‘I wore a flaming helmet to sing it’ … how The Crazy World of Arthur Brown made Fire

‘We left scorch marks on the ceilings of a lot of clubs’ … Arthur Brown. Photograph: Ron Howard/Redferns

Arthur Brown, singer, songwriter

I’d always loved flames. I don’t know if it’s anything to do with moving to London at the end of the war, when I was three and the East End was on fire. If you look into the centre of a blaze, you get a stillness in yourself. It’s like meditation, and that inspired me.