Nicko McBrain’s Titanium Tart

For three decades and counting, Nicko McBrain’s powerful yet virtuosic drumming has been the engine driving British heavy metal institution Iron Maiden. And although his irreverent, fun-loving personality has sometimes distracted from McBrain’s superlative musicianship (and provided some much-needed comic relief for this oftentimes all-too-serious heavy metal machine), his body of work on-stage and on record have justifiably made him one of the most influential drummers in heavy metal.

Michael Henry “Nicko” McBrain was born on June 5, 1954 in the Hackney suburb of London, England, and took up playing drums at an early age after watching a television performance by jazz great Joe Morello, of the Dave Brubeck Quartet fame. McBrain became a dedicated practitioner of his instrument but agreed to stay in school long enough to earn an engineering degree at his parents’ behest before becoming a professional musician. By the mid-’70s, he was quickly building his career resume, putting in time with blues-rockers Streetwalkers, with whom he recorded two albums (1975’s Downtown Flyers and 1976’s Red Card), then Canadian guitar hero Pat Travers for another pair of LPs (Makin’ Magic and Putting It Straight, both in 1977), amid frequent session and road work. Come the ’80s, McBrain had taken over the drum stool for rising French hard rockers Trust, recording with them on 1981’s Marche ou Crève, but eventually tiring of the long distance cross-Channel commute.