Alice Cooper (born
Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948)
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 that was designed to
shock.
[Artist bio by Rock critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic hosted at VH1.com]
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.