Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper
Cooper in 2011
Cooper in 2011
Background information
Birth nameVincent Damon Furnier
Born (1948-02-04) February 4, 1948 (age 76)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
OriginPhoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • actor
Years active1964–present
Labels
Member of
Formerly ofAlice Cooper (band)
Spouse(s)
(m. 1976)
MembersList
Websitealicecooper.com
Children3, including Calico Cooper

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948)[1] 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,[2] Cooper is considered by many music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock".[3] He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences.[4]

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. Throughout his career, Cooper has sold over 50 million records.[5]

Cooper has experimented with various musical styles, mainly hard rock, glam rock, heavy metal, and glam metal,[6][7] but also new wave,[8] art rock, and industrial rock.[9] 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".[10] He is also known for his wit offstage, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide calling him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer".[11] Aside from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur, and, since 2004, a radio disc jockey with his classic rock show Alice's Attic.

  1. ^ "Alice Cooper Biography". NME. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  2. ^ Knopper, Steve (May 24, 2014). "How concerts shifted from songs to spectacles". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  3. ^ Loud, All Things (October 3, 2019). "Alice Cooper is Still the Godfather of Shock Rock". All Things Loud. Retrieved April 25, 2021.
  4. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "All Music: Alice Cooper". AllMusic. Archived from the original on November 10, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
  5. ^ "Alice Cooper - Biography of Alice Cooper". outsider.com. January 27, 2022. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  6. ^ Popoff, Martin (2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade. Voyageur Press. pp. 11, 171. ISBN 978-0-76034-546-7.
  7. ^ McPadden, Mike (September 23, 2015). "The Hair Metal 100: Ranking the '80s Greatest Glam Bands, Part 3". VH1 Viacom. Archived from the original on October 19, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  8. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Fireside. p. 12. ISBN 0-394-72107-1.
  9. ^ Rolli, Bryan (September 29, 2022). "Alice Cooper Got Heavy and Horrific on 'Raise Your Fist and Yell'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  10. ^ Guy Blackman (July 2, 2007). "Gig reviews: Alice Cooper". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2008.
  11. ^ The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Fireside. 2004. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Archived from the original on October 12, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.

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