Who Is Benjamin Breeg? Eddie?

Posted by Real World on August 12, 2006 @ 09:17

At first I dismissed it but following some posts in the forum, the website www.benjaminbreeg.co.uk intrigues me. The website appears to be a kind of diary of a man searching for his cousin "Benjamin Breeg". Recently the author claims to have finally found some artwork painted by his Romanian cousin. (see left) Anyone else see the face of Eddie staring out at us?

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            <td class="verysmall"><div align="center">Breeg Painting</td>
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    </tr>      </table>  However, the painting also appears in the video for the Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg AND the image also appears in the CD artwork for the single (see right)<table width='120' border="0" align='right' cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
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      <td>[![](/img/news/t_breeg_booklet.jpg)](/img/news/full/breeg_booklet.jpg)</td>
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      <td><table width="120" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">

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            <td class="verysmall"><div align="center">Breeg Single Artwork</td>
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The website seems very well done but it would now appear that the site was set up by Sanctuary as a way of bringing the fans together, getting them taking about who Banjamin Breeg is and stirring up interest in the latest Maiden single. A marketing ploy? Perhaps but its a fun thing to do and credit to the band/management for coming up with the idea.

So who IS Benjamin Breeg? Well the Maiden artwork claims he died in 1978 with unknown birthdate and banjaminbreeg.co.uk claims he was born in London on September 3rd, 1939. Apparently he's a painter from Romania and he has written four books. According to the website, the message on his gravestone translates to "HERE LIES A MAN OF WHOM LITTLE IS KNOWN." (no kidding)

You can be sure that more clues will appear on benjaminbreeg.co.uk leading up to the release of the album :)

... Maidenfans team's 2 cents is that Eddie could very well be the Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg ! You read it here first !

16 Comments

Anonymous said:

yeah i was on that website yesterday and it smacked of a publicicty stunt

#12484, August 12, 2006 @ 11:15

Anonymous said:

it's just marketing or Steve having fun fooling people

#12493, August 12, 2006 @ 17:52

Anonymous said:

Yup.. Steve's havin' a lot of fun at the moment.. Hahah! Though I must say.. It's quite funny that 'Arry's doing this :D

#12501, August 13, 2006 @ 09:43

Maidenfreak said:

the whole "Breeg = Eddie" thing has been discussed a million times on the other fanboards already RW, it's not really a "you read it here first"...

#12508, August 13, 2006 @ 19:36

The Saint said:

It's not RW who added the comment, it's me :-) I know it's been discussed, but we still announce it, heh ;-)

#12509, August 13, 2006 @ 21:54

Anonymous said:

benjamin breeg is a synonym for steve`s life before he started being a musician with / in iron maiden. as we all know, maiden will call it quits the next few years, so steve will resurrect his old life without maiden. so eddie basically is digging out steves old life on the cover which symbolizes the death od maiden and the resurrection / reincarnation of steve as a "normal" person....

#12515, August 14, 2006 @ 15:05

Anonymous said:

no way, he said they have to have at least 15 sudio albums ! :p

#12520, August 14, 2006 @ 22:17

Anonymous said:

a search of benjamin breeg will pull up the wikpedia site concerning the name which explains it all as a marketing ploy by iron maiden, brilliant at that. need further proof? the painting you see appears in the video for Benjamin Breeg at the 5:14 mark. curious as to what happens on 8/18/06

#12521, August 15, 2006 @ 01:48

Anonymous said:

Yay I´ve got that single cd and Limited "LP" :D

#12525, August 15, 2006 @ 11:37

Anonymous said:

I still haven't noticed anyone to connect Ben Breeg with... Derek Riggs. Even the pronounciation of the names is close! And what about Derek's paintings? Aren't they just like coming out of his nightmares? And could this painting be done by him, and not by someone like Melvin Grant, or the guy, who has drawn the album artwork?
This is what I suppose - Derek Riggs is returning as a painter for Maiden.

Another interesting fact - did you forget what Kevin Shirley wrote in his diary of the Maiden recording session? Well, he mentioned a writer, who they used to call during the recordings Billy Bunter (or something like that)... I strongly don't believe that Maiden associate the reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg with Eddie!

Stefan, Bulgaria

#12530, August 15, 2006 @ 20:08

Anonymous said:

i know the end of the story: benjamin breeg appeared 1981 and met eddie... what you can see of him are his arms on the killers album ;) eddie KILLED b. breeg...
i would laugh if my theorie is the right one...
greetings from germany!

#12542, August 16, 2006 @ 20:49

Anonymous said:

I think it's something 'bout Riggs too!
The painting of 'Breeg' is Eddie, who created the 1st painting of Eddie? Yeah, yeah...

And Caveman even said we would have a surprise, or something like that...Everything is possible, And it would be very good if Derek forget what happened at Brave New World...

And - I'm not sure if it was Di'anno or him - but of them had the nick of 'Benjamin'...

Let's pray to it doesn't be Di'anno back again!
hahaha!

And I thought since the beggining it can be an 'Arry's joke too...

#12548, August 17, 2006 @ 00:42

Anonymous said:

And something more, do you remember Steve said we would have to discover who was Breeg by ourselves?

And, if it's and Maiden's joke, the history can also finish with the re-appear(or reincarnation) of Benjamin Breeg, as this Romenian Guest, and so our surprise will be FINALLY be shown?

Rafael, but not Breeg...

#12549, August 17, 2006 @ 00:46

Anonymous said:

not sure if it means anything but a huge theme with Maiden is war. On Sept. 3rd, 1939 (B. Breeg's B-Day) Britain declared war on Germany.

#12571, August 18, 2006 @ 16:19

Anonymous said:

The fact the B.B disappeared in 1978 is interesting, because it was the same year Maiden started using Eddie. silent_planer

#12621, August 20, 2006 @ 13:10

Anonymous said:

I thought that on august 18 the truth about Benjamin Breeg would be discovered...? :s But there's no news on benjaminbreeg.co.uk

#12625, August 20, 2006 @ 15:24