Alice Cooper, also known as 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.
“We were called the Nazz and we found out about Todd Rundgren’s band who were called the Nazz,” Furnier recalled. “So I said let’s not come up with a name that’s dark, because they’re expecting that. I said, ‘What if we sounded like we were somebody’s aunt?’ It was kind of like the all-American, sweet little old lady name. And I wasn’t Alice Cooper. I was just the singer in the band Alice Cooper, like Manfred Mann. Pretty soon everybody called me Alice, they just assumed that the singer’s name was Alice. So, at that point, I legally changed my name to Alice Cooper. It was a total outrage at the time. Now it’s a household name.”
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 (1972). The band peaked in popularity in 1973 with their sixth album Billion Dollar Babies, which topped the charts in the US and UK and produced 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.
In 1969, Ed Caraeff photographed the Alice Cooper Band, capturing some of their earliest professional images. This was around the time they were signed to Frank Zappa’s Straight Records and released their debut album,
Pretties for You (1969).
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