Dave Murray

David Michael Murray (born 23 December 1956) is an English guitarist, best known as a member of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He joined Iron Maiden early in its history, and is the second-longest serving member of the band after founder Steve Harris. He and Harris are the only members of Iron Maiden to have appeared on all of the band's studio albums.

Growing up in London, Murray became interested in rock music at 15 and formed his first band Stone Free with neighborhood friend Adrian Smith. He regularly answered advertisements seeking guitar players in Melody Maker, before first auditioning for Iron Maiden in 1976. After a brief hiatus, Murray rejoined Iron Maiden in 1978 and remains with the band to the present day.

As a child, Murray and his family lived in poverty and were constantly moving to different areas of London, which meant that he was often bullied and involved in fights. By the time his family settled in Clapton in 1970, Murray joined an early metalhead gang that brawled with skinheads and "had a rowdy couple of hairy hellraising years of being out on the street." He developed an interest in rock music when he was 15 after hearing "Voodoo Child" by Jimi Hendrix on the radio, about which he recalls, "everything changed, just like that. Getting into rock music wasn't like a gradual process for me; it was completely sort of extreme, totally black and white. I heard 'Voodoo Child' on the radio and I thought, 'Bloody hell! What is THAT? How do you do THAT?' And I started hanging around the rock music section of the record stores and buying albums, thinking about getting into the big time, wondering what that would be like."

After "hanging 'round record stores" and building his record collection, Murray decided to take up the guitar. At 16, he formed his first band, a trio called Stone Free, which also included his friend Adrian Smith on vocals. Murray would answer ads in Melody Maker and regularly audition for different bands, leading to short stints in Electric Gas, "this sort of soft-rock, American-type band", and The Secret, "this sort of mad punk band". With The Secret, he recorded under the name "Reggie Mental" and appeared on the single "The Young Ones" and the demo Café De Dance in 1977.

He auditioned for Iron Maiden in late 1976, eager to get back into "a more sort of heavy rock-type vibe." At the time the band already had two guitarists, Dave Sullivan and Terry Rance, who disapproved of Murray being permitted to audition, seeing it as a slight on their ability. The group's founder and bassist Steve Harris did not hesitate to choose Murray over Sullivan and Rance, later stating: "When the others made it plain that it was either them or Dave Murray, there was no choice. There was no way I was gonna let Dave go. Not only was he a nice bloke, he was just the best guitarist I'd ever worked with. He still is." After only a few months in the band, Murray was sacked following an argument with singer Dennis Wilcock.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.