Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American singer and songwriter. With a career spanning six decades, he is known for his raspy singing voice and theatrical stage shows that feature numerous props and illusions. Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers to be "The Godfather of Shock Rock". He has drawn from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences.

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 studio albums from 1969 to 1973 and hit singles such as "I'm Eighteen", "School's Out", and "No More Mr. Nice Guy". Following their disbandment in 1975, Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and began a solo career with the concept album Welcome to My Nightmare (1975). His hit singles as a solo artist include "Only Women Bleed", "You and Me", and "Poison". Over the course of his career, Cooper has released 30 studio albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide. The original Alice Cooper band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

Cooper has experimented with various musical styles, mainly hard rock, glam rock, heavy metal, and glam metal, as well as new wave, art rock, and industrial rock. He helped shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and he 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". Cooper is also known for his wit offstage, with The Rolling Stone Album Guide calling him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". His philanthropic work includes his Solid Rock Foundation, which provides free music, art, and vocational programs for at-risk youth in Phoenix, Arizona.

Vincent Damon Furnier was born on February 4, 1948, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Ether Moroni Furnier (1924–1987) and his wife Ella Mae (née McCart; 1925–2022). He was named after his uncle, Vincent Collier Furnier, and the short-story writer Damon Runyon. His father was an evangelist in The Church of Jesus Christ, and his paternal grandfather Thurman Sylvester Furnier was a leader and later president (1963–1965) of that church organization.

The Furnier family resided in East Detroit on Lincoln Avenue near Kelly Road, a few blocks from Eastland Mall. Cooper attended Kantner Elementary School, recalled watching horror movies at the Eastown Theatre (where he would later perform), and local neighborhood trick-or-treating on Halloween, the "biggest night of the year", which he took "very seriously". Cooper was active in his church at ages 11 to 12. Following a series of childhood illnesses, he moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, where he attended Cortez High School.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.