PAUL DI'ANNO Will Be 'Forever Grateful' To IRON MAIDEN For Covering Remaining Cost Of His Surgeries And Treatment

In a new interview with Mexico's MB Live, ex-IRON MAIDEN singer Paul Di'Anno, who underwent a long-awaited knee surgery in Croatia last September, was asked if it's true that his former bandmates covered the remaining costs of his operations and treatment. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The last part of it they did, 'cause I ran of money. [Laughs] It's been very expensive. 'Cause when I first got sick, I had to get medevaced from Argentina, which cost me a lot of money, 'cause I had to [be transported] in a private medical plane and all that stuff back. When I arrived in England, I only had 45 minutes to live, with sepsis and that. So they pumped me full of antibiotics. I spent eight months in hospital. So the last bit of the treatment, the band was really cool — they paid for the last couple of months' worth of treatments, which was good. I'll be forever grateful for that."

Asked if he still gets royalties for his recordings with MAIDEN and his other post-MAIDEN projects, Di'Anno said: "Yeah. I still get royalties. I've just signed a deal with Sony Publishing, so they're getting all my royalties back in to me now. I mean, I'm owed fucking millions. I won't have to worry about all that, 'cause people keep ripping me off. All these assholes coming out with different… There's been about four different BATTLEZONE CDs coming out in different formats and vinyl and stuff. I don't see any of that money. But now we will, 'cause we've got Sony Records and Warner Brothers behind us, which is great."

Last December, Di'Anno spent time in Split, Croatia recording an album with his new project called WARHORSE. The band was formed earlier last year by Di'Anno and two guitarists/authors, Hrvoje Madiraca and Ante "Pupi" Pupačić.

WARHORSE previously recorded three songs, two of which — "Stop The War" and "The Doubt Within" — were released in May 2022 as a special DVD single along with Paul's video message to all fans who bought the single and thus helped raise funds for his recent knee operation.

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.

The WARHORSE single marked Di'Anno's first music release after a seven-year hiatus due to severe health issues.

Di'Anno played the first show since his operation on October 1, 2022 at the Keep It True Rising II festival in Würzburg, Germany.

In December, Paul was joined by Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G., well known in rock and metal circles for his work as Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist and as leader of his own band FIREWIND, for three concerts in Greece, where they played songs from MAIDEN's first two albums, "Iron Maiden" and "Killers".

In May 2022, 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.

Also in May 2022, 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.