Alice Cooper (band)

Alice Cooper
Promotional photo of all five members, wearing tuxedos and grinning.
Alice Cooper in 1973
Background information
Also known asAlice Cooper Band
OriginPhoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Genres
Years active1968 (1968)–1974 (1974)
(reunions: 1999, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2019)
Labels
Past members
Websitealicecooper.com

Alice Cooper, also known as the Alice Cooper Group or the Alice Cooper Band, was an American rock band formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1968. The band consisted of lead singer Vincent Furnier (who adopted the stage name Alice Cooper), Glen Buxton (lead guitar), Michael Bruce (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Dennis Dunaway (bass guitar), and Neal Smith (drums). The band was notorious for their elaborate, theatrical shock rock stage shows.[3]

The Alice Cooper band was one of the few glam rock acts to achieve mainstream popularity in the United States, rising to fame in 1971 with the hit single "I'm Eighteen", from their third album Love It to Death. Success continued with the US top 10 and UK No. 1 single "School's Out", from the album of the same name, in 1972. The band peaked in popularity in 1973 with their next album Billion Dollar Babies, which topped the album charts in America and Britain and spun off three UK top 10 singles. The supporting tour broke box-office records previously held by the Rolling Stones. The band split up in 1975. Vincent Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper and began a successful solo career. In 2011, the original Alice Cooper band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[4]

  1. ^ P. Auslander, Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2006), ISBN 0-472-06868-7, p. 34.
  2. ^ "List of proto-punk bands".
  3. ^ Waksman, Steve (2009). This Ain't the Summer of Love: Conflict and Crossover in Heavy Metal and Punk. University of California Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-520-94388-9.
  4. ^ "Rock Hall makes it official: Alice Cooper, Neil Diamond among new class". SoundSpike. December 15, 2010. Archived from the original on December 18, 2010. Retrieved December 17, 2010.