He is considered one of the leaders of the Glam Rock revolution, he is also one of the producers of the Shock Rock genre. He was a friend of Groucho Marx and bestie of Jim Morrison, Dave Mustaine called him "my godfather". Go ahead and enjoy 40 facts about the singer and creator known as Alice Cooper:
(Photo: Alice Cooper)
1. He was born Vincent Damon Furnier, on February 4, 1948, in Detroit Michigan.
2. His father was a preacher at a church in Pennsylvania and Alice was active in it when he was young. Even today, Alice makes sure to go to church regularly.
3. He is considered one of the leaders of the glam revolution of the seventies.
4. He is also known as the godfather of the "Shock Rock" genre.
5. He achieved this title by chance, thanks to an incident known as the "chicken incident". During Alice Cooper's performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969, someone threw a chicken onto the stage and Alice, who thought the chicken was capable of flying, threw it at the audience and the result was that her blood was scattered everywhere. The shocking incident made its spread and at that moment a legend was born.
6. He formed his first band in 1964, it was called the Earwigs and later changed its name to The Spiders.
7. "The Spiders" recorded their first song - "Why Don't You Love Me" as early as 1965. For the purpose of the recording, Vincent learned to play the harmonica.
(Photo: Ross Marino)
8. Later, in 1967 the band changed its name to The Nazz, but when Alice realized that artist Todd Rundgren also had a band that matched the same name he was forced to choose a new name for the band, and so the name Alice Cooper was born in 1968.
9. The band spread a rumor that the name Alice Cooper is the name of a girl who was accused of being a witch in the 15th century and that the band raised its soul in a seance ceremony.
10. In 1968 Alice Cooper was the first band to be signed by Frank Zappa's label. Zappa, who was looking for different and unusual bands, signed the band to a contract to record three albums.
11. The band Alice Cooper released their first album "Pretties for You" in 1969. Zappa was supposed to produce the album but in the end, it did not materialize. The album cover is a replica of a painting that hung in the living room of Zappa's house where the band auditioned.
12. The band's first hit that also brought it to the mainstream was "I'm Eighteen" from the album "Love It To Death" from 1971. The song won, among other things, a cover version on the debut album of the thrash metal band Anthrax.
13. In 1972, the band released the album and hit "School's Out".
14. The band reached its peak of popularity with their sixth album "Billion Dollar Babies" released in 1973.
15. The last album released in the classic lineup of "Alice Cooper" was "Muscle of Love" from 1973. After its breakup in 1975, Vincent adopted it and made it his stage name.
16. He released his first solo album in 1975 called "Welcome to My Nightmare", it was a concept album.
17. Alice's big break into the mainstream came with the album "Trash" from 1989, which included the hit "Poison" among others.
18. The album featured a number of artists, including Jon Bon Jovi and Steven Tyler, and the songs in it were co-written by Desmond Child, John Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora Joan Jett, and more.
19. Alice Cooper's horror shows are full of gimmicks and included snakes, corpses, skeletons, skulls, and more. On stage were monstrous creatures, such as Frankenstein, a guillotine, an electric chair, and more.
20. Alice has appeared in a number of films, the most famous of which is "Wayne's World" which features the famous scene in which Wayne and Gareth bow to him and say the iconic words: "We are not Worthy".
21. He was a guest on "The Muppet Show" in a special episode of "Halloween."
22. In addition since 2004 he has been a radio broadcaster on the program Nights with Alice Cooper.
23. He had a snake as a pet, he called him Julius Squeezer and he died of a rat bite.
24. In 1978 he donated money to renovate the letter "O" on the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
25. In the early 80s when guitarist Joe Perry left Aerosmith Alice began working with him on a joint project. The project was shelved after Aerosmith reunited in 1984.
26. Alice is a quite good golfer.
27. He owns a restaurant in Phoenix that goes by the name Cooperstown. The motto of the restaurant is an encounter between rock and humor.
28. In 1973 the artist Salvador Dalí created the first three-dimensional hologram in the form of Alice Cooper.
29. In 1988 he ran for governor of Arizona.
30. Cooper was featured as a singer on Guns N 'Roses' "The Garden" from the album "Use Your Illusion I".
31. That same year Slash returned the favor to Alice when he was featured on his song "Hey Stoopid" alongside Ozzy Osbourne and Joe Satriani.
32. Alice also collaborated with the band Twisted Sister on their song "Be cruel to your school" and with Chris Cornell on the album The Last Temptation, including songs "Stolen Prayer" and "Unholy War".
33. Alice Cooper's personal life is the complete opposite of his wild image on stage. He has been married to one woman all his life (except for a brief breakup during the time he was addicted to alcohol), which was part of his horror show from 1975-1982 and until recently attended his shows. Cooper claimed he never betrayed her. He has three children and is an exemplary family man.
34. Cooper was a good friend of Groucho Marx who was known as part of the Marx Brothers' comedy lineup.
35. He was also a friend of Jim Morrison and wrote the song "Desperado" from the Killer album that came out shortly after Morrison's death.
36. Guitarist Dave Mustaine is close to Alice and even calls him "my godfather".
37. Cooper is a multi-instrumentalist who in addition to being a singer also plays harmonica, guitar keyboards, and percussion.
38. In 2011 Cooper was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
39. In 2015, he co-founded with the guitarist Aerosmith - Joe Perry and actor Johnny Depp the supergroup Hollywood Vampires.
40. During his years of musical activity he has released 17 studio albums, 11 live albums, and 21 compilation albums.