Michael Henry "Nicko" McBrain (born 5 June 1952) is an English musician, best known as the drummer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden since 1982.

McBrain was born in Hackney, London, and first wanted to learn the drums at a young age after watching Joe Morello performing with The Dave Brubeck Quartet on television.

[1] McBrain recalls that he was eleven or twelve before his father bought him his first drum kit, "which was basically one snare, one tom-tom, one cymbal, two drumsticks and a pair of brushes.

McBrain soon left to join "The Wells Street Blues Band", which renamed themselves "The Axe" in 1969,[4] a group which played their own material.

[8] In 1975, he began playing with Streetwalkers,[6] before joining Pat Travers,[9] singer Jenny Darren,[10] McKitty and then the French band, Trust,[11][9] with whom he met Iron Maiden for the first time, while touring together in 1981.

[13] He formed a close partnership with bassist Steve Harris,[13] and completed what many critics consider the band's "definitive" line-up,[14] releasing a series of gold and platinum selling albums throughout the 1980s.

[15] While the band's line-up went through several changes during the 1990s, McBrain remained in Iron Maiden, and since the return of Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson in 1999 the group has undergone a resurgence in popularity,[16] and are now considered by some as "bigger than ever".

He received only one songwriting credit on an album, for "New Frontier", from 2003's Dance of Death,[19] which expresses his opposition to human cloning, arising from his religious beliefs.

[20] He had previously received two songwriting credits for non-album tracks: 1984's "Mission From 'Arry", which was actually a recording of a backstage argument with Steve Harris, and 1992's "Nodding Donkey Blues", which were B-sides of the singles "2 Minutes to Midnight" and "Be Quick or Be Dead", respectively.

On 7 December 2024, McBrain announced his retirement from touring with Iron Maiden,[21] with Dickinson stating that he still remains as a member of the band.

"[24] The band confirmed Nicko's live replacement to be Simon Dawson, who is the drummer for British Lion, Steve Harris' hard rock side project.

[25] McBrain's drumming has been an important element of Iron Maiden's sound from 1983's Piece of Mind onwards, with guitarist Adrian Smith remarking that, "he always had the chops and the technique, but in Maiden he really exploded, to the point where a lot of stuff we did after he joined was then founded on his playing, all those busy patterns he does, displaying tremendous technique.

"[13] As described in detail on the band's 2004 documentary, Piece of Mind's opening track, "Where Eagles Dare", famously displays McBrain's ability to use the single drum pedal very quickly, plus his rapid tom fills.

[27] McBrain often employs the back end of his left hand drum stick to allow for more powerful "snare hits".

[33] In 1991, McBrain released an instructional drum video, entitled Rhythms of the Beast (not related to the above book of the same name), which was re-released on DVD in 2010.

[59] In reference to his appearance on the show, McBrain's drum kit has since been decorated with a Sooty puppet, which is often dressed accordingly with the band's corresponding tours.

[75] On 3 August 2023, McBrain released a statement via the bands' YouTube page,[76] explaining in a video that he had been unwell in January 2023.

After 10 weeks of intensive physical therapy, McBrain was able to join the rest of the band at rehearsals in May 2023, ahead of their European leg of the Future Past World Tour.

Manager Rod Smallwood put out a statement saying that "The rest of the band and l think that what Nicko has been able to achieve since his stroke shows incredible belief and willpower and we are all very proud of him.