Alice Cooper is the son of a preacher, seminal shock rocker Alice Cooper has made a career out of combining hard rock music with disturbing lyrical themes and controversial stage shows, blazing a trail followed by later artists such as KISS, Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson.
Born Vincent Furnier in Detroit in 1948, Cooper was raised in Phoenix, Ariz., where he got his music start as a teenager in the garage rock band the Earwigs with guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer John Spear. After graduation the group moved to Los Angeles, where they recruited new drummer Neal Smith and changed their name to the Spiders.
Derrided by critics as "the worst band in L.A." for causing hundreds of fans to walk out of clubs when they played,, the Spiders set out to "drive a stake through the heart of the Love Generation" with their twisted, angry brand of acid rock. They quickly found an ally in rebel musician Frank Zappa, who signed the group to his Straight Records label.
After renaming themselves Alice Cooper (allegedly the name of a 17th century witch who spoke to Furnier via ouija board) in 1969, the quintet released their acid rock debut album, Pretties For You to little mainstream attention.
After releasing 1970's Easy Action, the group signed to Warner Bros., where they recorded 1971's Love It to Death with hip producer Bob Ezrin, who went on to work with Cooper for most of the decade. That LP launched the hit single "Eighteen," paving the way for a series of gold-selling albums like Killer (1972), School's Out (1972), Billion Dollar Babies (1973) and Muscle of Love (1974).
Though radio hits like "School's Out" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy" boosted the band's popularity, most of Alice Cooper's loyal following was built through touring.
Alice Cooper's larger-than-life concerts inspired similar shows by KISS (who copied his use of makeup), and by extension, dozens of `80s pop-metal bands and even modern day icon Marilyn Manson; he also became the subject of a Marvel comic, befitting his cartoonish stage image. Cooper's latest, the nightmarish concept album Brutal Planet, was released in 2000. ~ credit Seth Hindin
