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Arthur Brown (musician)

See Arthur Brown for others with the same name.

Brown on the cover of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's "Nightmare" single
Brown on the cover of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's "Nightmare" single

Arthur Brown, born Arthur Wilton in Whitby, Yorkshire on 24 June 1942, is an English rock and roll singer known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on shock-rocker Alice Cooper.

Contents

  • 1 History
  • 2 American Tours
  • 3 Retreating to Britain
  • 4 Later career
  • 5 Hawkwind association
  • 6 Selected Discography
  • 7 References
  • 8 See also
  • 9 External links

History

Brown attended London University and Reading University and studied philosophy and law, but was also interested in taking advantage of his large vocal range of 4 octaves. He still can sing at this range today.

Before Arthur Brown became known as a solo artist he was a temporary member of a London based R&B Soul Ska group called The Ramong Sound which would soon morph into the hitmaking soul group The Foundations. By the time that The Foundations had been signed up to PYE Records Brown had left the group.

First coming to public awareness in the late 1960s, Brown quickly became known for his outlandish performances, which included the use of a burning helmet (notably on Top of the Pops) whilst miming to the track "Fire" (a practice employed by most of the show's performers; Brown himself had to mime to the tune as the strap holding his helmet to his head inhibited the mobility of his jaw). Perhaps his most memorable mishap occurred in Windsor, England, when the methanol that fueled his crown poured over his head and caught fire. Fortunately, two bystanders doused the flames by pouring beer on Brown’s head, preventing any serious injury.

He is also purported to have performed part of some gigs in the nude. His debut album, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968) was a surprise hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The album included Pete Townshend as producer, and featured a major hit single entitled "Fire" (not to be confused with many later songs of the same title or the previously released song by Jimi Hendrix). His group was also called The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and included Vincent Crane (later of Atomic Rooster) on Hammond Organ with Drachen Theaker on Drums and Nick Greenwood on Bass. At almost the end of the band's second US tour, Drachen was replaced by Carl Palmer (later of Emerson, Lake and Palmer), though Drachen returned after Carl left.

American Tours

Arthur Brown rose to fame owing in part to his outrageous live show. As a result, Brown's live show got him kicked off of a tour with Jimi Hendrix, outdoing Hendrix himself. On one tour, he waited until sunset when his band was playing, and then he had a winch lower him onto the middle of the stage from above, wearing a suit and helmet welded from sheet metal. An awe-inspiring sight, parts of the suit were completely alit in lighter fluid and sparklers. The perception that he was always on the verge of setting fire to the stage led later concert organizers to demand he post a bond with them if he could not show he was adequately insured against uncontrollable fire and fire damages.

Retreating to Britain

Though Brown never managed to release another recording as commercially successful as "Fire", he did release three noteworthy albums as Kingdom Come in the early 1970s. (Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come should not be confused with the hard rock/glam band of the same name from the 1980s.) Kingdom Come albums featured a wild mix of progressive rock and demented theatrics, including Brown's simulated crucifixion. Kingdom Come often performed in full costume with makeup, and photos of Brown from this period clearly show him sporting a distinctive eye makeup scheme that Alice Cooper borrowed. The third and final Kingdom Come album, Journey, is noteworthy for being one of the first (if not the first) rock albums to feature a drum machine.

In 1979, he provided the vocals for the German synth musician Klaus Schulze on his album "Dune".

In later years, Brown released several solo albums and also contributed vocals to the song "The Tell Tale Heart" on the Poe-based concept album Tales of Mystery and Imagination by The Alan Parsons Project. In 1973, Arthur Brown also had a small but meaningful part in The Who's rock opera movie Tommy as "The Priest". Brown moved to Austin, Texas for a time, in the 1980s, and obtained a Master's degree in counselling.

Later career

Arthur Brown playing at the Wicker Man Festival, 2005
Arthur Brown playing at the Wicker Man Festival, 2005

Brown returned to England in 1996. In 1997, he re-recorded "Fire" with German band Die Krupps.

Arthur then went on another musical journey of performing with an acoustic band, initially with Rick Pattern on guitar and Stuart ? on Guitar, this band then added Stan Adler (Cello and Bass) and Malcolm Mortimer (Percussion) and produced the well received Tantric Lover CD.

This line up didn’t last, and Rick and Arthur put a new band together with multi instrumentalist Nick Pynn, Straight away they started doing more and more festivals and international tours, then the big break came in 2002 when Arthur was asked to support Robert Plant on his Dreamland Tour, by now Rick had been replaced by Chris Bryant.

Arthur was getting much more media exposure now as well as playing many gigs all over the world, mostly with his 'Giant Pocket Orchestra' but also with new band Instant Flight, who perform in the same style as the original band in the 60s.

Arthur has released 25 albums, and 2 new albums are due out soon.

Brown reunited the surviving members of Kingdom Come (except Des Fisher) in 2005, for a one-off concert at The Astoria in London, performing material from Kingdom Come's album Galactic Zoo Dossier, with an encore of "Spirit Of Joy". This show won Arthur the Showman Of The Year award from Classic Rock Magazine.

Hawkwind association

The music of Kingdom Come has often been compared to Hawkwind. Brown has had a number of associations with Hawkwind. In 1973, he was one of the performers on Robert Calvert's album Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters, together with most other Hawkwind members of the time. In 2001 and 2002, Brown made several guest appearances at live Hawkwind concerts, subsequently touring with them, though usually billed as a 'guest vocalist'.

In their tour of December 2002, Hawkwind played several songs by Arthur Brown from the Kingdom Come era, along with "Song Of The Gremlin" which Brown had sung on Captain Lockheed; this was documented on the Hawkwind DVD Out Of The Shadows.

Most Recently Arthur Brown provided vocals on 2 of the tracks on Hawkwind's latest studio Album 'Take Me to Your Leader' which was released in 2005. The most notable of which was the spoken word 'A Letter To Robert' where Brown recalls a converstion with the late Robert Calvert.

Selected Discography

Albums

References

  1. Peisner, David. "Rock Stars Who've Caught Fire Onstage!", Blender Magazine Online, February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-27. (in English) 

See also

External links