Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical brand of hard rock that was designed to shock. Drawing equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock, the group created a stage show that featured electric chairs, guillotines, fake blood and boa constrictors. He continues to tour regularly, performing shows worldwide with the dark and horror-themed theatrics that he’s best known for.
With a schedule that includes six months each year on the road, Alice Cooper brings his own brand of rock psycho-drama to fans both old and new, enjoying it as much as the audience does. Known as the architect of shock-rock, Cooper (in both the original Alice Cooper band and as a solo artist) has rattled the cages and undermined the authority of generations of guardians of the status quo, continuing to surprise fans and exude danger at every turn, like a great horror movie, even in an era where CNN can present real life shocking images.
Alice has been touring consistently, year in and year out, averaging over 90 concerts annually, both within the USA and internationally, with his band which features the three guitar attack of guitarists Ryan Roxie, Nita Strauss, and Tommy Henriksen, plus the rhythm section of drummer Glen Sobel and longtime bassist Chuck Garric.
As he heads back out on the concert trail with his band or with
The Hollywood Vampires, Alice insists he’s still motivated to continue touring and recording albums, as well as making time for other projects, including The Hollywood Vampires, and especially his "Paranormal" album, released worldwide in July 2017 through the earMusic label, which found him working again with longtime producer Bob Ezrin and which features guest appearances by ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, U2's Larry Mullen Jr, Deep Purple's Roger Glover, as well as the three surviving members of the original Alice Cooper band, drummer Neal Smith, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and guitarist Michael Bruce, and then the “Paranormal Live at L’Olympia Paris” album, released in September 2018, featuring a December 2017 performance.
One highlight of 2018 was Alice’s widely praised performance as King Herod in NBC-TV’s live production of “Jesus Chris Superstar” on Easter Sunday.
As if that wasn't enough, “
Nights With Alice Cooper,” Alice’s nightly radio show, continues to air in nearly 100 cities in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK. The five hour long show features his favorite classic rock songs along with his insider anecdotes about many of the artists.
Cooper was born in Detroit Michigan, and moved to Phoenix with his family. The Alice Cooper band formed while they were all in high school in Phoenix, and was discovered in 1969 by Frank Zappa in Los Angeles, where he signed them to his record label. Their collaboration with young record producer Bob Ezrin led to the break-through third album “Love It to Death” which hit the charts in 1971, followed by “Killer,” “School’s Out,” ”Billion Dollar Babies,” and “Muscle of Love.” Each new album release was accompanied by a bigger and more elaborate touring stage show. 1974 saw the release of a “Greatest Hits” album, and then Cooper, in 1975, released his first solo album, “Welcome to My Nightmare” in 1975, accompanied by the legendary groundbreaking theatrical Welcome to My Nightmare concert tour.
Associated with that album and tour was the ground-breaking network TV special Alice Cooper: The Nightmare. Other film and television appearances include The Muppet Show, Mae West’s last film Sextette, Roadie, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearst Club Band and appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow Show. The original band also made an appearance in the movie Diary of a Mad Housewife in 1979, filmed the full-length feature film Good To See You Again Alice Cooper, and Alice appeared in a 1972 episode of The Snoop Sisters.
Alice's solo career skyrocketed in the late 1970's, with a succession of hit singles, including "You & Me," and classic albums, including "Lace And Whiskey" and "From The Inside," and bigger and even more elaborate concert tours.
In the ‘80’s Cooper explored different sounds, highlighted by the new wavish album “Flush The Fashion,” the heavy metal “Constrictor” and "Raise Your Fist And Yell," and then 1989’s melodic hard rock album “Trash,” which featured the massive hit single “Poison” and became his biggest selling album and single worldwide. During this period Alice also appeared in the horror films Monster Dog and John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, and recorded songs for the soundtracks to Roadie, Class of 1984, Friday the 13 Part VI: Jason Lives and Wes Craven's Shocker.
Cooper’s most memorable movie appearance was as himself in Wayne’s World in 1992. He also played (fittingly) Freddy Krueger’s wicked step-father in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, and appeared on Gene Wilder’s TV series Something Wilder as well as on That ‘70’s Show. The 90’s also saw the release of the albums “Hey Stoopid,” “The Last Temptation,” and “Fistful of Alice,” a live album.
1999 saw the release of the definitive historical 4 CD box set "The Life & Crimes of Alice Cooper," from Rhino/Warners.
In the new millenium, Cooper has continued to be very productive and busy, writing, recording and releasing the albums “Brutal Planet,” “Dragon Town,” “The Eyes of Alice Cooper,” “Dirty Diamonds," “Along Came a Spider,” and 2011's "Welcome 2 My Nightmare," plus "Old School 1964-1974," a box set celebrating the original band.
He also wrote and published a memoir, "Golf Monster," in 2007, which tracked his life from childhood to rock stardom, and his journey from alcoholic to golf addict, and was featured in the Tim Burton film "Dark Shadows" in 2012.
Alice, Dennis, Neal, Michael, and the late Glen Buxton (posthumously) were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in March, 2011.
2014 saw the release of "Super Duper Alice Cooper," a documentary detailing the arc of Alice's rollercoaster ride in the world of rock superstardom. Directed and produced by the same team from Banger Films that delivered the award-winning Iron Maiden and Rush documentaries, it premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC, and has since been released on Blu-Ray and DVD by Eagle Rock Entertainment.
Along with the 2017 release of the "Paranormal" album, Alice embarked on yet another lengthy 2017-2018 worldwide concert tour, comprising nearly 200 shows, continuing to bring his iconic brand of rock & roll to fans on five continents. The 2018 album release “Paranormal Live at L’Olympia Paris” captured that tour.
With tour plans for North America, the UK and Europe in 2019, as well as the release of a new album mid-year, Alice shows no signs of slowing down.
And, with his influence on rock & roll and popular culture long since acknowledged, there is little that Alice Cooper hasn't achieved in his remarkable career, including platinum albums, sold-out tours and any number of honors and career achievement awards.
