch some of   MAIDEN 's performance before leaving near the end of the set to avoid a huge traffic jam after the show.

Di'Anno   spoke about his experience meeting   Harris   in person after all these years in a live video chat with Canada's   The Metal Voice . He said: "[That] weekend was absolutely amazing. 'Cause me and   Steve   [have exchanged messages] about football [in the past]. But we actually hadn't met [face to face] for a long time. And it was brilliant, because I met up with   Steve 's sister   Linda   first, whom I hadn't seen her in about 30 years. And then [seeing]   Steve   was amazing, and then [meeting up with   MAIDEN 's longtime manager]   Rod   [ Smallwood ] as well, it's made my whole year, actually. It was fantastic. It was pretty awesome."

Paul   went on to say that the last time he saw   Rod   was in 2013 when both he and   MAIDEN   performed — separately — at Brazil's   Rock In Rio   festival.

"I missed the   MAIDEN   show because I got swamped by bloody press and stuff, so I couldn't actually do anything to watch the band," he explained.

Asked if it was "awkward" meeting up with   Steve   for the first time in 30 years,   Paul   said: "No. It was great. I wish I wasn't in this sort of position [being in a wheelchair]. Yeah, it was quite emotional. If it had been the first time we spoke together in 30 years, it would have been maybe a little bit more weird. But, as I said, we talk about football and stuff like that, and   Steve   phoned me up a couple of times from [his home in] the Bahamas."

Calling himself and   Harris   two "happy-go-lucky geezers" from London's East End,   Paul   went on to say that he owes   Steve   dinner "big time, because he looked after my missus and son over in the States on the last   MAIDEN   tour in Connecticut, in Hartford. He really looked after them — gave them backstage VIP stuff and all of that. It was great. So when I get my legs back, I'll take him out to dinner."

According to   Paul ,   Steve   called him the day after the   MAIDEN   show in Croatia but he missed his call. "But I did text him back,"   Di'Anno   said.

Paul   also set the record straight about where he stands with respect to his former band, saying: "What annoys me is that everyone's spreading rumors around that we don't like each other and stuff like that. I ain't got nothing [against]   IRON MAIDEN   at all. I tell you, the show was brilliant on Sunday — absolutely amazing."

Di'Anno   recorded two classic albums with   IRON MAIDEN   — a self-titled effort in 1980 and   "Killers"   in 1981 — before being fired and replaced by   Bruce Dickinson . He went on to front a number of other bands, including   KILLERS   and   BATTLEZONE , and released several solo records.

More than a decade and a half ago,   Di'Anno   told   The Jersulam Post   that leaving the   MAIDEN   juggernaut behind was the best thing that ever happened to him, and that he had no bitter feelings toward his former bandmates. "I absolutely have no regrets about leaving   MAIDEN   — I wasn't right in the head at that time to be in the middle of all that," he said. "I was fed up and disillusioned; it would have been cheating the fans and myself if I had stayed. It was easy to walk away from, and I'm very happy the band got bigger and bigger."

Several years ago,   Di'Anno   told   Metal Thunder Radio   that he wasn't as involved with   MAIDEN 's songwriting as he would have liked. " Steve   had most of the words and the lyrics [to the band's first album] all written. That was some of the bones of contention that we had in the band — that I didn't get to write as much as I wanted to. 'Cause I am actually quite a prolific writer, but a lot of my songs were not accepted. 'Cause it's   Steve 's band, obviously."

He continued: "That first album was a revelation, I've gotta tell you. It was amazing. And the second album, for me, not so much. That's when I started to lose interest a little bit. But [we] still [had] great times — really great times."

Last month,   Paul   played his first full solo concert in seven years at the Bikers Beer Factory in Zagreb. The show was filmed and parts of it will be included in a documentary about   Di'Anno , to be directed by   Wes Orshoski , co-director and producer of the acclaimed 2010 film   "Lemmy"   about the   MOTÖRHEAD   icon.

The Zagreb concert was free to attend and was held as a way of thanking   Paul 's fans for their help during the most difficult time of his recovery. The show took place just a day before the   IRON MAIDEN 's gig at the Zagreb Arena.

Di'Anno   recorded two classic albums with   IRON MAIDEN   — a self-titled effort in 1980 and   "Killers"   in 1981 — before being fired and replaced by   Bruce Dickinson . He went on to front a number of other bands, including   KILLERS   and   BATTLEZONE , and released several solo records.

Di'Anno   recently teamed up with several Croatian musicians to form a new project called   WARHORSE .   WARHORSE   entered the studio to record three songs, two of which —   "Stop The War"   and   "The Doubt Within"   — have been released as a special limited-edition DVD single.

In February,   Di'Anno   outlined some of the recent health issues he has battled during an appearance on the   "Još Jedan"   podcast. He said at the time: "I caught sepsis [when an infection you already have triggers a chain reaction throughout your body] in 2015, and it almost killed me. And I spent eight months in a hospital in England. You've got a crucial 45 minutes to get as many antibiotics in you before you die, and they managed to do that, which was great. Then I spent eight months in a hospital, and then another three months in a care home. And while I was in there getting things done, on hospital visits, I caught MRSA [Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an infection caused by a type of staph bacteria that's become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat ordinary staph infections] there twice, in the hospital. So that was it. So it kept delaying things and delaying things… And then they took this knee out put this cement thing in. And it was only supposed to be in there for a year. And the first time they put that in, it broke, so they cut me open again and put another in. And that one is still in here. And while it's been in there this long, it's going toxic."

Di'Anno   reportedly underwent an operation in 2016 to remove a "rugby ball-sized abscess" on his lungs and required a knee-replacement operation on both knees after getting involved in several motorcycle accidents over the years.

Via Blabbermouth