Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson is now cancer free, but his battle was bigger than first reported. In the band's initial press release, it was divulged that Dickinson had a cancerous tumor on the back of his tongue, but the frontman reveals in a new interview that he had another lump in his neck.

While on hand to accept the O2 Silver Clef by Nordiff Robbins honor on July 3 in London for their "outstanding contribution to U.K. music," Dickinson answered some questions regarding his health. He told the BBC, "I've been very fortunate to have a really good bounce back, and everybody says, 'Hey, it's gone.'"

When asked how big the tumor was, Dickinson replied, "I had two actually. One was three and a half centimeters, the size of a golf ball, and the other was two and half centimeters and getting a bit bigger." He added, "[The doctors] had a poke around and went, 'You have head and neck cancer."

As for his recovery, Dickinson says he is doing well but it will take some time before his singing voice is at full strength. The band plans to release a new album, The Book of Souls, on Sept. 4, but will not be playing any shows until 2016.

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