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After the original group broke up and Furnier began a solo career as Alice Cooper, his actual music lost most of its theatrical flourishes, becoming straightforward heavy metal, yet his stage show retained all of the trademark props that made him the king of shock rock.
Furnier formed his first group, the Earwigs, as an Arizona teenager in the early '60s. Changing the band's name to the Spiders in 1965, the group was eventually called the Nazz (not to be confused with Todd Rundgren's band of the same name). The Spiders and the Nazz both released local singles that were moderately popular. After discovering there was another band called the Nazz in 1968, the group changed its name to Alice Cooper. Although it has been rumored for years that the band took its name after consulting a Ouija board, vocalist Vincent Furnier said in an interview with the VH1 TV series Behind The Music "I remember we were sitting around talking about band names. I was eating Doritos and just said the first name that came to mind. Which was Alice Cooper." Comprised of vocalist Furnier, guitarist Mike Bruce, guitarist Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith, the group moved to California in 1968. In California, the group met Frank Zappa and his manager Shep Gordon who signed Alice Cooper to their new label, Straight Records.
Alice Cooper released their first album, "Pretties for You" in 1969. "Easy Action" followed early in 1970, yet it failed to chart. The group's reputation in Los Angeles was slowly shrinking, so the band moved to Furnier's hometown of Detroit. For the next year, the group refined their bizarre stage show. Late in 1970, the group signed with Warner Brothers and began recording their third album with producer Bob Ezrin.
With Ezrin's assistance, Alice Cooper developed their classic heavy-metal crunch on 1971's "Love It to Death ", which featured the number 21 hit single "Eighteen"; the album peaked at number 35 and went gold. The success enabled the group to develop a more impressive, elaborate live show, which made them highly popular concert attractions across the U.S. and eventually the U.K. "Killer", released late in 1971, was another gold album. Released in the summer of 1972, "School's Out" was Alice Cooper's breakthrough record, peaking at number two and selling over a million copies. The title song became a Top Ten hit in the US and a number one single in the UK. "Billion Dollar Babies", released the following year, was the group's biggest hit, reaching number one in both America and Britain; the album's first single, "No More Mr. Nice Guy," became a Top Ten hit in Britain, peaking at number 25 in the U.S. "Muscle of Love" appeared late in 1973, yet it failed to capitalize on the success of "Billion Dollar Babies".
After "Muscle of Love", Furnier fired the rest of Alice Cooper, retaining the name for a solo career; the rest of the band released one unsuccessful album under the name Billion Dollar Babies. In the fall of 1974, a compilation of Alice Cooper's five Warner albums, entitled "Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits", became a Top Ten hit.
For his first solo album, Cooper hired Lou Reed's backing band from Rock 'N' Roll Animal -- guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, bassist Prakash John , keyboardist Joseph Chrowski , and drummer Penti Glan, as his supporting group. "Welcome to My Nightmare" , Alice Cooper's first solo album, was released in the spring of 1975. The record wasn't a great departure from his previous work and it became a Top Ten smash in America, launching the hit acoustic ballad "Only Women Bleed." Its follow-up, 1976's "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell", was another success, going gold in the U.S. After "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell", Cooper 's career began to slip, partially due to changing trends and partially due to his alcoholism. He entered drug rehabilitation in 1978, writing an album called "From the Inside" (1978) about his treatment with Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist. During the early '80s, Cooper continued to release albums and tour, yet he was no longer as popular as he was during his early '70s heyday.
Cooper made a successful comeback in the late '80s, sparked by his appearances in horror films and a series of pop/metal bands that paid musical homage to his classic early records and concerts. "Constrictor", released in 1986, began his comeback, but it was 1989's "Trash" that returned Cooper to the spotlight. Produced by the proven hit maker Desmond Child, "Trash" featured guest appearances by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and most of Aerosmith. The record became a Top Ten hit in Britain and peaked at number 20 in the U.S., going platinum. "Poison", a ballad featured on the album, became Coopers first Top Ten hit since 1977.
The Coop has also made many a movie and television appearance -- alongside such stars as Helen Hayes, Mae West, and Gene Wilder, among others -- including, most notably, "Wayne's World," "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare," "Roadie," "John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness," and "Something Wilder."
His Guardian Records release "A Fistful Of Alice," was a paint-blistering live album recorded in Mexico that features special guests Slash, Rob Zombie, and Sammy Hagar, and is guaranteed to break leases and shatter noise by-laws every time it's cranked up to full volume.
Also in release is "Prime Cuts: The Alice Cooper Story," a 90 minute home video shockumentary of Alice's career. This was followed in 1999 by the long-awaited release of the definitive multi-CD box set, "The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper," an authoritative and comprehensive chronicle of Alice's entire musical history.
As he continued to tour into the new millenium, Alice Cooper was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland in the Spring of 2011. "The real honour is that you're nominated and voted in by your peers, not the general public" said Alice. "Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and Jeff Beck get a ballot. So if you get voted in, it's by your teachers. We learned every Beatles song growing up, we learned every Stones song, we learned every Kinks, Yardbirds and Who song. Those guys were like our professors."
Cooper was also involved in the design of a haunted maze titled Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare featured at Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights event in 2011.
In July, 2013, the now 65-year-old musician announced that he was working on an early-to-mid '70s Rock covers album, tentatively called "Raise the Dead". The LP pays tribute to his former drinking pals, Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Mickey Dolenz, Bernie Taupin and others. The album was scheduled for a Spring 2014 release, but later he announced that it will likely be released in 2015.
Alice had a heavy tour schedule for 2015 with stops slated for New Zealand, Australia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Norway and Sweden before returning to the U.S. for over thirty shows. In September, Cooper announced that he had signed on to narrate Peter And The Wolf In Hollywood, an updated version of the classic children's tale for a New York based production company called Giants Are Small. In October, the original members of Alice Cooper, comprised of Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce were joined by Vincent Furnier for a surprise, seven-song show after a Dunaway book signing in Dallas. Furnier was in town a day early for his show opening for Motley Crue.
In January, 2016, Vincent announced plans for his Spend the Night with Alice Cooper tour which consisted of fourteen North American dates. He was also slated to appear in London at the O2 for two performances in June.
CLASSIC TRIVIA:
Alice Cooper was once elected Homecoming Queen for the University Of Houston.
