rising to fame in the early 70s alice
cooper was
rock's first villain his bloody stage
antics an outrageous persona
made him beloved by kids and hated by
parents
but behind the scenes it was all just an
act but on by a surprisingly regular guy
this
is the crazy real life story of alice
cooper
[Music]
the man who had become the godfather of
shock rock was born
vincent fernier on february 4th 1948 in
detroit michigan
a self-described all-american kid alice
cooper grew up an avid baseball fan
and continues to love the game to this
day in his 2007 memoir
golf monster cooper explained i lived
for baseball
when the sun came up i grabbed my glove
and i was ready to play until the sun
went down
when you couldn't see the ball anymore
and it was time to rush home for dinner
the only downside to cooper's happy
childhood was his frequent bouts of
asthma
on doctor's orders the fernies left
detroit for the drier climates of los
angeles and later settled permanently in
phoenix arizona
the beatles american tv debut was a
transformative experience for young
vincent fernier
cooper wrote in golf monster i came to
school the day
after they played the ed sullivan show
and it was as if a weird revolution had
struck the students
the beatles were the ultimate catalyst
for me to try my
own hand at music years before he became
an icon wearing makeup on stage
bernier started his music career by
wearing a beatles wig
he and his friends called themselves the
earwigs and performed parodies of beetle
songs at his high school
however that tiny taste of rock stardom
inspired them to take music seriously
changing their name to the spiders the
band graduated to playing school dances
and then small clubs soon they were the
stars of the phoenix music scene
with guitarist michael bruce the band
recorded its first single
a psychedelic garage rock masterpiece
don't blow your mind was a regional hit
reaching number one on local radio's top
40 charts
fernier and the band decided to take a
chance and leave the comfortable
confines of phoenix for los angeles
by the time they reached la the young
musicians were flat broke
their luck eventually changed when they
were booked as the house band for la's
cheetah club
there they started crossing paths with
future legends such as the doors and
janus joplin just to name a couple
changing their name to the naz the band
started to take their music and their
stage show in a new avant-garde
direction
after discovering the name the naz was
already being used by musician todd
rundgren for his group
vernier and friends held a brainstorming
session to come up with a new moniker
the first suggestion husky baby sandwich
was definitely out
for years how the naz became alice
cooper was shrouded in mystery
the most persistent legend states that
alice cooper was the name of a 13th
century witch who had been burned at the
stake
allegedly her spirit contacted the band
during a late night session with a ouija
board that's all hui according to cooper
the band's name came without any
supernatural influence
he wrote in golf monster the first name
out of my mouth was a girl's name
alice cooper by the end of the night the
name kinda stuck
i conjured up an image of a little girl
with a lollipop in one hand
and a butcher knife in the other lizzie
borden alice cooper they had a similar
ring
reinvented as alice cooper the band
overhauled their image to match their
spooky name
with the help of la girl group the gtos
the band created a sinister
gender-bending new look influenced by
the horror classic whatever happened to
baby jane
and jane fonda's campy sci-fi flick
barbarella alice cooper's style was
heavy on makeup
leather and lingerie impressed by alice
cooper's freak show reputation
frank zappa signed the band to his
record label with the record contract in
hand
the band realized they needed
professional management securing the
services of shep gordon
alice cooper was finally ready to
conquer the world although their first
two psychedelic tinged albums failed to
connect with critics and fans
their 1971 album love it to death
signaled a change in both alice
cooper's direction and their fortunes
under the guidance of producer bob ezran
alice cooper became a hard rock hit
making phenomenon
released in november 1970 i'm 18
love it to death's anthemic first single
was a top 40 hit
with the album itself peaking at number
35 on the billboard charts
alice cooper had at last achieved their
long simmering musical dreams
the band's next album killer fared even
better than love it to death
reaching a chart position of 21. it
featured such classic tracks as under my
wheels
and be my lover alice cooper followed
killer with 1972's schools out their
most successful effort yet
the album's title track a raucous
tribute to high school rebellion and
sprinting into summer peaked at number
seven
the song has since become an indelible
piece of pop culture
covered by such artists as rob zombie
and the foo fighters
schools out captures what cooper has
called life's three
best minutes those suspenseful moments
waiting for the last school bell to ring
before summer vacation
alice cooper's next album 1973's billion
dollar babies
transcended even the success of schools
out conceived
as a spoof of their overnight success
the album was the band's crowning
creative and commercial achievement
the billion dollar baby's tour featured
alice cooper's most elaborate show to
date
a spectacle filled with snakes
blood-filled baby dolls
a reign of billion dollar bills and the
nightly
execution of alice by guillotine the
tour
stunned fans and upset parents all over
the world
i love i love making parents mad
obviously it would be hard to top
billion dollar babies and the band's
next album
muscle of love was a back to basics rock
album
featuring stripped down production and
comparatively conventional arrangements
the record failed to reach the level of
its predecessors alice and his bandmates
worn out from years of constant touring
and recording decided it was time for a
break
although it was intended to be a
temporary hiatus the band's breakup
proved permanent
although alice cooper the band was
finished in 1974
alice cooper the solo artist was just
getting started cooper's first solo
release
1975's welcome to my nightmare is
composed as a horrifying trip through
the bad dreams of a little boy named
steven
free of the constraints of a band cooper
could further develop his rock and roll
villain persona
as well as explore themes and musical
genres outside the hard rock milieu
one of the album's biggest stylistic
departures is the ballad only women
bleed
touching on the topic of domestic abuse
the song reveals cooper's
under-appreciated skills as both a
lyricist and singer
rounding out welcome to my nightmare's
horrific vibe is an appearance by
vincent price
who gives an unhinged and classic spoken
word performance
with renewed focus cooper and manager
shep gordon put up their own money to
fund the welcome to my nightmare tour
a potentially disastrous move their
gamble paid off
upping the theatricality of the show far
beyond anything he'd done
previously cooper's expensive nightmare
show featured dancers
costumes giant props illusions a cyclops
and an interactive movie screen and it
was a massive success
cooper rarely photographed without a
beer in his hand throughout the 70s
had spent much of his career as a
functional alcoholic
so you have to be drunk when you are
always yeah you have to be drunk to put
up with alice
cooper's wife cheryl spoke frankly about
her husband's struggle in a vh1
interview conducted in 1999.
there didn't seem to be an obvious
problem if he were falling down or
abusive
i think attention would have been paid
much more quickly
agreeing with his wife cooper said i
denied it for an
awful long time i wasn't a cruel drunk i
wasn't a stupid drunk
i was just a drinker however by 1977
cooper's drinking was obviously
affecting his performances
and more importantly his health
committed to a mental health facility
cooper got clean and sober but soon
relapsed
according to cooper's book golf monster
the rocker doesn't remember recording
his early 80s records because he was in
a continuous alcoholic fog
malnourished and near death cooper
checked into a hospital in september
1983
struggling back from the brink cooper's
recovery from alcoholism was nothing
short of a miracle
cooper wrote when i left the hospital i
felt strange
like i had never been an alcoholic and
more important
like i would never be one again
something had happened inside of me
after battling his way back from
alcoholism cooper spent the next three
years reconnecting with his wife and
children
getting healthy and getting back in
touch with his christian faith
during this period of recovery returning
to the stage and assuming the role of
his sinister alter ego were definitely
low on his list of priorities
in fact the prospects of a comeback were
downright scary to the veteran shock
rocker the
thought of going back up on stage and
doing alice without being
anesthetized was pretty frightening
nevertheless cooper returned in 1986
with constrictor
his ninth solo album a flashy 80s metal
affair the record put cooper back on the
musical map
energized and sober cooper also mounted
his first tour in years
donning his famous black leather and
makeup alice cooper once again ruled the
stage as rock's dark prince cooper's
1980s return
couldn't have come at a better time with
the mainstream popularity of heavy metal
at an
all-time high he was definitely back in
his element
plus cooper was respected as an elder
statesman of rock and roll with plenty
of knowledge to impart isn't milwaukee
an indian name
yes pete it is actually it's pronounced
miliwake
which is algonquin for the good land
along with his faith alice cooper
credits his love of
golf as the key to conquering his demons
cooper began playing the sport in 1973.
although he played for a decade alice
cooper truly dedicated himself to golf
in 1983
as part of his recovery from alcoholism
he decided to seriously study the game
and master its intricacies
spending virtually every day on the golf
course playing
on average 36 holes a day cooper was in
the throes of an all-new addiction in
2007
cooper told contactmusic.com that it was
no surprise that he
and fellow rock and roll survivors got
hooked on golf
cooper further explained every guy i
know from lou reed to bob dylan to neil
young they all play golf
it's because they were all drug users or
alcoholics
and i think golf is so addictive that
it's just like taking drugs
even though cooper openly jokes about
being hooked on golf
his wife cheryl is more than happy with
this form of addiction
he always tells me he traded one bad
habit for another one
oh i think this is a much better habit
more than music or golf the center of
alice cooper's life is his family
married for over 40 years cooper met
cheryl goddard when she joined the
welcome to my nightmare tour as a dancer
in 1975.
besides a brief period during the worst
of alice's alcoholism in the early 80s
the coopers have been inseparable ever
since the rare successful showbiz
marriage
the coopers credit their faith and
keeping romance alive
as the secrets to marital longevity the
coopers have three adult children
the eldest daughter calico is a dancer
actress and singer
who replaced her mother and alice's act
for a number of years
these days the multi-talented artist
fronts her own hard rock band
bisto blanco allison cheryl's son dash
also fronts a band his group is called
co-op
and the cooper's youngest daughter
sonora rose works as a professional
makeup artist
cooper likes to keep his family close at
hand and brings them on tour as often as
possible
now in his 70s alice cooper is the
ultimate rock and roll survivor
still touring and recording the king of
shock rock has no plans of slowing down
anytime
soon in 2011 alice cooper and the
surviving members of his legendary
original band
received a long overdue honor when they
were inducted into the rock and roll
hall of fame
in addition to his solo career cooper
joined up with actor johnny depp
and aerosmith guitarist joe perry to
create the super group hollywood
vampires
named after the 70s drinking club that
included cooper
harry nielsen keith moon mickey dolans
and occasionally john lennon
the band celebrates the music of rock
stars who died before their time
once cited as a corrupting influence on
youth cooper now inspires kids
through alice cooper's solid rock this
extraordinary non-profit organization
is dedicated to instilling purpose in
the lives of young people through the
arts
despite famously singing no more mr nice
guy
cooper has proven himself to be one of
the kindest most giving
and enduring rock stars of the past five
decades
we're not worthy we're not worthy
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