Dave Murray (musician)

Dave Murray
Dave Murray live in San José 26 February 2008
Background information
Birth name	David Michael Murray
Born	(1956-12-23) 23 December 1956 (age 60) Edmonton, London, England
Genres	Heavy metal, hard rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1972–present
Labels	EMI
Associated acts	Iron Maiden, Urchin
Notable instruments
Gibson Les Paul

David Michael "Dave" Murray (born 23 December 1956) is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as one of the earliest members of the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Along with the group's bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris, Murray has appeared on all of the band's releases.

Growing up in various areas of London, Murray became a member of a skinhead gang before he took an interest in rock music at 15 and formed his own band, Stone Free, with childhood friend Adrian Smith. After leaving school at 15, he regularly answered advertisements which appeared in Melody Maker before auditioning for Iron Maiden in 1976. A short while later, Murray was sacked following an argument with the group's lead vocalist, Dennis Wilcock, and spent six months in Smith's band, Urchin. In the Spring of 1978, Murray was asked to rejoin Iron Maiden following Wilcock's departure, in which he has remained to this day.

As a child, Murray's family lived in poverty and were constantly moving to different areas of London, which meant that he was often bullied and involved in fights. By the time his family settled in Clapton in 1970, Murray joined a skinhead gang and "had a violent couple of years of being out on the street." He developed an interest in rock music when he was 15 after hearing "Voodoo Chile" by Jimi Hendrix on the radio, about which he recalls, "everything changed, just like that. Getting into rock music wasn't like a gradual process for me; it was completely sort of extreme, totally black and white. I heard 'Voodoo Chile' on the radio and I thought, 'Bloody hell! What is THAT? How do you do THAT?' And I started hanging around the rock music section of the record stores and buying albums, thinking about getting into the big time, wondering what that would be like." After "hanging 'round record stores" and acquiring several Hendrix and blues albums, Murray decided to take up the guitar. At 16, he formed his first band, a trio called Stone Free, which also included Adrian Smith on vocals, who would also become a member of Iron Maiden in 1980. From there, Murray would answer ads in Melody Maker and regularly audition for different bands at the weekend, leading to short stints in Electric Gas, "this sort of soft-rock, American-type band," and The Secret, "this sort of mad punk band," with whom he would record a single, "Café De Dance", in 1975.