Article Database

Devil or Angel

The Strange Riddle of Alice Cooper

A Bizarre And Exciting New Personality Has Risen From The Rock Underground To Take The International Music Scene By Storm — And Alice Cooper Is His Name!! Who Is This Weird Wizard? Should You Fear Him Or Love Him? Delve lnto The Mystery Of Alice Cooper, And Make Up Your Own Mind — If You Can...

He sings, he dances, he crawls on his belly with a snake! He wears makeup like a "vamp" of the silent screen, he writes songs about dead babies, calls two of his albums Killer and Love lt To Death, ends his act by being "hanged" on a gallows — and his name is Alice Cooper! And he has led his five-man hard-rock band — which for years everyone said was just too far-out to make it — to the heights of superstardom, with a string of million-selling Warner Brothers singles and LPs, and sold out stadium concerts all over the world! Though he has literally been viewed by millions of people and has untold legions of young fans, Alice Cooper somehow remains a mystery.

In spite of all his publicity and acclaim, Alice has managed to shroud his own real self in a bewildering maze of contradictions. Millions of kids love him, millions of grown-ups hate him — but even his most adoring fans don't really know Alice Cooper.

16 Strikes Again!

Well, 16 has done some digging for you, and after a long and very personal interview with this amazing young star, has found out some fascinating and surprising facts for you. To begin with, he was not christened Alice. His given name is Vince, but he's changed it to Alice Cooper — and that's his name. Even his closest friends always call him "Alice" as if it were perfectly natural — which, by now, it is. He was bom in Detroit on February 4, 1948 and — with his mom and dad and sister Nickie — moved around a lot before settling down in Phoenix, Arizona.

It was there, at Cortez High School, that Alice met four guys named Mike Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith. One day, Alice and his four friends were told that they had all earned varsity letters in track, that an award banquet was to be held, and that — furthermore — it was a school tradition for the athletes to do some kind of skit at the banquet! At the time the Rolling Stones were the rage, so for their little skit the boys pretended to be a raunchy rock and roll band. It was just going to be a one-night "goof," but it came off so well that they decided there and then to start a band together!

At first, they called themselves the Earwigs, and then the Spiders, and in 1965 they had the top single record in Phoenix. After graduating from high school the band moved to Los Angeles, where Vince (Alice) changed his name — and the name of the band — to Alice Cooper, because, Alice says, "It sounded like a real all-American name." In those early years of struggling to make it, the band worked and worked to perfect their music and their act, though paying jobs were scarce and recognition was a long way off.

Alice Goes Way-Out

Since most popular bands in the late '60s sang and played without jumping around too much, Alice decided to go way­out and do something truly spectacular! Why not do outrageous "mock dramas" on stage while performing? Why not put in some glamour and "camp" for good measure, with gorgeous costumes and bizarre make-up? Which is what they did. Though it wasn't easy to be different, and acceptance was not theirs just for the asking, Alice Cooper worked hard and got their special "thing" together. Then, in 1971, with their music, songs and recordings becoming truly terrific at last, and their act developing into a real theater of rock, Alice Cooper began to move on up in a big way! As anyone on the inside of the music business will tell you: If ever a band "paid its dues" and deserved success — Alice Cooper was it.

Now they are famous, respected, rich and imitated — but, at the same time, they are the new "bad boys" of rock, and Alice himself is the "baddest" of all! Moms and Dads remember when Elvis Presley was the "bad boy" of the '50s — because he was tough, sexy and explosive when singers were supposed to be mild and pleasant. And your older brothers and sisters can recall when the Stones were the "villains" of the '60s — because they came on scruffy, wicked and rebellious when groups were supposed to be neat and luvable. And now we've got Alice Cooper — the new "menace" of the '70s — "evil," dazzlingly glamorous and very dangerous!

The big question is: Is it all an act — or is Alice for real? What does Alice Cooper have to offer you — personally Be sure to catch up with Alice's surprising and fascinating story in the March issue of 16 — on sale January 23.