Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper
Cooper at the Scream Awards, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Vincent Damon Furnier
Born	February 4, 1948 (1948-02-04) (age 63) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Genres	Rock, hard rock, heavy metal, shock rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor, DJ
Instruments	Vocals, harmonica, guitar
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Straight, Warner Bros., Atlantic, MCA, Epic, Spitfire, Eagle, New West
Website	alicecooper.com

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948)^[1] is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors and baby dolls, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal designed to shock.^[2]

Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and drummer Neal Smith. The original Alice Cooper band broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album Love it to Death, which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies.

Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 concept album Welcome to My Nightmare; in 2011 he released Welcome 2 My Nightmare, his 19th album as a solo artist, and his 26th album in total. Expanding from his original Detroit rock roots, over the years Cooper has experimented with many various musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, hard rock, new wave, pop rock, experimental rock and industrial rock.

Alice Cooper is known for his social and witty persona offstage; The Rolling Stone Album Guide has called him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer".^[3] Cooper is credited with helping to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and he is regarded as being the artist who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre".^[4] Away from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur and, since 2004, a popular radio DJ with his classic rock show Nights with Alice Cooper.

In 2011 the original Alice Cooper band was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[5]

Early life

Cooper was born as Vincent Damon Furnier in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Ella Mae (Née McCart) and Ether Moroni Furnier. His father was a lay preacher in the Church of Jesus Christ (also known as the Bickertonite Church) which, historically, is a branch of the Latter Day Saint movement.^[6] He has French Huguenot, Sioux Native American, English, Scottish and Irish ancestry,^[7] and was named after one of his uncles (Vincent Collier Furnier) and the writer Damon Runyon.^[8] His paternal grandfather, Thurman Sylvester Furnier, was an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite). Vincent Furnier was active in his church at the ages of 11 and 12.^[9][10]

While growing up in Detroit, Furnier attended Washington Elementary School, then Nankin Mills Jr. High, now Lutheran High School Westland. Following a series of childhood illnesses, Furnier moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, where he attended Cortez High School in north Phoenix, and was a member of the Order of DeMolay.

Recording career

1960s

In 1964 sixteen year-old Furnier was eager to take part in the local annual letterman's talent show, so he gathered fellow cross-country teammates to form a group for the show.^[11] They named themselves The Earwigs. Because they did not know how to play any instruments at the time, they dressed up like The Beatles and mimed their performance to Beatles songs. As a result of winning the talent show and loving the experience of being onstage, the group immediately proceeded to learn how to play instruments they acquired from a local pawn shop. They soon renamed themselves The Spiders, featuring Furnier on vocals, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, John Tatum on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and John Speer on drums.^[12] Musically, the group was inspired by artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and The Yardbirds. For the next year the band performed regularly around the Phoenix area with a huge black spider's web as their backdrop, the group's first stage prop. In 1965 they recorded their first single, "Why Don't You Love Me" (originally performed by The Blackwells), with Furnier learning the harmonica for that song.

In 1966 The Spiders graduated from high school, and after North High School footballer, Michael Bruce, replaced John Tatum on rhythm guitar, the band scored a local #1 radio hit with "Don't Blow Your Mind," an original composition from their second single release. By 1967 the band had begun to make regular road trips to Los Angeles, California to play shows. They soon renamed themselves The Nazz and released the single "Wonder Who's Lovin' Her Now," backed with future Alice Cooper track "Lay Down And Die, Goodbye." At around this time drummer John Speer was replaced by Neal Smith. By the end of the year the band had relocated to Los Angeles permanently.

In 1968 upon learning that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, the band was again in need of another stage name. Believing that the group needed a gimmick to succeed, and that other bands were not exploiting the showmanship potential of the stage, Furnier chose "Alice Cooper" as the band's name and adopted this stage name as his own.^[13] Cooper later stated that the name change was one of his most important and successful career moves.^[14]

Nonetheless, at the time Cooper and the band realized that the concept of a male playing the role of a villain, a woman killer, in tattered women's clothing and wearing make-up, would have the potential to cause considerable social controversy and grab headlines. In 2007 in his book Alice Cooper, Golf Monster Cooper stated that his look was inspired in part by film. One of the band's all time favorite movies was What Ever Happened to Baby Jane starring Bette Davis. "In the movie, Bette wears disgusting caked makeup smeared on her face and underneath her eyes, with deep, dark, black eyeliner." Another movie the band watched over and over was Barbarella. "When I saw Anita Pallenberg playing the Great Tyrant in that movie in 1968, wearing long black leather gloves with switchblades coming out of them, I thought, 'That's what Alice should look like'. That, and a little bit of Emma Peel from The Avengers".^[15]

The conception for the character that Cooper plays on stage came when he took careful observation of the rock world around him. He noticed that rock stars were always made out to be heroes, and that rock villains were scarce. In a 2010 interview he stated, "Why do we always have rock heroes? Why not a rock villain? I was more than happy to be rock's Darth Vader. I was more than happy to be Captain Hook."

The classic Alice Cooper group line-up consisted of singer Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier), lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith. With the exception of Smith, who graduated from Camelback High School (which is referred to in the song "Alma Mater" on the School's Out album), all of the band members were on the Cortez High School cross-country team, and many of Cooper's stage effects were inspired by their cross-country coach, Emmett Smith^[16] (one of Smith's class projects was to build a working guillotine for slicing watermelons). Cooper, Buxton and Dunaway were also art students, and their admiration for the works of surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalí would further inspire their future stage antics.

One night after an unsuccessful gig at the Cheetah club in Venice, California, where the band emptied the entire room of patrons after playing just ten minutes, they were approached and enlisted by music manager Shep Gordon, who ironically saw the band's negative impact that night as a force that could be turned in a more productive direction. Shep then arranged an audition for the band with composer and renowned record producer, Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. For the audition Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock." The band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of psychedelic rock at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough to sign them to a three-album deal. Another Zappa-signed act, the all-female GTOs, who liked to "dress the Cooper boys up like full size barbie dolls," played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look.^[17][18]

Cooper's first album Pretties for You (released in 1969) had a slight psychedelic feel. Although it touched the US charts for one week at #193, it was ultimately a critical and commercial failure.

Alice Cooper's "shock rock" reputation apparently developed almost by accident at first. An unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper, a feather pillow and a live chicken garnered attention from the press; the band decided to capitalize on the tabloid sensationalism, creating in the process a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the infamous "Chicken Incident" at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert in September 1969 was an accident. A chicken somehow made its way onto the stage into the feathers of a feather pillow they would open during Cooper's performance, and not having any experience around farm animals, Cooper presumed that, because the chicken had wings, it would be able to fly.^[19] He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting it to fly away. The chicken instead plummeted into the first few rows occupied by disabled people in wheelchairs, who reportedly proceeded to tear the bird to pieces.^[20]

The next day the incident made the front page of national newspapers, and Zappa phoned Cooper and asked if the story, which reported that he had bitten off the chicken's head and drunk its blood on stage, was true. Cooper denied the rumor, whereupon Zappa told him, "Well, whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it",^[21] obviously recognizing that such publicity would be priceless for the band.^[22]

The band have later claimed that this period was highly influated by Pink Floyd, and expecially the album Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Glen Buxton could listen to Syd Barrett's guitar for hours at a time. ^[23]

1970s

Despite the publicity from the Chicken Incident, the band's stronger second album, Easy Action, released in June 1970, met with the same fate as its predecessor. At around this time the band, fed up with Californians' indifference to their act, relocated to Cooper's birthplace, Detroit, where their bizarre stage act was much better received by the crowds of the Midwest states who were accustomed to the similar hard rock styles of local bands such as The Stooges and The MC5. Despite this, Cooper still managed to receive a cream pie in the face when performing at the Cincinnati Pop Festival. Detroit would remain their steady home base until 1972. "LA just didn’t get it," Cooper stated. "They were all on the wrong drug for us. They were on acid and we were basically drinking beer. We fit much more in Detroit than we did anywhere else."^[24]

Alice Cooper appeared at the Woodstock-esque, Strawberry Fields Festival near Toronto, Ontario in August 1970. The band's mix of glam and increasingly violent stage theatrics stood out in stark contrast to the bearded, denim-clad hippie bands of the time.^[25] As Cooper himself stated: "We were into fun, sex, death and money when everybody was into peace and love. We wanted to see what was next. It turned out we were next, and we drove a stake through the heart of the Love Generation".^[26]

In autumn 1970 the Alice Cooper group teamed with producer Bob Ezrin for the recording of their third album Love it to Death. This was the final album in their Straight Records contract and the band's last chance to create a hit. That first success came with the single "I'm Eighteen", released in November 1970, which reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1971. Not long after the album's release in January 1971 Warner Bros. Records purchased Alice Cooper's contract from Straight and re-issued the album, giving the group a higher level of promotion.

Love it to Death proved to be their breakthrough album, reaching number 35 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album charts. It would be the first of eleven^[27] Alice Cooper group and solo albums produced by Ezrin, who is widely seen as being instrumental in helping to create and develop the band's definitive sound.^[28]

The group's 1971 tour featured a stage show involving mock fights and gothic torture modes being imposed on Cooper climaxing with a staged execution by electric chair, with the band sporting tight, sequined, and color-contrasting glam rock-style costumes made by prominent rock fashion designer Cindy Dunaway (sister of band member Neal Smith, and wife of band member Dennis Dunaway). Cooper's androgynous stage role had developed to present a villainous side, portraying a potential threat to modern society. The success of the band's single and album, and their tour of 1971, which included their first tour of Europe (audience members reportedly included Elton John and a pre-Ziggy David Bowie), provided enough encouragement for Warner Bros. to offer the band a new multi-album contract.

Their follow-up album Killer, released in late 1971, continued the commercial success of Love It To Death and included further single success with "Under My Wheels", "Be My Lover" in early 1972, and "Halo Of Flies" which became a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands in 1972. Thematically, Killer expanded on the villainous side of Cooper's androgynous stage role, with its music becoming the soundtrack to the group's morality-based stage show, which by then featured a boa constrictor hugging Cooper onstage, the murderous axe chopping of bloodied baby dolls, and execution by hanging at the gallows. Back then, the real criticism was aimed at questioning the artists' sexual ambiguity, rather than the stage gore. In January 1972, Cooper was again asked about his peculiar name, and told talk show hostess Dinah Shore that he took the name from a "Mayberry RFD" character.

The summer of 1972 saw the release of the single "School's Out". It went Top 10 in the US, was a #1 single in the UK, and remains a staple on classic rock radio to this day. School's Out the album reached #2 on the US charts and sold over a million copies. The band now relocated to their new mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut.^[29] With Cooper's on-stage androgynous persona completely replaced with brattiness and machismo, the band solidified their success with subsequent tours in the US and Europe, and won over devoted fans in droves while at the same time horrifying parents and outraging the social establishment. Controversy seemed to have little negative effect on the band's popularity, as they were selected to be the first band to appear on then-new US television series ABC In Concert in September 1972. In England, Mary Whitehouse, a well known campaigner for values of morality and decency, succeeded in having the BBC ban the video for "School's Out"^[30] and Member of Parliament Leo Abse petitioned Home Secretary Reginald Maudling to have the group banned altogether from performing in the country.^[31]

In February 1973 Billion Dollar Babies was released worldwide and became the band's most commercially successful album, reaching #1 in both the US and UK. "Elected", a late-1972 Top 10 UK hit from the album, which inspired one of the first MTV-style story-line promo videos ever made for a song (three years before Queen's promotional video for "Bohemian Rhapsody"), was followed by two more UK Top 10 singles, "Hello Hooray" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", the latter of which was the last UK single from the album; it reached #25 in the US. The title track, featuring guest vocals by Donovan, was also a US hit single. Due to Glen Buxton's waning health^[32] around this time Mick Mashbir was secretly added to the band (who also played, without credit, on Muscle of Love) to supplement Glen's playing.^{[citation needed]}

The group in 1973.

With a string of successful concept albums and several hit singles, the band continued their gruelling schedule and toured the US once again. Continued attempts by politicians and pressure groups to ban their shocking act only served to fuel the myth of Alice Cooper further and generate even greater public interest. Their 1973 US tour broke box office records previously set by The Rolling Stones and raised rock theatrics to new heights; the multi-level stage show by then featured numerous special effects, including Billion Dollar Bills, decapitated baby dolls and mannequins, a dental psychosis scene complete with dancing teeth, and the ultimate execution prop and highlight of the show: the guillotine. The guillotine and other stage effects were designed for the band by magician James Randi, who appeared on stage during some of the shows as executioner. The Alice Cooper group had now reached its peak and it was among the most visible and successful acts in the industry. (Cooper's stage antics would influence a host of later bands, including, among others, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Kiss, Blue Öyster Cult, GWAR, W.A.S.P., Lizzy Borden and, later, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Rob Zombie and Norwegian black metal bands.) Beneath the surface, however, the repetitive schedule of recording and touring had begun to take its toll on the band, and Cooper, who was under the constant pressure of getting into character for that night's show, was consistently sighted nursing a can of beer.

Muscle of Love, released at the end of 1973, was to be the last studio album from the classic line-up, and marked Alice Cooper's last UK Top 20 single of the 1970s with "Teenage Lament '74". An unsolicited theme song was recorded for the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun, but a different song of the same name by Lulu was chosen instead. By 1974, the Muscle of Love album had not matched the top-charting success of its predecessor, and the band began to have constant disagreements. Cooper wanted to retain the theatrics in the show that had brought them so much attention, while the rest of the group thought they should be toned down so that they could concentrate more on the music which had given them credibility. Largely as a result of this difference of opinion, the band decided to take a much-needed hiatus.

During this time Cooper relocated back to Los Angeles and started appearing regularly on TV shows such as Hollywood Squares, and Warner Bros. released the Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits compilation album. It featured classic style artwork and reached the US Top 10, performing better than Muscle of Love. However, the band's 1974 feature film Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper (consisting mainly of 1973 concert footage with 'comedic' sketches woven throughout to a faint storyline), released on a minor theatrical run mostly to drive-in theaters, saw little box office success.

As some of the Alice Cooper band members had begun recording their own solo albums, Cooper decided to do the same himself. In 1975 he released his first solo album, Welcome To My Nightmare. To avoid legal complications over ownership of the group name, Alice Cooper had by then become the singer's new legal name. The success of the solo album marked the final break with the original members of the band with Cooper collaborating with their producer Bob Ezrin, who recruited Lou Reed's backing band, including guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, to play on the album. Spearheaded by the US Top 20 hit ballad, "Only Women Bleed", the album was released by Atlantic Records in March of that year and became a Top 10 hit for Cooper. It was a concept album that was based on the nightmare of a child named Steven, featuring narration by classic horror movie film star Vincent Price (several years after Welcome To My Nightmare, he guested on Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), and serving as the soundtrack to Cooper's new stage show, which now included more theatrics than ever (including an 8-foot-tall (2.4 m) furry Cyclops which Cooper decapitates and kills).

By this time, however, alcohol was clearly affecting Cooper's performances. During the Welcome to My Nightmare tour in Vancouver, and only a few songs into the routine, Cooper tripped over a foot-light, staggered a few paces, lost his bearings, and plunged head-first off the stage and onto the concrete floor of the Pacific Coliseum. Some fans, thinking it was all part of the act, reached through the barriers to pull at his blood-matted hair before bouncers could pull him away for help. He was taken to a local hospital, where medical staff stitched his head wound and provided him with a skullcap. Cooper returned to the venue a couple of hours later and tried to perform a couple of more songs, but within minutes he had to call it a night. The opening act, Suzi Quatro, had already left the building and the remainder of the concert was canceled.^{[citation needed]}

Accompanying the album and stage show was the TV special The Nightmare, starring Cooper and Vincent Price, which aired on US prime-time TV in April 1975. The Nightmare, the first rock music video album ever made^{[citation needed]} (it was later released on home video in 1983 and gained a Grammy Awards nomination for Best Long Form Music Video), was regarded as another groundbreaking moment in rock history. Adding to all that, a concert film, also called Welcome to My Nightmare produced, directed and choreographed by the West Side Story cast member David Winters and filmed live at London's Wembley Arena in September 1975, was released to theaters in 1976.^[33][34] Though it failed at the box office, it later became a midnight movie favorite and a cult classic.

Such was the immense success of Cooper's solo project that he decided to continue alone as a solo artist, and the original band became officially defunct. It was also during this time that Cooper co-founded the legendary drinking club The Hollywood Vampires, which gave him yet another reason to indulge his continued ample appetite for alcohol.^{[citation needed]}

Cooper in 1978.

Following the 1976 US #12 hit "I Never Cry",^[35] another ballad, two albums, Alice Cooper Goes to Hell and Lace and Whiskey, and another ballad hit, the US #9 "You and Me", it became clear from many performances during his 1977 US tour that Cooper was in dire need of help with his alcoholism (at his alcoholic peak it was rumored that Cooper was consuming up to two cases of Budweiser and a bottle of whiskey a day). Following the tour, Cooper had himself hospitalized in a New York sanitarium for treatment, during which time the live album The Alice Cooper Show was released.

In 1978 a sobered Cooper used his experience in the sanitarium as the inspiration for the semi-autobiographical album From The Inside, which he co-wrote with Bernie Taupin. The release spawned another US Top 20 hit "How You Gonna See Me Now", yet another ballad, based on his fear of how his wife would react to him after his spell in hospital.^{[citation needed]} The subsequent tour's stage show was based inside an asylum, and was filmed for Cooper's first home video release, The Strange Case of Alice Cooper, in 1979. ^[36] Around this time, Cooper performed "Welcome To My Nightmare", "You and Me" and "School's Out" on The Muppet Show (episode # 307) on March 28, 1978 (he played one of the devil's henchmen trying to dupe Kermit the Frog and Gonzo into selling their souls). He also appeared in an against-typecasting role as a piano-playing disco bellboy in Mae West's final film, Sextette, and as a villian in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Cooper also led celebrities in raising money to remodel the famous Hollywood Sign in California. Cooper himself contributed over $27,000 to the project, buying an O in the sign in memory of friend and comedian Groucho Marx.

1980s

Cooper's albums from the beginning of the 80s, Flush the Fashion, Special Forces, Zipper Catches Skin and DaDa, were not as commercially successful as his past releases. Flush the Fashion, produced by Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker, had a thick, edgy New Wave musical sound that baffled even long-time fans, though it still yielded the US Top 40 hit "(We're All) Clones". The album Special Forces featured a more aggressive but consistent form of New Wave style, and included a new version of "Generation Landslide". The following album, Zipper Catches Skin was a more power pop-oriented recording, with lots of quirky high-energy guitar-driven songs. While those three albums engaged the experimental New Wave sound with energetic results, 1983 marked the return collaboration of producer Bob Ezrin and guitarist Dick Wagner with the haunting epic DaDa, the final album in his Warner Bros. contract.

In 1983 after the recording of DaDa, Cooper was re-hospitalized for alcoholism. In a deathly state of health he moved back to Phoenix to save his marriage from collapse, and so that he could receive the support of family and friends. Cooper was finally clean and sober by the time DaDa and The Nightmare home video (of his 1975 TV Special) were released in the fall of that year; however, both releases performed below expectations. Even with The Nightmare scoring a nomination for 1984's Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video (he lost to Duran Duran), it was not enough for Warner Bros. to keep Cooper on their books, so in 1984 Cooper became a "free agent" for the first time in his career.

After over a year on hiatus, during which time he spent being a full-time father, perfecting his golf swing every day on the golf course, and finding time to star in the Spanish B-grade horror movie production Monster Dog, Cooper sought to pick up the pieces of his musical career. In 1985 he met and began writing songs with guitarist Kane Roberts. Cooper was subsequently signed to MCA Records, and appeared as guest vocalist on Twisted Sister's song "Be Chrool To Your Scuel". A video was made for the song, featuring Cooper donning his black snake-eyes make-up for the first time since 1979. But any publicity it may have generated toward Cooper's return to the music scene was cut short as the video was promptly banned because of its graphically gory make-up (by Tom Savini), and because of the innumerable zombies in the video and their insatiable appetite for gorging on human flesh.

In 1986 Alice Cooper officially returned to the music industry with the album Constrictor. The album spawned the hits "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" (the theme song for the movie Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives; in the video of the song Cooper was given a cameo role as a deranged psychiatrist) and the fan favorite "Teenage Frankenstein". The Constrictor album was a catalyst for Cooper to make (for the first time since the 1982 Special Forces tour) a triumphant return to the road, on a tour appropriately entitled The Nightmare Returns. The Detroit leg of this tour, which took place at the end of October 1986 during Halloween,^[37] was captured on film as The Nightmare Returns, and is viewed by some as being the definitive Alice Cooper concert film.^[38] The concert, which received rave reviews in the rock music press,^[39] was also described as bringing "Cooper’s violent, twisted onstage fantasies to a new generation".^[40] The Constrictor album was followed by Raise Your Fist and Yell in 1987, which had an even rougher sound than its predecessor, as well as the Cooper classic "Freedom". The subsequent tour of Raise Your Fist and Yell, which was heavily inspired by the slasher horror movies of the time such as the Friday the 13th series and Nightmare on Elm Street, served up a shocking spectacle similar to its predecessor, and courted the kind of controversy, especially in Europe, that recalled the public outrage caused by Cooper's public performances in America in the early 1970s.

In Britain Labour M.P. David Blunkett called for the show to be banned, saying "I'm horrified by his behaviour — it goes beyond the bounds of entertainment" (even though Blunkett has been blind from birth).^[41] The controversy spilled over into the German segment of the tour, with the German government actually succeeding in having some of the gorier segments of the performance removed.^[42] It was also during the London leg of the tour that Cooper met with a near fatal accident during the hanging execution sequence at the end of the show.^[43] Needless to say the attendant publicity served only to increase public interest and ensure that the tour was completely sold out.

Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell were recorded with lead guitarist Kane Roberts and bassist Kip Winger, both of whom would leave the band by the end of 1988 (although Kane Roberts played guitar on "Bed Of Nails" on 1989's album Trash). Roberts would continue as a solo artist while Kip Winger would go on to form Winger.

In 1987 Cooper made a brief appearance as a vagrant in the horror movie Prince of Darkness, directed by John Carpenter. His role had no lines and consisted of generally menacing the protagonists before eventually impaling one of them with a bicycle frame. Cooper also appeared at WrestleMania III, escorting wrestler Jake 'The Snake' Roberts to the ring. After the match was over, Cooper got involved and threw Jake's snake Damien at The Honky Tonk Man's manager Jimmy Hart. Jake considered the involvement of Cooper to be an honor, as he had idolized Cooper in his youth and was still a huge fan.

In 1988 Cooper's contract with MCA Records expired and he signed with Epic Records. Then in 1989 his career finally experienced a real revival with the Desmond Child produced album Trash, which spawned a hit single "Poison", which reached #2 in the UK and #7 in the US, and a worldwide arena tour.

1990s

1991 saw the release of Cooper's 19th studio album, Hey Stoopid, again featuring several of rock music’s glitterati guesting on the record. Released as glam metal's popularity was on the wane, and just before the explosion of grunge, it failed to have the same commercial impact as its predecessor. The same year also saw the release of the video Alice Cooper: Prime Cuts which chronicled his entire career using in depth interviews with Cooper himself, Bob Ezrin, and Shep Gordon. One critic has noted that Prime Cuts demonstrates how Cooper had used (in contrast to similar artists who succeeded him) themes of satire and moralisation to such good effect throughout his career.^[44] It was in the Prime Cuts video that Bob Ezrin delivered his own summation of the Alice Cooper persona: "He is the psycho killer in all of us. He's the axe murderer, he's the spoiled child, he's the abuser, he's the abused; he's the perpetrator, he's the victim, he's the gun slinger, and he's the guy lying dead in the middle of the street".^[45]

By the early 1990s Cooper had become a genuine cultural icon, guesting on records by the most successful bands of the time, such as the Guns N' Roses album Use Your Illusion I, (on which he shared vocal duties with Axl Rose on the track "The Garden"); making a brief appearance as the abusive stepfather of Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare On Elm Street film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991); and making a famous cameo appearance in the 1992 comedy film Wayne's World, in which he and his band intellectually discuss (after a performance of the song "Feed My Frankenstein" from Hey Stoopid) the history of Milwaukee in surprising depth. In a now famous scene, the movie's main characters Wayne and Garth, upon seeing Cooper, kneel and bow reverently before him while chanting "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" He later made an appearance on an episode of That 70s Show, at the end of which he and two other (minor) guest characters parody Dungeons & Dragons.

In 1994 Cooper released The Last Temptation, his first concept album since DaDa. The album deals with issues of faith, temptation, alienation and the frustrations of modern life, and has been described as "a young man's struggle to see the truth through the distractions of the 'Sideshow' of the modern world".^[46] Concurrent with the release of The Last Temptation was a three-part comic book series written by Neil Gaiman, fleshing out the album's story. This was to be Cooper’s last album with Epic Records, and his last studio release for six years, though during this period the live album A Fistful of Alice^[47] was released, and in 1997 he lent his voice to the first track of Insane Clown Posse's The Great Milenko. In 1999, the four-disc box set The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper appeared, which contained an authorized biography of Cooper, Alcohol and Razor Blades, Poison and Needles: The Glorious Wretched Excess of Alice Cooper, All-American, written by Creem magazine editor Jeffrey Morgan.^[48]

During his absence from the recording studio, Cooper toured extensively every year throughout the latter part of the 1990s, including, in 1996, South America, which he had not visited since 1974. Also in 1996, Cooper sang the role of Herod on the London cast recording of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar.^[49]

2000s

Cooper in 2004 on a film set in L.A.

The first decade of the 21st century saw a sustained period of activity from Alice Cooper. In the decade that he turned sixty, he toured extensively and released (after a significant break) a steady stream of studio albums to favorable critical acclaim. During this period Cooper was also recognized and awarded in various ways: he received a Rock Immortal award at the 2007 Scream Awards;^[50] was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003;^[51] he received (in May 2004) an honorary doctoral degree from Grand Canyon University;^[52] was given (in May 2006) the key to the city of Alice, North Dakota;^[53] he scooped the living legend award at the 2006 Classic Rock Roll of Honour event;^[54] he won the 2007 Mojo music magazine Hero Award;^[55] and fans twice tried to induct him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[56]

The lengthy break between studio albums ended in 2000 with Brutal Planet, which was a return to horror-lined heavy metal, with industrial rock, and with subject matter thematically inspired by the brutality of the modern world, set in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future, and also inspired by a number of news stories that had recently appeared on the CNN news channel.^[57] The album was produced by Bob Marlett, with longtime Cooper production collaborator Bob Ezrin returning as Executive Producer. The accompanying world tour, which included Cooper's first concert in Russia, was a resounding success, introducing Alice Cooper to a new audience and producing the live home video, Brutally Live, in 2001. During one memorable episode in Brutally Live, Britney Spears (being played by Alice Cooper's real life daughter, Calico), and representing "everything that my audience hates — the softening of rock and roll...the sweetness of it"^[58] is executed by Cooper.

Brutal Planet was succeeded by the sonically similar and widely acclaimed sequel Dragontown, which saw Bob Ezrin back at the helm as producer. The album has been described as leading the listener down "a nightmarish path into the mind of rock's original conceptual storyteller"^[59] and by Cooper himself as being "the worst town on Brutal Planet".^[60] Like The Last Temptation, both Brutal Planet and Dragontown are albums which explore Cooper's personal faith perspective (born again Christianity). It is often cited in the music media that Dragontown forms the third chapter in a trilogy begun with The Last Temptation;^[61] however, Cooper has himself indicated that this in fact is not the case.^[62]

Cooper again adopted a leaner, cleaner sound for his critically acclaimed^[63] 2003 release The Eyes Of Alice Cooper. Recognizing that many contemporary bands were having great success with his former sounds and styles, Cooper worked with a somewhat younger group of road and studio musicians who were very familiar with his oeuvre of old. However, instead of rehashing the old sounds, they updated them, often with surprisingly effective results. The resulting Bare Bones tour adopted a less-orchestrated performance style that had fewer theatrical flourishes and a greater emphasis on musicality. The success of this tour helped support the growing recognition that the classic Cooper songs were exceptionally clever, tuneful and unique.

Cooper's radio show, Nights with Alice Cooper, began airing on January 26, 2004 in several US cities. The program showcases classic rock, Cooper's personal stories about his life as a rock icon and interviews with prominent rock artists. The show is broadcast on nearly 100 stations in the US and Canada,^[64] and has also been broadcast all over the world. In 2005, Alice Cooper was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

A continuation of the songwriting approach adopted on The Eyes of Alice Cooper was again adopted by Cooper for his 24th studio album, Dirty Diamonds, released in 2005. Dirty Diamonds became Cooper's highest charting album since 1994's The Last Temptation.^[65] The Dirty Diamonds tour launched in America in August 2005 after several European concerts, including a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on July 12. Cooper and his band, including Kiss drummer Eric Singer, were filmed for a DVD released as Alice Cooper: Live at Montreux 2005. One critic, in a review of the Montreux release, commented that Cooper was to be applauded for "still mining pretty much the same territory of teenage angst and rebellion" as he had done more than thirty years previously.^[66]

In December 2006 the original Alice Cooper band reunited to perform six classic Alice Cooper songs at Cooper's annual charity event in Phoenix, entitled "Christmas Pudding".^[67]

On July 1, 2007, Cooper performed a duet with Marilyn Manson at the B'Estival event in Bucharest, Romania.^[68] The performance represented a reconciliation between the two artists; Cooper had previously taken issue with Manson over his overtly anti-Christian onstage antics, which included tearing up Bibles, and he had sarcastically made reference to the originality of Manson's choosing a female name and dressing in women's clothing.^[69] Cooper and Manson have been the subject of an academic paper on the significance of adolescent antiheroes.^[70] Also in 2007 on Oct 23 Cooper got honored By SpikeTV with an Rock Immortal Award at Scream. He did a live performance with both Slash and Rob Zombie as their UnHoly Trinity performing his hit song Schools Out!

In January 2008 he was one of the guest singers on the new Avantasia album The Scarecrow, singing the 7th track, The Toy Master. In July 2008, after lengthy delays, Cooper released Along Came a Spider, his 25th studio album. It was Cooper's highest charting album since 1991's Hey Stoopid, reaching #53 in the US and #31 in the UK. The album, visiting similar territory explored in 1987's Raise Your Fist and Yell, deals with the nefarious antics of a deranged serial killer named "Spider" who is on a quest to use the limbs of his victims to create a human spider. The album generally received positive reviews from music critics, though Rolling Stone magazine opined that the music on the record sorely missed Bob Ezrin's production values.^[71] The resulting Theatre of Death tour of the album (during which Cooper is executed on four separate occasions) was described in a long November 2009 article about Cooper in The Times as "epic" and featuring "enough fake blood to remake Saving Private Ryan".^[72]

2010s

On January 22, 2010, it was announced that Alice would be touring with Rob Zombie on the "Gruesome Twosome" tour.^[73]

On March 29, 2010, Cooper revealed during his weekly radio show on Planet Rock that his next record was to be titled The Night Shift. Cooper stated he has 10 demos ready.

On May 26, 2010, Cooper made an appearance during the beginning of the season finale of the reality-show, American Idol, in which he sang "School's Out".^[74]

On June 20, 2010, Cooper joined Slash on stage in Paris to perform the song "School's Out".^[75]

Alice Cooper performing live at Wacken Open Air in 2010

On June 15, 2010 to coincide with the release of the "Alice Cooper Track Pack" for Guitar Hero, a free download of the newly-recorded "Elected" was made available on Alice Cooper's official website. He scored alongside his daughter and band member Dick Wagner the score for the Indie horror flick Silas Gore.^[76]

During 2010 Cooper began working on a new album, dubbed Welcome 2 My Nightmare, a sequel to the original Welcome to My Nightmare.^[77] In a Radio Metal interview, he said that "[w]e'll put some of the original people on it and add some new people[...]I'm very happy with working with Bob (Ezrin) again."^[77]

During a press conference in France Cooper said about Welcome to My Nightmare II: "this album is more bloody and more accomplished than the first. It sounds like the early years."^[78] By October 2010, Alice and Bob Ezrin had come up with 13 songs, including the ballads "I Am Made of You" and "Something to Remember Me By."^[79] In addition, Cooper cut three new songs with original band members Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce.^[79]

On December 15, 2010, it was announced Cooper and his former band would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The official Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place March 14, 2011, where Cooper was inducted by fellow horror-rocker Rob Zombie. He showed up for the event wearing a (presumably fake) blood-splattered shirt and had a live giant albino boa snake wrapped around his neck.^[5][80] Cooper told Rolling Stone magazine that he was "elated" by the news and that the nomination had been made for the original band, as "We all did go to the same high school together, and we were all on the track team, and it was pretty cool that guys that knew each other before the band ended up going that far".^[81]

On March 10, 2011 Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Alice Cooper, Jennifer Warnes and others performed at a benefit concert in Tucson, Arizona benefiting The Fund For Civility, Respect and Understanding, a foundation that raise awareness about and provides medical prevention and treatment services to people with mental disorders. The concert also benefited the injured and the families of victims of the January 8, 2011 shootings in Tucson, AZ. On March 19, 2011, Alice appeared on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno,^[82] and on June 26, 2011, he took his place in the Reasonably Priced Car at the BBC auto show Top Gear.^[83] He also announced on the BBC One chat show, Lee Mack's All Star Cast, that he would be shooting a small cameo in Tim Burton's upcoming film version of Dark Shadows.^[84]

On July 2 he joined the Foo Fighters on the first of their two nights at the Milton Keynes Bowl to perform "Schools Out" and "I'm 18". He also played stadium dates in Helsinki and Oslo as a supporting act for Iron Maiden.

Cooper was 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.

Influences and fans

During an interview for the program Entertainment USA in 1986 Cooper stunned interviewer Jonathan King by stating that The Yardbirds were his favorite band of all time.^[85] Perhaps King should not have been so taken aback, as Cooper had as far back as 1969 gone on record as saying that it was music from the mid-sixties, and particularly from British bands The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, as well as The Yardbirds, that had the greatest influence on him.^[86] Cooper would later pay homage to The Who by singing "I'm A Boy" for A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who in 1994 at Carnegie Hall in New York, and performing a cover of "My Generation" on the Brutal Planet tour of 2000.

During an interview with Ozzy Osbourne from radio program Nights with Alice Cooper on May 22, 2007, Cooper again affirmed his debt of gratitude to these bands, and to The Beatles in particular. During their discussion, Cooper and Osbourne bemoaned the often inferior quality of songwriting coming from contemporary rock artists. Cooper stated that in his opinion the cause of the problem was that certain modern bands "had forgotten to listen to The Beatles".

On the 25th Anniversary DVD of Cabaret, Liza Minnelli stated that her good friend, Alice Cooper, had told her that his whole career was based on the movie Cabaret.

Evidence of Cooper's eclectic tastes in both classic and contemporary rock music, from the 1960s to the present, can be seen in the track listings of his radio show; in addition, when he appeared on the BBC Radio 2 program Tracks of My Years in September 2007, he listed his favorite tracks of all time as being: "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966) by The Rolling Stones; "Turning Japanese" (1980) by The Vapors; "My Sharona" (1979) by The Knack; "Beds Are Burning" (1987) by Midnight Oil; "My Generation" (1965) by The Who; "Welcome To The Jungle" (1987) by Guns N' Roses; "Rebel Rebel" (1974) by David Bowie; "Over Under Sideways Down" (1966) by The Yardbirds; "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" (2003) by Jet; and "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) by The Beatles,^[87] and when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2010 he chose the songs "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" by The Yardbirds; "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys; "I'm a Boy" by The Who; Timer by Laura Nyro; "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson; "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction; "Work Song" by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and "Ballad of a Thin Man" by Bob Dylan.^[88]

Rob Zombie, former front man of White Zombie, claims his first "metal moment" was seeing Alice Cooper on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.^[89]

In a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan stated, "I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter".^[90]

  I know the words to every Alice Cooper song. The fact is, if you can call what I have a musical career, it all started with me miming to I'm Eighteen on a jukebox

“

”

John Lydon speaking in 2002

In the foreword to Alice Cooper's CD retrospective box set The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper, John Lydon of The Sex Pistols pronounced Killer as the greatest rock album of all time, and in 2002 Lydon presented his own tribute program to Cooper on BBC radio. Lydon told the BBC that "I know the words to every Alice Cooper song. The fact is, if you can call what I have a musical career, it all started with me miming to I'm Eighteen on a jukebox".^[91][92]

The Flaming Lips are longtime Alice Cooper fans and used the bass line from "Levity Ball" (an early song from the 1969 release Pretties for You) for their song "The Ceiling Is Bending". They also covered "Sun Arise" for an Alice Cooper tribute album. (Cooper's version, which closes the album Love It To Death, was itself a cover of a Rolf Harris song.)

In 1999 Cleopatra Records released Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper featuring a number of contributions from rock and metal all-star collaborations, including Dave Mustaine, Roger Daltrey, Ronnie James Dio, Slash, Bruce Dickinson, and Steve Jones.^[93] The album was notable for the fact that it was possible to assemble a different supergroup for each cover version on the record, which gave an indication of the depth of esteem in which Cooper is held by other eminent musicians within the music industry.

A song by alternative rock group They Might Be Giants from their 1994 album John Henry entitled "Why Must I Be Sad?" mentions 13 Cooper songs, and has been described as being "from the perspective of a kid who hears all of his unspoken sadness given voice in the music of Alice Cooper; Alice says everything the kid has been wishing he could say about his alienated, frustrated, teenage world".^[94]

Such unlikely non-musician fans of Cooper included Groucho Marx and Mae West, who both reportedly saw the early shows as a form of vaudeville revue,^[95] and artist Salvador Dalí, who on attending a show in 1973 described it as being surreal, and made a hologram, First Cylindric Chromo-Hologram Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain.^[96][97]

Personal life

Cooper, a huge fan of The Simpsons, was asked to contribute a storyline for the September 2004 edition of Bongo Comics's Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror, a special Monsters of Rock issue that also included stories plotted by Gene Simmons, Rob Zombie and Pat Boone.^[98] Cooper's story featured Homer Simpson being a Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th style killer and Alice and the citizens of Springfield are being stalked by Homer.

On June 20, 2005, ahead of his June–July 2005 tour, Cooper had a wide-ranging interview with interviewer of celebrities Andrew Denton for the Australian ABC Television's Enough Rope. Cooper discussed various issues during a revealing and frank talk, including the horrors of acute alcoholism and his subsequent cure, being a Christian, and his social and work relationship with his family.^[99] During the interview, Cooper remarked "I look at Mick Jagger and he's on an 18-month tour and he's six [sic] years older than me, so I figure, when he retires, I have six more years. I will not let him beat me when it comes to longevity."^[100]

The actual ownership of the Alice Cooper name is often cited^{[citation needed]} by intellectual property lawyers and law professors as an example of the value of a single copyright or trademark. Since "Alice Cooper" was originally the name of the band, and not the lead singer (e.g. Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Amy Meredith, etc.), and it was actually owned by the band as whole, Cooper paid, and continues to pay, a yearly royalty to his original bandmates for the right to use the name commercially. Although the exact amount is not known, insiders agree that it is large enough for the surviving band members to live comfortably.^{[citation needed]}

Relationships and family

In the period when the Alice Cooper group was signed to Frank Zappa's Straight label, Miss Christine of the GTOs became Cooper's girlfriend. Miss Christine (real name: Christine Frka), who had actually recommended Zappa to the group, died on November 5, 1972 of an overdose.^[101]

Another long-time girlfriend of Cooper's was Cindy Lang, with whom he lived for several years. They separated in 1975. Lang sued Cooper for palimony, and they eventually settled out of court in the early 1980s.^[102][103]

After his separation from Lang, Cooper was briefly linked with actress Raquel Welch.^[104] Cooper then reportedly left Welch, however, to marry, on March 20, 1976, ballerina instructor/choreographer Sheryl Goddard, who performed in the Alice Cooper show from 1975 to 1982. In November 1983, at the height of Cooper's alcoholism, Sheryl filed for divorce, but by mid-1984, she and Cooper had reconciled.^[105] The couple has remained together since. In a 2002 television interview, Cooper claimed that he had "never cheated" on his wife in all the time they had been together. In the same interview, he also claimed that the secret to a lasting and successful relationship is to continue going out on dates with your partner.^[106] The couple have three children: elder daughter Calico Cooper (born 1981), an actress and singer who has been performing in the Alice Cooper show since 2000; son Dash (b. 1985), a student at Arizona State University, and also plays in a band called Runaway Phoenix; and younger daughter Sonora Rose (b. 1993).

Drug recovery

In 1986, Megadeth was asked to open for Cooper for dates on his US tour. After noticing the hardcore abuse of alcohol and other drugs in the band, Cooper personally approached the band members to try to help them control their abuse, and he has stayed close to front man Dave Mustaine ever since; Mustaine in fact considers him his godfather.^[107] Since conquering his own addiction to alcohol in the mid 1980s, Cooper has continued to help and counsel other rock musicians battling addiction problems who turn to him for help. "I've made myself very available to friends of mine - they're people who would call me late at night and say, 'Between you and me, I've got a problem.'"^[108] In recognition of the work he has done in helping other addicts in the recovery process, Cooper received in 2008 the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award at the fourth annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert in Los Angeles.^[109]

Religion and politics

Although he originally tended to shy away from speaking publicly about his religious beliefs, Cooper has in recent years been quite vocal about his faith as a born-again Christian.^[110][111] He has avoided so called "celebrity Christianity" because, as Cooper states himself: "It's really easy to focus on Alice Cooper and not on Christ. I'm a rock singer. I'm nothing more than that. I'm not a philosopher. I consider myself low on the totem pole of knowledgeable Christians. So, don't look for answers from me".^[111]

When asked by the British Sunday Times newspaper in 2001 how a shock-rocker could be a Christian, Cooper responded "Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's real rebellion!"^{[citation needed]}

Throughout his career, Cooper's philosophy regarding politics is that politics should not be mixed with rock music. He has usually kept his political views to himself, and in 2010 said "I am extremely non-political. I go out of my way to be non-political. I'm probably the biggest moderate you know. When John Lennon and Harry Nilsson used to argue politics, I was sitting right in the middle of them, and I was the guy who was going 'I don't care.' When my parents would start talking politics, I would go in my room and put on The Rolling Stones or The Who on as long as I could to avoid politics. And I still feel that way".^[81] On occasion he has spoken out against musicians who promote or opine on politics, for example in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, he told the Canadian Press that the then crop of rock stars campaigning for and touring on behalf of Democratic candidate John Kerry were committing "treason against rock n' roll". He also added that upon seeing the list of musicians who supported Kerry, "if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."^[112][113]

Love of golf

Cooper has on several occasions credited golf as having played a major role in helping him to overcome his addiction to alcohol,^[114] and has even gone as far to say that when he took up golf, it was a case of replacing one addiction with another.^[115][116] The importance that the game has had in his life is also reflected in the title to his 2007 autobiography, Alice Cooper, Golf Monster.^[117] Cooper, who has participated in a number of Pro-Am competitions,^[118] plays the game six days a week, off a handicap of two.^[88] Since 1997, he has hosted an annual golf competition, the Alice Cooper Celebrity AM Golf Tournament, all proceeds from which go to his charity, the Solid Rock Foundation. In 2005, while playing with manager Shep Gordon on The Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Cooper recorded an impressive round of two-over par 74 on the world-class course. Cooper has also appeared in commercials for Callaway Golf equipment, was a guest of veteran British player and broadcaster Peter Alliss on A Golfer's Travels.^[119] He wrote the foreword to the Gary McCord book "Ryder Cup" and participated in the second All*Star Cup in South Wales.^[120] In an interview with VH1, friend and fellow golfer Pat Boone said that Cooper was "'this close' to being a pro".

Discography

See: Alice Cooper discography

Awards and Nominations

Grammy Awards

Filmography

See: Alice Cooper filmography

List of Alice Cooper band personnel

Current

• Alice Cooper – vocals, guitar, harmonica (1963–present)
• Chuck Garric – bass guitar, vocals (2002–present)
• Steve Hunter – guitar (1975–79; 2011–present)
• Tommy Henriksen – guitar (2011–present)
• Orianthi – guitar, vocals (2011–present)
• Glen Sobel – drums, percussion (2011–present)

Past

See also: List of Alice Cooper personnel

Bibliography

• Alice Cooper, Keith Zimmerman (2007). Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict. Crown Publishers. ISBN 0-307-38265-6. 
• Alice Cooper, Steven Gaines (1976). Me, Alice: The Autobiography of Alice Cooper. Putnam. ISBN 0-399-11535-8. 
• Wolfgang Heilemann, Sabine Thomas (2005). Alice Cooper: Live on Tour, Studio, Backstage. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. ISBN 3-896-02651-8. 
• Michael Bruce, Billy James (2000). No More Mr. Nice Guy: The Inside Story of the Original Alice Cooper Group. SAF Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-946-71932-2. 
• Bob Greene (1974). Billion Dollar Baby. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780689106163. 
• Jeffrey Morgan (1999). Alcohol and Razor Blades, Poison and Needles: The Glorious Wretched Excess of Alice Cooper, All-American. (Reproduced on the Alice Cooper official website). 

References

1. ^ "Alice Cooper Biography". NME. http://www.nme.com/artists/alice-cooper. Retrieved 2009-01-18. 
2. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "All Music: Alice Cooper". allmusic. http://www.allMusic.com/artist/alice-cooper-p3962/biography. Retrieved 23 December 2010. 
3. ^ The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. Fireside. ISBN 0-74320-1698. 
4. ^ Guy Blackman (July 2, 2007). "Gig reviews: Alice Cooper". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/gig-reviews/alice-cooper/2007/07/02/1183229014162.html. Retrieved 15 August 2008. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Rock Hall makes it official: Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond among new class". SoundSpike. 15 December 2010. http://www.soundspike.com/news/article/1239-rock_and_roll_hall_of_fame_news_rock_hall_makes_it_official_alice.html. Retrieved 17 December 2010. 
6. ^ "The Preacher's Son Who Became Alice Cooper". People.com. 1974-04-01. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20063913,00.html. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
7. ^ "How golf made shock rocker Alice green and serene". Times LIVE. 2009-09-01. http://www.timesLive.co.za/sundaytimes/article54287.ece. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
8. ^ "The Fabulous Furniers" - chapter one of Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict
9. ^ Cooper, Alice Me: Alice (autobiography)
10. ^ Famous Mormons Tuesday, December 30, 2003 By Kaimi Wenger (2003-12-30). "Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite)—See comment #34". TimesAndSeasons.org. http://timesAndSeasons.org/index.php/2003/12/famous-mormons/. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
11. ^ Cooper describes in detail in his first autobiography, Me, Alice, how he was tasked to organize an act for the show
12. ^ Dennis Dunaway's website gives a detailed description of how the line up of The Spiders evolved
13. ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic
14. ^ "Alice Cooper's name change". Contactmusic.com. 2007-11-07. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/cooper%20name%20change%20was%20the%20best%20decision%20i%20ever%20made_1049224. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
15. ^ "It's A Man's World: Alice Cooper". Dailymail.co.uk. 2008-07-29. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1037257/Its-A-Mans-World-Alice-Cooper.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
16. ^ The Emmett Smith Story
17. ^ "''Sick Things UK'' re: Role played by the GTOs (and Miss Christine in particular) in the development of the Alice Cooper look". Sickthingsuk.co.uk. 1972-11-05. http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/people/p-christine.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
18. ^ Barry Miles' biography of Frank Zappa includes a vivid description of how the GTOs influenced Cooper to wear makeup and dress in drag onstage
19. ^ "''Alice Cooper – In His Own Words''". Superseventies.com. http://www.superseventies.com/ssalicecooper.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
20. ^ Cooper confirms this version of events in an interview in Alice Cooper: Prime Cuts
21. ^ http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/marilyn2.htm
22. ^ Five years later, the Chicken Incident would be parodied in the Ray Stevens song "The Moonlight Special", with Cooper referred to as Agens Stoopa.
23. ^ http://www.hellbound.ca/2011/08/alice-cooper-old-school-1964-1974/ Mentioned on the interview DVD by Alice Cooper and confirmed by the other members
24. ^ Serene Dominic (8 October 2003). "Alice doesn't live here anymore. But he can't forget the Motor City.". Metro Times. http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=5479. Retrieved 15 July 2008. 
25. ^ Cooper's outspoken views on the Vietnam War stood out no less, as he was always staunchly pro-war, in stark contrast to the vast majority of musicians at the time, who were rebelliously anti-war. Mention of this is made in the VH1 program Behind the Music: 1972 (see the end of the 1972 entry)
26. ^ "The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin" by Maxim W. Furek. i-Universe, 2008; ISBN 978-0-595-46319-0 (p. 62)
27. ^ See the Alice Cooper entry under List of albums produced by Ezrin at Ezrin's Wikipedia page
28. ^ In a revealing online interview Ezrin discusses in detail the technicalities of producing, as a raw 19 year old, both Love it to Death and other early Cooper recordings
29. ^ "''Sick Things UK'' re: The Galesi Estate (aka The Cooper Mansion), where Billion Dollar Babies would eventually be recorded". Sickthingsuk.co.uk. 1971-10-13. http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/misc/mansion.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
30. ^ Cooper responded by sending Whitehouse flowers in thanks for the publicity the incident generated^{[dead link]}
31. ^ Leo Abse's sensational Holy War against Alice^{[dead link]}
32. ^ Buxton's recurring health problems are documented in a number of obituaries that appeared after his death on Neal Smith's website
33. ^ Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare (1975) - Full cast and crew
34. ^ David Winters - IMDb
35. ^ "Bob Ezrin has been directly credited with encouraging Cooper at this time to write ballads such as "Only Women Bleed" and "I Never Cry"". Emusician.com. http://emusician.com/em_spotlight/bob_ezrin_interview/. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
36. ^ For the tour, Alice hired Dee Murray and Davey Johnstone of the Elton John Band; reportedly he had also wanted to hire Nigel Olsson on drums, and utilize the entire Elton John Band's rhythm section , but Olsson (who had earlier been with the Spencer Davis Group, and considered himself a serious musician) declined, referring to Alice's style of music as "cartoon rock".
37. ^ Alice Cooper website, giving every leg of every tour he has made^{[dead link]}
38. ^ Alice Cooper: The Nightmare Returns (1986)
39. ^ For example, see the November 13, 1986 issue of Kerrang! music magazine, whose front cover bears the headline 'The Night He Came Home ...Alice Knocks 'Em Dead in Detroit'
40. ^ See the Rolling Stone biography of Cooper^{[dead link]}
41. ^ The Daily Mirror, (U.K.) April 6th, 1988
42. ^ "Cooper was quoted in SickThings.co.uk as saying "It's hard for an American to imagine anything as too violent for Germany"". Sickthingsuk.co.uk. http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/timelines/t-ryfay.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
43. ^ "''Sick Things UK'' re: The Gallows". Sickthingsuk.co.uk. http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/theatrics/gallows.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
44. ^ "Review of ''Prime Cuts'' by Mark Boydell". Dvdtimes.co.uk. 2002-04-25. http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3619. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
45. ^ Shep Gordon interview for Prime Cuts
46. ^ "Darren Hirst article on Cooper, featuring an analysis of ''The Last Temptation''". Crossrhythms.co.uk. 2008-01-03. http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Alice_Cooper_The_shock_rock_pioneer_speaks_about_his_Christian_faith/30163/p1/. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
47. ^ Recorded in 1996 at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo club in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, it featured guest performances by Slash and Rob Zombie. A synopsis of the album can be found here
48. ^ Alice Cooper official website^{[dead link]}
49. ^ "Jesus Christ Superstar CD Tracks". Cduniverse.com. 2000-03-07. http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1142886/a/Jesus+Christ+Superstar.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
50. ^ "Cooper joked in an interview regarding the award "Are you sure they don't mean immoral?"". Tvguide.com. 2007-10-23. http://www.tvguide.com/news/alice-cooper-spike/071023-03. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
51. ^ "article covering the event". BBC News. 2003-12-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3286705.stm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
52. ^ "Baptist Press article on the award, as well as Cooper's Christian faith and philanthropic relationship to the university". Bpnews.net. 2004-05-07. http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=18238. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
53. ^ "article on the award". BBC News. 2006-05-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4771763.stm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
54. ^ "Alice Cooper scoops legend award". BBC News. 2006-11-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6124434.stm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
55. ^ MOJO Honours List Salutes Incorrigible Rebels!^{[dead link]}
56. ^ A campaign to induct Cooper was started in June 2006 by two German fans online at Myspace.com, sparked by a column written in April 2006 by Creem writer and official Cooper biographer Jeffrey Morgan in Metro Times Detroit. A previous unsuccessful attempt was made in 2004 by fan Robert Floto using an online petition which logged more than 2,700 entries.
57. ^ Cooper stated in an interview with Jane Stevenson that the darkest material on the album had been directly lifted from CNN news stories; in particular, the song "Pick Up The Bones" (about the war in Kosovo) had been written after Cooper had seen a man in Kosovo collecting the remains of his family in a pillow case. Cooper commented: "even Stephen King couldn't write this."
58. ^ Cooper speaking in an interview with online music magazine Ink 19^{[dead link]}
59. ^ "An online review of ''Dragontown'' can be found here". Cduniverse.com. 2001-10-09. http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=2056773. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
60. ^ The album also received a favourable review in Rolling Stone magazine.^{[dead link]}
61. ^ "See the Joe Viglione, ''Allmusic'' review (again very favourable) of the album". Mp3.com. 2011-06-30. http://www.mp3.com/albums/493259/reviews.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
62. ^ "''Hard Music'' magazine interview with Alice Cooper". Hmmagazine.com. http://www.hmmagazine.com/exclusive/alice_cooper_part_2200304/index.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
63. ^ "album For example, see Simon Evans's review". Musicomh.com. http://www.musicomh.com/albums/alice-cooper.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
64. ^ "Nights with Alice Cooper". Nights with Alice Cooper. http://nightswithalicecooper.com/. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
65. ^ "Blabbermouth article reporting on Billboard announcement re: the album". Roadrunnerrecords.com. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=40365. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
66. ^ "Glen Boyd review of the Montreux DVD". Blogcritics.org. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/05/21/0908173.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
67. ^ Damon Johnson, a guitarist in Cooper's then band, filled in for the deceased Glen Buxton.
68. ^ "The event received considerable media coverage; for example, see the United Press International article". Upi.com. 2007-06-27. http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2007/06/27/cooper_manson_in_concert_for_first_time/1362/. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
69. ^ "Jane Stevenson interview re Charles Manson". Jam.canoe.ca. 2000-08-29. http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/C/Cooper_Alice/2000/08/29/744188.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
70. ^ ""From Alice Cooper to Marilyn Manson"". Ap.psychiatryonline.org. doi:10.1176/appi.ap.27.1.54. http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/27/1/54. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
71. ^ "Alice Cooper Along Came a Spider Rolling Stone album review". Rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/22028709/review/22575622/along_came_a_spider. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
72. ^ "Alice Cooper: booze, madness and dead chickens"^{[dead link]}
73. ^ "Rob Zombie & Alice Cooper". The Gruesome Twosome Tour. http://www.gruesometwosometour.com/. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
74. ^ "American Idol Season 9 Top 12 – School's Out with Alice Cooper". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_guA-axV60. Retrieved August 10, 2010. 
75. ^ "Slash playing School's Out with Alice Cooper". MetalTraveller.com. http://www.metaltraveller.com/en/gigs/slash/paris_2010.html. Retrieved January 28, 2011. 
76. ^ Slasher, Masked (2010-07-21). "Alice Cooper and his Daughter Tackle Silas Gore". Dreadcentral.com. http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/38649/alice-cooper-and-his-daughter-tackle-silas-gore. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
77. ^ ^{a b} "ALICE COOPER TALKS ABOUT HIS NIGHTMARE…". Radio Metal. 28 June 2010. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5weCLHTQc. Retrieved 20 February 2011. 
78. ^ "Alice Cooper Joins Slash Onstage In Paris, Video Available". Sleaze Roxx. 21 June 2010. http://www.sleazeroxx.com/news10/0621coo.shtml. Retrieved 12 October 2010. 
79. ^ ^{a b} "ALICE COOPER Talks To BILLBOARD Magazine About 'Welcome II My Nightmare'". Blabbermouth.net. 6 October 2011. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=147268. Retrieved 20 February 2011. 
80. ^ "ALICE COOPER Band Members Comment On ROCK HALL Induction News - Dec. 15, 2010". Blabbermouth.net. 15 December 2010. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=150936. Retrieved 17 December 2010. 
81. ^ ^{a b} Andy Greene (14 December 2010). "Alice Cooper, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, Was 'Elated' When He Got the News". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/alice-cooper-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-inductee-was-elated-when-he-got-the-news-20101214. Retrieved 23 December 2010. 
82. ^ "AND ALICE COOPER ORGANIZE ALL-STAR LINE-UP FOR MARCH 10 CONCERT AT TUCSON CONVENTION CENTER". Jackson Browne. http://jacksonbrowne.com/news/2011/03/07/jackson-browne-and-alice-cooper-organize-all-star-line-march-10-concert-tucson-conve. Retrieved 2011-07-07. 
83. ^ "Top Gear Series 17 Episode 1 Preview [Spoiler Alert"]. Motorward. 2011-06-24. http://www.motorward.com/2011/06/top-gear-series-17-episode-1-preview-spoiler-alert/. Retrieved 2011-07-07. 
84. ^ "Alice Cooper Confirms Dark Shadows Cameo". Dark Shadows News Page. July 3, 2011. http://darkshadowsnews.blogspot.com/2011/07/alice-cooper-confirms-dark-shadows.html
85. ^ Interview aired on Entertainment USA, BBC 2 (U.K.) during either November/December 1986
86. ^ Mike Quigley (September 1969). "Interview with Alice Cooper". Poppin. http://www.mjq.net/interviews/alice.htm. Retrieved 23 October 2007. 
87. ^ 3 September 2007 edition of BBC Radio 2 program Tracks of My Years, hosted by Ken Bruce
88. ^ ^{a b} Kirsty Wark (21 November 2010). "Desert Island Discs: Alice Cooper". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w1151. Retrieved 13 December 2010. 
89. ^ Posted 5/22/06. ""Metal: As Defined By Gods" from Heavy: The Story of Metal | Show Clip | VH1.com". Vh1classic.com. http://www.vh1classic.com/view/playlist/1531879/87125/Heavy_The_Story_of_Metal_Heavy_Q_and_A/First_Metal_Moment_Q_and_A/index.jhtml. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
90. ^ Cott, Jonathan (January 26, 1978). The Rolling Stone Interview. Rolling Stone.
91. ^ "Former Sex Pistol joins Radio 2". BBC. 21 October 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2346057.stm. Retrieved 13 January 2011. 
92. ^ "Lydon also admitted in an interview with the BBC that 'I know the lyrics to every single Alice Cooper song'". BBC News. 2002-10-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2346057.stm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
93. ^ "An online review of the album at Yahoo Entertainment can be found here". Music.yahoo.com. http://music.yahoo.com/read/review/14236292. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
94. ^ "Why Must I Be Sad?". This Might Be a Wiki – the tmbg knowledge base. http://tmbw.net/wiki/Why_Must_I_Be_Sad. Retrieved 21 October 2009. 
95. ^ "''Enough Rope'' re: Groucho Marx and Mae West". Abc.net.au. 2005-06-20. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1396692.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
96. ^ Olga Mataev. "Salvador Dali's Hologram Portrait of Cooper". Abcgallery.com. http://www.abcgallery.com/D/dali/dali219.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
97. ^ A replica of the hologram can be seen at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Cooper and original band members Dennis Dunaway and Glen Buxton studied Dalí as art students at Cortez High School in Phoenix, Arizona, and the cover art of Cooper's DaDa album features a slightly altered version of Dalí's painting "Slave Market with Disappearing Bust of Voltaire."
98. ^ "2004 Fox/Bongo Press Release detailing the various storylines, which also remarks on Cooper's notoriously 'wicked sense of humor'". Snpp.com. http://www.snpp.com/news/pr10_06_04.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
99. ^ Enough Rope interview transcript, June 20, 2005
100. ^ "''Enough Rope''comments Mick Jagger and retirement". Abc.net.au. 2005-06-20. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1396692.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
101. ^ Cooper describes how he fell for Miss Christine in his 1976 autobiography Me, Alice
102. ^ IMDb bio
103. ^ "''Sick Things UK'' re: Estrangement from Cindy Lang". Sickthingsuk.co.uk. http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/musicians/m-alice.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
104. ^ Melissa Whitworth 12:02AM BST 28 Aug 2007 (2007-08-28). "Cooper's liaison with Welch is described in a 2007 ''Daily Telegraph'' article". Telegraph.co.uk. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/08/28/nosplit/ftcooper128.xml. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
105. ^ "''Sick Things UK'' re: Reconciliation of Cooper and Sheryl Goddard". Sickthingsuk.co.uk. http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/timelines/t-dada.php. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
106. ^ The Johnny Vaughan Show (UK) 2002.
107. ^ Fame & Fortune: Dave Mustaine^{[dead link]}
108. ^ Up for Discussion Jump to Forums. "Cooper quoted in April 18, 2008 billboard.com article". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003791560. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
109. ^ Up for Discussion Jump to Forums. "Alice Cooper Receives MusiCares MAP Fund Award". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003791560. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
110. ^ "Alice Cooper Is A Christian". JesusJournal.com. 28 March 2006. http://www.jesusjournal.com/content/view/79/85/. Retrieved 23 September 2009. 
111. ^ ^{a b} "Alice Cooper goes with God: 'Shock-rock' pioneer now 'dedicated to follow Christ'". WorldNetDaily. March 1, 2002. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26647. Retrieved 23 October 2009. 
112. ^ "Alice Cooper: Anti-Bush acts treasonous morons.". WorldNetDaily. August 24, 2004. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40127. Retrieved 23 September 2008. 
113. ^ Richard Leiby (August 24, 2004). "Alice Cooper's Political Makeup". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27098-2004Aug23.html. Retrieved 15 August 2007. 
114. ^ "Alice Cooper - Cooper's Golf Addiction". Contactmusic.com. 7 November 2007. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/coopers%20golf%20addiction_1049258. Retrieved 23 September 2008. 
115. ^ Alice Cooper (13 November 2005). "Club Class". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/11/13/svgadget13.xml. Retrieved 15 August 2008. 
116. ^ "Alice Cooper: Saved By The Golf Course?". Billboard. 27 May 2007. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003581021. Retrieved 23 August 2008. 
117. ^ "Alice Cooper, Golf Monster". Random House. 28 April 2007. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307394255. Retrieved 13 August 2008. 
118. ^ Details of the Pro-Am events Cooper has participated in can be found in Alice Cooper, Golf Monster
119. ^ "Cooper met Alliss in Hawaii for a round of golf - Alliss commented that he thought Cooper was 'quite a gentleman'". Clearwaterimages.biz. http://www.clearwaterimages.biz/series1/series1.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13. 
120. ^ Nick Dermody (27 August 2006). "Stars turn out for celebrity golf". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/5289398.stm. Retrieved 23 December 2008. 

External links

Year	Nominated work	Award	Result
1984	Alice Cooper: The Nightmare	Best Music Video, Long Form	Nominated
1997	Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)	Best Metal Performance	Nominated
2011	Original Alice Cooper Band	Inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame	Nominated
	Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Alice Cooper

• Official website
• Official Nights with Alice Cooper website
• Alice Cooper Artist Page @ VH1.com
• Alice Cooper at Allmusic.com

Persondata
Name	Alice Cooper
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 4, 1948
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death