Image via Wikipedia- Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is a US-born rock performer renowned for his schlock-horror stage shows and the summer anthem “Schools Out”.
The father of shock-rock Alice Cooper was born Vincent Furnier, and became frontman for the band Alice Cooper in 1964. Formed while most members were still in high school, it wasn’t until 1968 that the band adopted the name Alice Cooper and settled on the line-up of Vincent Furnier (lead vocals), Glen Buxton (guitar), Michael Bruce (guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass), and Neal Smith (drums). The band became known for their bizarre and often violent stage performances early on.
First signed to Frank Zappa-owned record label Straight Records, it wasn’t until the label was taken over by Warner Bros. that the band really saw the kind of promotion they needed to break the big time. Their third album, produced with Bob Ezrin ,proved to be their breakthrough: Love it to Death was released in 1971 to wide critical acclaim and managed to score Alice Cooper's first big hit single, “Eighteen”. Later that same year they released Killer followed by School’s Out (1972), which spawned the memorable major hit “School’s Out (For Summer)”, and then their seminal album Billion Dollar Babies (1973).
During this time the band became renowned for the on-stage theatrics that would later influence many other bands' stage-shows, most notably David Bowie, Blue Öyster Cult, KISS and Marilyn Manson. It was after their seventh album Muscle of Love (1973) that the band decided to take a hiatus from which they would never return. In 1974 Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and became a solo act, releasing his first album Welcome to my Nightmare (1975) which included the hit single “Only Women Bleed”. Cooper cemented his fame and legendary status in 1978 when he guest-starred on The Muppet Show singing “Welcome to my Nightmare”, “You and Me” and “School's Out” with the Muppet performers.
Cooper has released 16 more albums since going solo, and over the years has also become famous for his sense of humour, appearing in numerous tongue-in-cheek commercials that make fun of his shock-rock image or supposedly decadent lifestyle. Although at one time Cooper did suffer from alcoholism, he is now a born-again Christian and has been married to the same woman, Sheryl (Goddard) Cooper, since 1976. Sheryl, a trained ballerina, toured with him and performed in Cooper's stage shows until the birth of their first child, a daughter, Calico Cooper, who has toured and performed with her father since 2000. The couple have two other children, Dashiel and Sonora. Cooper's latest album was released in 2008, Along Came a Spider.
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