Former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley has spoken about being included on the list of members who will represent the legendary British heavy metal band at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026 induction, in a new interview with Paul Christine of the Hard Rock History Show. Blaze, who fronted Iron Maiden for five years and appeared on two of the group’s studio albums — 1995’s The X Factor and 1998’s Virtual XI — will be inducted alongside the band’s current lineup of singer Bruce Dickinson, bassist Steve Harris and guitarists Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Janick Gers, as well as former singer Paul Di’Anno, ex-guitarist Dennis Stratton and former drummers Nicko McBrain and Clive Burr.
Speaking about whether he would like to attend the ceremony, Bayley said (transcribed by Blabbermouth): “I would love to go. I would love to represent the band in a very positive way. I’d love to be a part of that. It’s a huge lifetime thing. Whatever you think about awards — we don’t get into it for awards, but I mean, you’re talking about Led Zeppelin being in there and all of that. So it’s huge, really. And it’s a kind of thing that I don’t think too much about, and so many people mention it: ‘Man, congratulations.’ And it’s really nice that… I mean, that is considered important by a lot of people, and so they consider me, and my work has been recognized, and that’s a really lovely feeling.”
Bayley added: “So I’d love to go to the presentation. I don’t know yet if I’m available at the moment. On my calendar, I’m not booked… There’s a couple of weeks in November I’m not booked. I’ve got no gigs. It falls on the presentation night. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, so I would love to go.”
The 2026 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony is set for Nov. 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will air on ABC and Disney+ the following month. Iron Maiden will be in the middle of an Australian tour that night, with dates booked Nov. 13 in Melbourne and Nov. 15 in Sydney. Earlier this month, Dickinson and Harris told Metal Hammer magazine that they would not attend the induction ceremony even if it did not conflict with their tour. Harris explained: “I don’t do those sort of things. I didn’t even go to the recent red-carpet thing for the [Iron Maiden] documentary. It’s not me.”
In a separate interview last month with Rev. Tom Brice of Sportzwire Radio, Bayley said: “Well, I don’t think any of us get into heavy metal and follow it as a profession to get awards, but it’s nice to be recognized…
“And the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame — Led Zeppelin, I mean, giant of giants, almost so big that they can’t be considered as part of normal music. And to be part of that and all the other wonderful artists, to be considered there with the work that I’ve done and the songs that I’ve written and the music that we’ve done, it’s just incredible, really.”
Bayley continued: “What’s interesting, whereas I might go, ‘Well, I’m not in it for awards,’ for a lot of my fans, it’s important for them. For a lot of my fans, it’s important. They think, ‘Yes, he should be recognized.’ And so that’s really, really cool, that my fans enjoy the fact that their favorite singer has been recognized by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.”
Iron Maiden has been eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame since 2004 but had only been nominated twice before this cycle — in 2021 and in 2023, when the band finished fourth in the fan vote. The two Maiden albums Bayley appeared on sold considerably less than the band’s prior releases and were the group’s lowest-charting titles in the U.K. since 1981’s Killers.
The only metal or metal-adjacent acts to have been inducted into the Rock Hall to date are Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Kiss, Van Halen, Rush, Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne and Deep Purple. Kiss, eligible since 1984, did not receive its first nomination until 2009 and was finally inducted in 2014. Deep Purple was eligible since 1993 but not inducted until 2016. Motörhead has yet to be recognized by the institution despite its influence on the genre.
