Alice Cooper

## **Biography:**

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans almost sixty years.

## Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper with Boa Constrictor in concert 1977.

### Affiliation

* Hard rock
* Shock rock
* Glam rock
* Heavy metal

### Occupation

* Singer
* Songwriter
* Actor

## Links

### Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/AliceCooper

With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by many music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock ".

He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences

He began his musical career when he organized several fellow members of his high-school track team into the Earwigs, a band that sang parodies of Beatles songs, originally for a school talent show.

Later performing as the Spiders, they continued playing cover versions of well-known rock songs and became locally popular.

Shortly after they graduated from high school, the group moved to Los Angeles. They began writing their own songs and changed the band’s name to Alice Cooper.

The band got their first big break playing at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles one night in 1969 when Frank Zappa discovered them and signed them to his record label.

After two albums-and relocating to Detroit -- they were signed by Warner Bros., hooked up with famous producer Robert Ezrin and came out with their third album, the breakthrough "Love It to Death" in 1971.

Several albums followed, including "Killer", the highly successful "School's Out", "Billion Dollar Babies" and "Muscle of Love".

The band made an appearance in the movie Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) and their own theatrically released documentary Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper (1974). Alice himself also starred in an episode of The Female Instinct (1972).

The original Alice Cooper band broke up in 1975, with the lead singer getting his name legally changed to Alice Cooper -- and performing under the name ever since

Same year Alice as a solo artist completed the album "Welcome to My Nightmare" and his incredibly theatrical tour. It was on this tour that he met his future wife Sheryl Cooper, who had been hired as a dancer.

Along with the album and tour came a television special, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare (1975), and both included dialog from horror movie legend Vincent Price.

Alice made a number of other television and movie appearances in the second half of the decade, including The Muppet Show (1976), Mae West's final film Sextette (1977), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) and several appearances on various popular TV shows

However, by the late 1970s, Alice's problems with alcohol became life-threatening, and he was checked into a clinic for rehabilitation.

He told of his experiences on the semi-fictional album "From the Inside" (there was also a comic book of the same title), and explored different sounds in the early 1980s with four albums ("Flush the Fashion", "Special Forces", "Zipper Catches Skin", "DaDa").

After having a severe "falling off the wagon" to the point of almost dying, he sobered up once more -- this time for good -- and returned with the albums "Constrictor", "Raise Your Fist and Yell" and the 1989 album "Trash", which featured the hit song "Poison".

The 1980s also saw Alice starring in the many horror films.

However, it was the 1990s that brought Alice's most memorable movie appearance: playing himself in Wayne's World (1992).

Alice also played the father of Freddy Krueger in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), and himself on That '70s Show (1998) and Something Wilder (1994). The decade also saw the release of his "Hey Stoopid" and "The Last Temptation".

Alice toured occasionally but took a break from releasing albums until 2000, when he released "Brutal Planet". He followed this up with "Dragon Town", "The Eyes of Alice Cooper" and "Dirty Diamonds", and continues to tour regularly, performing shows with the bizarrely dark and horror-themed theatrics that he's best known for.

In 2015 Alice Cooper, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and actor Johnny Depp formed the band Hollywood Vampires. The name of the band was derived from "The Hollywood Vampires", a celebrity drinking club that was formed in the 1970s by Alice that included members such as John Lennon and Ringo Starr of The Beatles and Keith Moon of The Who.

For almost two decades Alice hosts a radio show "Nights with Alice Cooper", broadcast on many FM radio stations across the United States .

## Trivia

-     Alice wears a silver bracelet on his left wrist which can only be removed with a key possessed solely by his wife Sheryl.

-     When the giant letters of the famous "HOLLYWOOD" sign had to be replaced with new letters in 1978, a fundraising party was held, with the old letters being auctioned off at around $28,000 each. Hugh Hefner hosted the event and bought the "H", while Warner Brothers bought the "W". Alice bought an "O" in memory of the late Groucho Marx, with whom he had been very good friends. The check was painted on a big piece of the old sign and endorsed by Alice.

-     He's the godfather of Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine.

-     In 1974: he legally changed his name to Alice Cooper.

-     His favorite songs are "19th Nervous Breakdown" by The Rolling Stones, "Turning Japanese" by The Vapors, "My Sharona" by The Knack, "Beds Are Burning" by Midnight Oil, "My Generation" by The Who, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses, "Rebel Rebel" by David Bowie, "Over Under Sideways Down" by The Yardbirds, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, and "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles (Source: BBC Radio 2 "Tracks of My Years").

-     His daughter, Calico Cooper, has been touring with him as one of the dancers/actors in the show.

-     He wrote the song "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" for the movie Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986). He also appeared in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), uncredited as Freddy's father.

-     Is a huge fan of the animated situation comedy The Simpsons (1989).

-     Despite his horror-make up, pet snakes and wild image, he is a huge fan of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue.

-     Collects cars and antique watches.

## Quotes

„The late sixties and early seventies were kind of a breeding ground for exciting new sounds because easy listening and folk were kind of taking over the airwaves. I think it was a natural next step to take that blissful, easygoing sound and strangle the life out of it „

On Frank Zappa: ’’Throughout my life, there are four people I've met who were truly original people. The other three were Groucho Marx, Jim Morrison and Pablo Picasso’’

[About Marilyn Manson] ’’He took a girl's name as his first and wears a hell of a lot of makeup. I wish I'd thought of doing that ’’

’’Everyone likes to be scared a little bit ’’

’’I loved The Beatles because they wrote such simple songs, which is a really tough thing to do ’’

’’After I started having hits I saw lots of bands who'd been Alice Cooper-ised; KISS came out after us, even David Bowie before Alice Cooper was a mime and a folk singer. Then, when we broke down the barriers, we said you could do music and theatrics at the same time, which opened the door for acts like Marilyn Manson and Slipknot.’’

’’We don't use any animals in the shows now. Snakes catch pneumonia very easily. They become ill if you take them from a hot climate to a cold climate. I didn't want to put them through that any more. As long as a 15ft boa constrictor has been fed, they're like a kitten ’’

’’You can't out-shock CNN ’

’’In the early days of Pink Floyd, they at one point had run out of funds while touring in the L.A., so they stayed over at my place. One morning I get up and go downstairs to the kitchen, and there's Syd Barret at the breakfast table. He was wearing crushed purple velvet trousers and was staring at a box of corn flakes the same way you and I would watch television. He was looking at something we couldn't see ’’

’’I've always thought if you can break the girl's heart by the second verse, it's a hit’’

## Discography

**Band studio albums**

·       Pretties for You (1969)

·       Easy Action (1970)

·       Love It to Death (1971)

·       Killer (1971)

·       School's Out (1972)

·       Billion Dollar Babies (1973)

·       Muscle of Love (1973)

**Solo studio albums**

·       Welcome to My Nightmare (1975)

·       Alice Cooper Goes to Hell (1976)

·       Lace and Whiskey (1977)

·       From the Inside (1978)

·       Flush the Fashion (1980)

·       Special Forces (1981)

·       Zipper Catches Skin (1982)

·       DaDa (1983)

·       Constrictor (1986)

·       Raise Your Fist and Yell (1987)

·       Trash (1989)

·       Hey Stoopid (1991)

·       The Last Temptation (1994)

·       Brutal Planet (2000)

·       Dragontown (2001)

·       The Eyes of Alice Cooper (2003)

·       Dirty Diamonds (2005)

·       Along Came a Spider (2008)

·       Welcome 2 My Nightmare (2011)

·       Paranormal (2017)

·       Detroit Stories (2021)

·       Road (2023)