Dave Murray

As a child, Murray and his 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 an early metalhead gang that brawled with skinheads and "had a rowdy couple of hairy hellraising years of being out on the street." He developed an interest in rock music when he was 15 after hearing "Voodoo Child" 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 Child' 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 building his record collection, Murray decided to take up the guitar. At 16, he formed his first band, a trio called Stone Free, which also included his friend Adrian Smith on vocals. Murray would answer ads in Melody Maker and regularly audition for different bands, leading to short stints in Electric Gas, "this sort of soft-rock, American-type band", and The Secret, "this sort of mad punk band". …

Murray and his wife Tamar have one daughter. Murray resides on the island of Maui, Hawaii in the US. In his spare time, Murray (along with bandmate Nicko McBrain) is an avid golfer, as seen in the Rock in Rio DVD and Iron Maiden: Flight 666; he revealed in 2002 that he tries to play "a couple of rounds in each week" and his handicap "can be anywhere from 15 to 24." During his early years in Iron Maiden he would also regularly go fishing with fellow bandmates Adrian Smith and Clive Burr.