Alice cooper biography facts

He’s been called the Godfather of Shock Rock. He’s also been called a threat to society. His wife calls him Vinnie. But for decades, Vincent Furnier has been known around the world as rock icon Alice Cooper. Alice turned 75 this week, and in that spirit, here are 7.5 things you should know one of popular music’s greatest showmen.

1. Not in the Family Business

Vincent Damon Furnier was born in Detroit on February 4, 1948. His father, Ether Moroni Furnier, was, ironically enough, an evangelist from The Church of Jesus Christ. Vincent was bitten by the rock and roll bug early on; by 16, he’d formed a band, The Earwigs, for a school talent show. The band would run through a series of names, including The Spiders and Nazz, before settling on something much more familiar: Alice Cooper.

2. The Boys in the Band

“Reflected” was the first single by the Alice Cooper Band (Uploaded to YouTube by Official Alice Cooper)

Vincent’s bandmates were all initially fellow members of the school cross-country team. They included Glen Buxton (guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass), John Tatum (rhythm guitar), and John Speer (drums). In 1966, while they were still The Spiders, classmate Michael Bruce replaced Tatum. The following year, Neal Smith replaced Speer on drums. The band had become Nazz when they discovered that Todd Rundgren’s band was already using Nazz. They decided that they wanted a moniker that would be ironically wholesome, given the dark nature of the music. Aiming to sound like somebody’s old aunt, the guys settled on Alice Cooper as the name of the band.

3. The Singer’s Name Is Alice?

“Be My Lover” by Alice Cooper (Uploaded to YouTube by Official Alice Cooper)

Vincent hadn’t intended on adopting Alice Cooper as his stage name. However, given his stage make-up (initially inspir

American singer (born 1948)

This article is about the musician. For his former rock band, see Alice Cooper (band). For other people named Alice Cooper, see Alice Cooper (disambiguation).

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock". He has drawn from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences.

Originating in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964, Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier, guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. The band released seven albums from 1969 to 1973 and broke up in 1975. Having legally changed his name to Alice Cooper, Furnier began a solo career that year with the concept album Welcome to My Nightmare. During his career he has sold over 50 million records.

Cooper has experimented with various musical styles, mainly hard rock, glam rock, heavy metal, and glam metal, as well as new wave,art rock, and industrial rock. He helped shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and has been described as the artist who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre". He is also known for his wit offstage, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide calling him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". Aside from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur, and, since 2004, a radio disc jockey (DJ) with his classic rock show Alice's Attic.

Early life

Vincent Damon Furnier was born on Febr

(1948-)

Who Is Alice Cooper?

Rock musician Alice Cooper formed his first band in high school and by the late 1960s had caught the attention of guitarist Frank Zappa. The group hit it big with several successful albums in the mid-1970s. Cooper went solo in 1974 and continued the success. In 2011, Cooper and his former band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early Years

Cooper was born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948, in Detroit. The son of a pastor, Cooper moved with his family when he was 12, first to California and later to Arizona, where the Furniers lived in a trailer park.

Cooper developed an early passion for music, and in high school he formed his first rock band. The group, first called the Earwigs and later renamed the Spiders, covered the bands — the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who — that Cooper adored.

After exhausting the local bar scene, the group moved to Los Angeles. By this time they had developed an angry, up-front and dark sound, which critics initially abhorred. However, with Cooper as its engaging front man, its music caught the attention of Frank Zappa, who inked the young musicians to a record deal.

Commercial Success

In 1969, the group, which had changed its name to Alice Cooper, released its first album, Pretties for You. A follow-up album, Easy Action, came out a year later.

Almost immediately, the group gained a reputation for outrageous performances. In one famous incident, a fan threw a live chicken on to the stage. Cooper responded by picking up the bird and throwing it into the air. When it landed back in the hands of the audience the chicken was torn into pieces. In an altered version of the story, Cooper killed the bird himself and then drank its blood.

Other theatrical acts included "murdering" infant dolls and using fake guillotines and electric chairs during performances. For his part, Cooper relished the shock that accompanied these performances. In 1

Alice Cooper is credited with being the godfather of Shock Rock. He was born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948 in Detroit, the son of a minister. His family moved to Phoenix where he started a high school band first called the Earwigs, then the Spiders, with some classmates. With Furnier as their lead singer they performed regularly around the Phoenix area and recorded their first single in 1965.

In 1968, Furnier and his band, renamed Alice Cooper, debuted in California. They chose the name because it was a severe contrast to the band’s image of villain-like characters in black clothes, with heavy theatrical makeup. An audition with Frank Zappa resulted in a three-album deal with Straight Records. When the accidental death of a chicken at a performance was misrepresented as Cooper biting off the chicken’s head, the band decided to take the attention of the press as a positive thing, further developing their image and giving rise to a subgenre of rock called Shock Rock.

With two unsuccessful albums behind them, in 1970 Alice Cooper returned to Detroit, thinking their gory theatrics would be more appreciated there than in California. In 1971, Love It to Death, the final album in their contract with Straight Records, produced their first successful single, “I’m Eighteen.”

In 1971 the band’s tour performances incorporated mock fights, gothic torture, and a staged execution in an electric chair, enhancing their Shock Rock reputation. In 1972 the title track single from School’s Out, became an instant hit and a rock classic. In 1973 the band released their most commercially successful album, Billion Dollar Babiesfollowed by their last album, Muscle of Love. Disagreements among band members prompted a hiatus.

In 1973, Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper to avoid legal problems over the ownership of the group name. Their last performance as a group was April 1974. In 1975 Cooper released his first solo album We