Download Free Alice Cooper * Songs

Alice Cooper music biography continued...

Vincent Furnier in Detroit, Michigan on April 2, 1948, Cooper formed a garage rock band as a teenager with friends Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and John Spear. The band moved to Los Angeles, recruited a new member—Neil Smith—and called themselves The Spiders. One critic called them "the worst rock and roll band ever," but they caught the eye of Frank Zappa who liked their angry, dark in-your-face shows and signed them to a recording contract. In 1969, the band changed their name to Alice Cooper (the name of the witch doctor who spoke to Furnier via an Ouija board) and released 'Pretties For You' and 'Easy Action'. In 1971 they were signed by Warner Brothers., and their next album, 'Love It to Death', made them chart toppers. It was followed by a whole string of hit Alice Cooper songs on such albums as 'Killer' (1972), 'School's Out'(1972), 'Billion Dollar Babies'(1973) and 'Muscle of Love'(1974). During this time, the band toured continuously and caused controversy wherever they went for their gruesome onstage antics, (murdering baby dolls causing the spraying of blood everywhere), but they built a devoted fan base.
In 1974, Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier) parted from Alice Cooper (the band). Furnier kept the name Alice Cooper and the band went on to record with the name 'Billion Dollar Babies'. In 1975, Cooper made another hit album, 'Welcome to My Nightmare', but soon after diversified and made a number of guest appearances on hit TV shows. Later, he also appeared in several movies (Wayne's World and The Last Temptation). These days, Cooper is known as movie actor, radio DJ, celebrity golfer and restaurateur. He is also noted to be a born again Christian and has said that practicing his faith is more of a challenge than trashing hotel rooms. But he will always be best remembered as the musician who was the first to bring storylined theatrics to the rock world and who was one of our most beloved heavy metal entertainers.