Alice Cooper

Vincent Damon Furnier was born in Detroit, Michigan, and moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, during his early teens. He attended Cortez High School, where he became involved in cross-country running and formed a musical group with fellow track teammates.

The group began as the Earwigs, performing Beatles parodies at a school talent show. It later became the Spiders and then the Nazz, with Furnier on lead vocals and future bandmates Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, Michael Bruce and Neal Smith. Their early performances combined rock music with costumes, makeup and theatrical presentation.

In 1968, after discovering that another band was already using the name Nazz, the group adopted the name Alice Cooper. The deliberately ordinary-sounding name contrasted with the band's increasingly macabre music and stage persona. Furnier took on Alice Cooper as a character, drawing inspiration from horror films, vaudeville and surrealist art.

The band came to the attention of manager Shep Gordon after an unsuccessful Los Angeles performance. Gordon arranged an audition with Frank Zappa, who signed the group to his Straight Records label. Zappa released their first two albums, Pretties for You in 1969 and Easy Action in 1970, both of which leaned toward psychedelic rock and had limited commercial success.

After relocating from Los Angeles to Michigan, the group developed a heavier, more focused sound with producer Bob Ezrin. Love It to Death became the breakthrough album in 1971, helped by the hit single "I'm Eighteen." The band followed it with Killer, which continued its commercial success and expanded the theatrical morality play at the center of its concerts.

The 1972 album School's Out produced a major hit with its title track, which reached the top of the British singles chart and the U.S. Top 10. Billion Dollar Babies, released in 1973, became the band's most successful album, reaching number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom and producing songs including "Elected" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Its tours featured increasingly elaborate props and effects, including guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors and staged executions.

Muscle of Love, released later in 1973, was the final studio album by the classic lineup. The group broke up after its subsequent touring period, while its theatrical approach helped establish a lasting model for shock rock and influenced later heavy metal performance.

Following the band's breakup, Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and began a solo career. His first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare (1975), was a concept record centered on the nightmares of a child named Steven. The album's stage production included an enormous Cyclops prop, while the associated television special, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare, featured horror-film actor Vincent Price.

Cooper followed the album with Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, Lace and Whiskey and From the Inside. The last of these was inspired by his experience in a sanitarium and was co-written with Bernie Taupin. During the same period, he appeared in films and television programs including Sextette, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Muppet Show and The Snoop Sisters.

His recovery from alcoholism became a major turning point in the decade. The experience informed both his music and his public work, and it helped lead to a return to recording and touring after a period of serious health problems.

Cooper explored new wave, pop-punk and heavy metal across Flush the Fashion, Special Forces, Zipper Catches Skin and DaDa. After another hospitalization in 1983, he achieved sobriety and later returned to the road with Constrictor in 1986 and Raise Your Fist and Yell in 1987.

His commercial revival reached a peak with Trash in 1989. Produced by Desmond Child, the album included "Poison," which became a major international hit. Cooper also expanded his acting work during the decade, appearing in the horror films Monster Dog and John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness and contributing music to films including Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.

Alice Cooper married dancer and choreographer Sheryl Goddard in 1976. Goddard performed in his stage show from 1975 to 1982, and the couple have three children, including Calico Cooper.

Cooper and Sheryl Goddard founded the Solid Rock Foundation in 1995. The organization provides music, art and vocational programs for young people in the Phoenix area, with teen centers later opening in Phoenix and Mesa.

Cooper's later work has included the albums Hey Stoopid, The Last Temptation, Brutal Planet, Dragontown, Dirty Diamonds, Along Came a Spider, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Paranormal, Detroit Stories and Road. His acting credits include playing himself in Wayne's World and Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, appearing in That '70s Show, and portraying King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert in 2018.

His syndicated radio program Nights with Alice Cooper began in 2004. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 as a member of the original Alice Cooper band, and the documentary Super Duper Alice Cooper examined his career and stage persona. He has continued to tour with horror-themed productions and reunited with Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith for the 2025 album The Revenge of Alice Cooper.