Arthur Brown

Arthur Wilton Brown (born 24 June 1942) is an English rock singer and songwriter best known for his flamboyant theatrical performances and his powerful, wide-ranging operatic voice.He has been a significant influence on a wide range of musicians due to his vocal style, wild stage persona, and concepts; he is considered to be a pioneer of shock rock and progressive rock and has had an influence on heavy metal music. Brown has been lead singer of various groups, most notably the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come, followed by a varied solo career as well as associations with Hawkwind, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Klaus Schulze and Frank Zappa.He is best known for his 1968 single "Fire", reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart and Canada, and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100. Following the success of the single "Fire", the press would often refer to Brown as "The God of Hellfire", in reference to the opening shouted line of the song, a moniker that exists to this day.