Nicko McBrain is putting his story on paper. Harper Nonfiction will publish Hello Boys And Girls!, the Iron Maiden drummer’s autobiography, on October 22, 2026, in hardback, ebook, and audio formats.
McBrain joined Iron Maiden in December 1982, replacing Clive Burr ahead of the Piece of Mind album and tour — a connection that had already been established when his former band Trust supported Maiden on the “Killers” U.K. leg in 1981. Where Burr had a punk-inflected, hard-hitting style, McBrain brought dexterity and flair, giving primary songwriter Steve Harris the rhythmic latitude to take the band into more adventurous territory. He wound up the third-longest-serving member behind Harris and guitarist Dave Murray.
Pre-order your copy today at this location.
“I’m very excited and honoured to be working with the wonderful Harper Nonfiction team on my very own book full of lots of fun stories, anecdotes, and of course my incredible experiences with some of the greatest musicians and performers from the ’70s, ’80s and beyond!” McBrain said. “I am blessed to be able to finally share my path to where I am today, in my own words, with the world.”
The 73-year-old British musician announced his retirement on December 7, 2024, with his final Maiden performance that same night at Allianz Parque in São Paulo, Brazil. His replacement, Simon Dawson, was a session drummer and longtime collaborator with Harris in British Lion. Health had been the defining factor in the decision: McBrain suffered a stroke in August 2023 that temporarily left him partially paralyzed, and had been diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer in 2018 — a diagnosis he kept largely quiet until 2021.
Speaking about his exit in a July 2025 interview, McBrain was candid about the toll: “I had my health issues, which were one of the primary reasons that I decided to hang it up with the guys. And I wasn’t doing the songs justice because of the handicap that I had. And it wasn’t fair to everybody else in the band either. They supported me 100 percent through the ‘The Future Past Tour’, and that was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of brothers to support me through my darkest hour.”
He addressed the performance specifics head-on: “I actually got told off at rehearsals [in 2024] because I was playing the songs too fast, ’cause I’d been playing with [my Florida-based side project] Titanium Tart before I went off and did the rehearsals in Australia with Maiden.” The real issue, as he described it, was finesse rather than tempo — the drum fills he had executed for 42 years were no longer landing the way they needed to. The decision followed.
Hello Boys And Girls! promises backstage stories, tour tales, and the kind of unfiltered candor that tends to separate the good rock memoirs from the rest.
