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Eddie The Head

Iron Maiden

Project
Group
Year
1980
Author
Derek Riggs
Country
UK
Genre
Heavy Metal
Nature
Creature
Role
Accompanies
Techniques
Illustration, Sculpture
Applications
Cover, Merchandising, Advertising, Scenography, Performance

He is a perennial fixture of the group’s artwork, appearing on all of their album covers (as well as most of their singles) and in their merchandise, which includes T-shirts, posters and action figures. On top of this, Eddie features in all of the band’s concerts, as well as in the first-person shooter video game, Ed Hunter, the mobile game, Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast and a pinball game with the same name in 2018.


Originally a papier-mâché mask used in Iron Maiden’s stage backdrop, the band transferred the name “Eddie” from the mask to an illustration by Derek Riggs, which was used as the band’s debut album cover. Although he is occasionally described as “zombie-like” in the press, Eddie assumes a different guise relating to the themes of individual albums and their corresponding world tours and has appeared as a cyborg, an Egyptian mummy and a lobotomised mental patient, and a samurai warrior amongst others.


01 - Cover of the 1983 single “The Trooper”.

02 - Cover of the first album “Iron Maiden”, 1980.

03 - Merchandising for 1984 album “Powerslave”.

04 - Cover of the album “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, 1988.

05 - Eddie’s statue in a 2016 concert.

Eddie The Head
Eddie The Head
Eddie The Head
Eddie The Head
Eddie The Head