Dennis Wilcock
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Dennis Wilcock was the second singer for the band Iron Maiden. He was in the band only briefly, from 1976 to 1977. Wilcock used many special effects onstage with Maiden, including fake blood and pyrotechnics, and used face paint similar to Kiss.
In 1977, he had an argument with Dave Murray after a gig which resulted in the guitarist leaving Maiden to form a new band with former Maiden guitarist Terry Wapram.
In 1979 Dennis joined North London hard rock band Gibraltar as lead vocalist. After rehearsals the band took up a weekly residency at the Ruskin Arms, East Ham. The Ruskin Arms best being known for being the starting place for bands such as The Small Faces and Iron Maiden.
Gibraltar were formed in 1978 by guitarist Tony Miles, previously of Tush, former musical collaborator with Phil Collen of Def Leppard, and drummer Jim Lassen. Many auditions were undertaken to find the blend of musicians and ended up with several line-ups with a strong Iron Maiden flavour.
First to join was ex-Maiden guitarist Tony Parsons and his bass playing brother Steve. Ex-Maiden guitarist Bob Sawyer also featured at one point. However, it wasn't until Dennis joined, along with ex-Tush bassist Mickey Tickton, that the band stabilised. Jim Lassen later left for personal reasons and was replaced by ex-Maiden drummer Ron Matthews
Gibraltar finally parted company in 1981 but not before having recorded a demo at Spaceward Studios, Cambridge. Iron Maiden had incidentally recorded their first demos in the same studio.
The band briefly reunited in the late 80's to play a number of benefit gigs. The line-up for these was Dennis Wilcok, Tony Miles, Mickey Tickton and drummer "Spanner", former drummer for ex-Bad Company guitarist Dave Colwell.
Dennis left music to pursue a career in life insurance.
