Former IRON MAIDEN Singer PAUL DI'ANNO To Undergo Long-Delayed Knee Surgery This Week
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Former IRON MAIDEN vocalist Paul Di'Anno will undergo his long-delayed knee surgery later this week.
The 63-year-old musician, who has battled a number of health issues in recent years, traveled to Croatia to have the operation, which will be performed by a doctor who is a fan of Di'Anno's music.
Earlier today, Kastro Pergjoni, operations director of the Cart & Horses pub in Stratford, London, England where IRON MAIDEN made its live debut in 1976, shared a photo of him with Di'Anno and Paul's surgeon at Poliklinika Ribnjak in Zagreb, and he included the following message: "How about this — out of the blue, the doctor here is big Di'Anno fan. Paul you're in safe hands".
Di'Anno reportedly underwent an operation in 2016 to remove a "rugby ball-sized abscess" on his lungs and required a knee-replacement operation on both knees after getting involved in several motorcycle accidents over the years. As a result, Di'Anno was forced to sit down while performing at his most recent shows.
A crowdfunding campaign to help Di'Anno with medical costs associated with his treatment recently raised more than £9,401 (approximately $12,500).
Pergjoni, who has been behind Cart & Horses since 2016, leasing the pub from the building's owners who are converting the beer garden and car park into flats, discussed his fundraising efforts during a 2020 appearance on the "Uncle Steve's Iron Maiden Zone" podcast. Asked if he has approached the members of IRON MAIDEN themselves to contribute in some way to the Di'Anno campaign, Kastro said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Myself, no, I haven't, to be honest, because I don't wanna put things… What's the best way to say it now? It's not up to me to go to them, because I have no connections with IRON MAIDEN themselves. Even when I [need to approach] Steve [Harris, IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder], I go through his friends or his sister sometimes or close friends that he's got to get stuff from him. But to go to MAIDEN for something that is related to MAIDEN, I don't think that it is me personally, or Cart & Horses, the ones to contact them. I'd love if they come forward and just cover whatever is left or say whatever, but I don't think it's down to me to go to MAIDEN. Because [Paul's] got friends and he's got connections with MAIDEN more than I have, so if MAIDEN wanted to, or if somebody else wanted to, they would have done it. But so far, nothing, unfortunately, no."
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.
In March 2011, Di'Anno was sentenced to nine months in a U.K. prison after he falsely collected government benefits by claiming he suffered nerve damage to his back that prevented him from working.
Di'Anno completed his first North American tour in early 2010, 17 years after he was deported following a prison term for guns and drug offenses.
In a December 2019 interview with the Spanish web site Mariskalrock.com, Di'Anno said that he was lucky to be alive after developing a deadly infection several years ago. "I nearly died four years ago," Paul revealed. "I had sepsis in Argentina. I was very, very sick. I just about made it home to England and then straight to hospital. I've been in and out of the hospital for four years now. I had operations done on both legs. I [haven't been able to] walk for four years. It's been very, very tough for me at the moment. Because of the sepsis, I keep getting infections, so they can't do the operations on my legs and stuff like that when they want to do them. And it's been very difficult. At the moment, I've only got one knee. The other knee has been taken out, but there's no new knee put in, so it's been a cement thing. But I wanna play, obviously, but I can't do that until I'm fixed. I haven't stopped playing music, and I've got no plans to retire — I wanna keep playing — but I need to get well."
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
