Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain reveals details of stroke that he went through back in January 2023

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain reveals details of stroke that he went through back in January 2023

Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has made a surprising announcement today where he shared that he suffered a stroke back in January 2023 that left him paralyzed on his right side from his shoulder down. Obviously, McBrain recovered to a large extent since he handled the drumming on Iron Maiden‘s The Future Past Tour 2023, which started at Arena Stožice in Ljubljana, Slovenia back on May 28, 2023.

The following message was posted on Iron Maiden‘s Facebook page earlier today:

“A message from Nicko:

Hello Boys and Girls,

I hope this message finds you all well!

The reason I’m writing to you all today is to let you know of a very serious health problem that I have been through. In January I had a stroke, thank the Lord it was a minor one referred to as a TIA. It left me paralyzed on my right side from my shoulder on down, of course I was very worried that my career was over but with the love and support from my wife, Rebecca and family, my doctors, especially Julie my OT (Occupational Therapist), and my Maiden family I was able to bounce back to somewhere near 70% recovered. After 10 weeks of intense therapy it was almost time to start rehearsals for our tour. I feel it’s important to let you know about this now instead of earlier as I was mainly concerned with doing my job and concentrating on getting back to 100% fitness. I’m not there yet but by the grace of God I’m getting better and stronger as the weeks go by.

Thank you all for a most wonderful and magical tour so far, you have all been so amazing.

Well that’s it from me. God bless you all, stay safe and well and I look forward to seeing you all somewhere in time.

Nicko

Manager Rod Smallwood adds – “The rest of the band and l think that what Nicko has been able to achieve since his stroke shows incredible belief and willpower and we are all very proud of him. With this new and musically very complex set to learn ahead of him, he just got his head down and concentrated on recovery. We honestly did not know if he would be able to play a whole show until band rehearsals started in May and there was just so much support for him from the band and then genuine relief for all when we saw he was going to be able to do it!”

“Nicko being Nicko he did not want to make a fuss and cause any distraction to the tour at the time but, now that he is sure he will soon get there, he thought you fans should know straight from him rather than by any rumours!”

“We are all of course delighted he battled through this so well and look forward to many more tours together starting with the three Western Canada shows and Power Trip in California coming up in a couple of months time. We can’t wait! This tour is that good!”

#IronMaiden #NickoMcBrain #TheFuturePastTour“

McBrain also released a video message via Facebook where he stated (as transcribed by Sleaze Roxx):

“Hello boys and girls. Yes, the good looking one is with you here. You know it don’t you! You know you look at me and go, ‘That’s the good looking bloke from Iron Maiden, isn’t it? What’s his name?’ Well, it’s Nicko here boys and girls. I do have a personal — a very, very personal — message for everybody. I wasn’t well earlier this year as some of you have quite rightfully noticed. I will be writing a little press note if you like explaining everything that has happened to me and where I was in January of this year with my health issues that I went through. So I just wanted to let you know video wise so you can see how handsome and well I am looking because I am feeling really, really 100% well. I feel 100% well but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to give you lot a 100% of my performance. All will be explained later but I just wanted you to see how handsome and how well I am looking. Everything is good. God bless you all and keep rocking!”

Iron Maiden performing “Heaven Can Wait” live at Arena Stožice in Ljubljana, Slovenia on May 28, 2023 (video footage from Beco96‘s YouTube page):