Rock icon Alice Cooper isn’t as devious as his image would lead you to believe—and he’s OK with you knowing that
This article originally appeared in Rebel Magazine.
For more than 40 years, rock ’n’ roll icon Alice Cooper has entertained millions of fans worldwide with his innovative horror-themed stage shows. With live musical performances featuring never-before-seen special effects like beheading by guillotine, shock by electric chair, boa constrictors, blood and more, Cooper successfully carved out his image as the shock rocker.
For many, the Alice Cooper seen on stage was viewed as an extension of Alice Cooper the person. He instilled fear in parents and the church, but was loved by his fans. His detractors assumed Cooper the person must be as evil as the character he portrayed on stage. But honestly, who could blame them? Cooper worked so hard at image development that no one could tell the difference between the two, and for a while, neither could he.
During the first nine years of his legendary career, Cooper and his band toured the United States nonstop in an effort to establish themselves in the music industry. Along the way, they visited every small town, dive bar and hole in the ground you could name. While gradually building the band’s fan base, Cooper was working diligently on building his own image. “Shock the world” was his unofficial mantra, as his wild costumes and stage shows became progressively more outrageous.
Cooper and his band landed record deals, more lucrative gigs and higher-profile billings. However, there was a downside to traveling this grinding path of success. At the same time the band was becoming a tour de force, Cooper was battling his own issues. He had developed an addiction to alcohol—in which he consistently drank when he was offstage to maintain a constant buzz—as well as an identity crisis. The separation between Alice Cooper the rocker and Vincent Furnier, the real person behind the character, became difficult to define.
“There was a gray area there for a while about who I was and who Alice was and when did I become him and when I didn’t become him,” Cooper says. “When I quit drinking alcohol, that cleared up. There was a clear cut Alice onstage and then there was me. The guy who is married, has kids, goes to church—a pretty normal character. I’m more Ozzie Nelson then Ozzy Osbourne. So, I lived in a lot of conflict and maybe some of the drinking came from that.”
Cooper says he rediscovered his faith when he became sober. “It was a big burden off of my shoulders. It didn’t mean that I had to quit being Alice though. I think the idea of me being
Alice and me being a Christian, the dichotomy there was pretty interesting. I don’t live a rockstar lifestyle, but I play Alice to the hilt. I don’t think there is anything in the Christian faith that says I can’t be an artist.”
GRANDPA ALICE
At 64, Cooper is just one year away from officially becoming a senior citizen. But that’s OK with the rock legend, because as he enters his next stage of life, the golden years, he can look back at his accomplishments with satisfaction.
With more than 50 million records sold, 50 world tours, multiple generations of fans and musicians who have been impacted by his music and, most recently, his induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cooper’s status as a music and pop culture icon has been cemented. Those are all achievements Cooper values, but he’s aware that list is based on Alice Cooper the character, not Alice Cooper the man.
What really brings a smile to Cooper’s face is his 36-year marriage to his wife Sheryl, who was a key figure in Cooper discovering his sobriety. Their enduring marriage is a testament to longevity that serves as an outlier in any walk of society but especially within the world of rock ’n’ roll, where the list of equally long rock marriages can be counted on one hand.
“I hate it when people say ‘marriage is hard work,’” Cooper says. “No it isn’t. If you’re with the person you’re in love with, it’s the greatest thing in the world. It only gets to be work when one of the members decides they are going to dominate the marriage.”
Then there is his role of engaged and devoted father to his now grown three children. Admittedly, during their younger years, Sheryl carried the load while Alice toured. But his off time was primarily for two things: golf, which replaced alcohol as his addiction, and family. The pair has three well-adjusted children to show for it. Just ask him about his kids. Cooper will go on like any proud parent, only you sense his authentic knowledge when he speaks. He doesn’t sound like someone who was given notes to regurgitate to stay up on the latest happenings. And if you really want to see him beam, just ask him about eventually becoming “Grandpa”—just don’t expect him to sit back in a rocking chair with the little ones.
“Our son is the only one that is married and they’ve been married for about a year now, so I told them, ‘Christmas is coming, get busy,’” Cooper says. “I don’t want to spend another Christmas without Toys R Us. We’re going to be the worst grandparents of all time. The kids are never going to want to go home. ‘I want to go to Grandpa Alice’s house because he lets me watch scary movies,’” Cooper says while impersonating a child.
THE SOFTER SIDE
A kinder, gentler Alice Cooper seems hard to imagine, but that side of him has always existed. In 1995, Cooper co-founded the Solid Rock Foundation, a faith-based organization dedicated to make an everlasting difference in the lives of underprivileged teenagers and children. Unlike his stage character, which is not an extension of his true self, this venture is tapping into Cooper’s passion to be a devoted father.
“Solid Rock sort of invented itself at the level that my whole life has been based on the support of kids paying my bills,” Cooper says.
“It got to a point where I realized there are many kids out there that have zero hope and zero future. Kids nowadays are in a much more dangerous world than I was. I have the means and my name, and I can do something to help. It’s not putting your money where your mouth is, it’s putting your time where your mouth is. I think time is a harder commodity than money. It’s easy to write a check, it’s harder to show up. And a lot of these kids care that you show up. There is no reason for this rich person not to show up and help. They ask, ‘What’s the catch?’ You try to tell them there’s no catch. All we’re trying to do is give you an alternative to what you’re doing now.”
For years, Cooper has hosted a golf tournament and live Christmas shows to raise funds for his foundation, but for more than 13 years he’s had a vision for something grander.
That vision became a reality in April with the opening of The Rock Teen Center at 32nd Street in Phoenix. Believing that a kid’s worst enemy is too much time on his hands, this 60,000-square-foot, arts-based facility will provide the programs and resources lacking in today’s schools to fill that time with music, dance, fellowship and vocational opportunities in the sound, lighting and staging industry. The center’s goal is to enable teens to build confidence and discover their passion through music, dance, self-expression and creativity. The Phoenix facility is the first, but likely not the last, of its kind, as Cooper has been contacted by numerous other cities requesting similar projects.
“I want to take guns out of our kids hands and put a guitar in them,” Cooper says.
Cooper will be on tour this summer for four months, but that is strictly for fun now. He says he has nothing left to accomplish professionally. And besides, he says the advent of 24-hour news channels that show explicit video in their programming has desensitized the public. The acts he used to stage are now happening for real on the news, so it is impossible to shock the audience anymore. However, that not’s completely true.
After learning more about the person behind the Alice Cooper character and learning that behind the makeup, fake blood and snakes lies a man of faith who is truly kind and compassionate can be his most shocking act of all.
Photo credit: Flickr / Man Alive!