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Former Eurovision finalist Sam Ryder has spoken about how Iron Maiden changed his life.
The Space Man singer, who represented the UK at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest and came second in the grand final, discusses his love for the heavy metal band while competing on BBC programme Celebrity Race Around The World on Wednesday.
After spotting a passerby in Indonesia wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt, he explains how the band’s 1988 UK chart-topping album Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son made him fall “in love with music”.
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“I went to a Catholic school,” says Ryder. “We were on a school trip to a nunnery, and I got on a bus, and on the floor was a CD. It was facing shiny side up. I turned it over: it’s Iron Maiden, Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. As soon as I heard that, I was like, this is it! That’s when I fell in love with music. Fate put Iron Maiden into my life and it changed my world.”
He adds that he’s seen the band live 15 times.
Ryder, also known for his performances as the title character in West End musical Jesus Christ Superstar this year, has made no secret of his love for rock’n’roll. Talking to Classic Rock in 2023, he called Maiden’s Seventh Son… the greatest album of all time.
“I put it in my Walkman [after picking the CD up from the schoolbus floor], but nothing would play because it was so beaten up apart from one song, The Evil That Men Do,” he recalled. “I was blown away; the melody, the galloping, the power, the passion… I was an Iron Maiden convert from that day.”
On top of that, in 2022, Ryder sang a stirring rendition of Queen’s Somebody To Love with Brian May, Roger Taylor and Foo Fighters during a tribute show to the Foos’ late drummer Taylor Hawkins at Wembley Stadium. Ryder reunited with May the following year on the singer’s single Fought & Lost.
Celebrity Race Across The World is a reality TV game show where celebrities have to compete in travelling from one destination to another. It’s currently in its fourth series, where participants, who get to double up with a companion of their choice, must travel from Kuching, Malaysia to Melbourne, Australia.
Ryder is buddied up with his best friend and tour manager, Kaz. Other contestants include fellow English singer Ella Eyre, TV presenter Jeff Stelling and media personality Princess Andre. The show’s next episode will air via BBC One and iPlayer on Wednesday, November 11, at 8pm UK.
Meanwhile, Maiden are gearing up to bring their 50th-anniversary Run For Your Lives world tour to Australia and New Zealand, starting with shows at Spark Arena in Auckland on Saturday and Sunday. The tour will wrap up with a North American leg in the spring. See their schedule and get tickets via their website.
