Pick a Day

Neal Smith (Alice Cooper drummer, co-writer of "I'm Eighteen") is born in Akron, Ohio.

Glen Buxton (guitarist for Alice Cooper Band) is born in Akron, Ohio.

Vincent Furnier, who will become better known as Alice Cooper, is born in Detroit.

Michael Bruce of the Alice Cooper band is born in Arizona.

At the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival, host Kim Fowley starts a rock tradition when he asks the crowd to hold up lighters for Eric Clapton and John Lennon.More

Alice Cooper (still considered a band) release their third album, Love It To Death, their first since moving from Los Angeles to Detroit. With the hit "I'm Eighteen," it's a breakthrough, drawing lots of fans to their macabre stage shows where there's an execution every night.

Alice Cooper releases "I'm Eighteen," the shock rocker's first hit. The song connects with young people in America who could be drafted to fight in Vietnam but are too young to drink or vote.

Alice Cooper is beloved in Britain, with "School's Out" hitting #1 in the UK for the first of three weeks.

Produced by Don Kirshner, the TV series In Concert debuts on ABC as a competitor to NBC's Midnight Special. Guests on the first episode include Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Allman Brothers Band, and Poco.

In Ontario, Alice Cooper launches the Billion Dollar Babies tour, where he's beheaded nightly in a guillotine. The decapitation goes over so well that it becomes a regular feature at Cooper's live shows throughout his career.

Powered by a gnarly stage show and the tracks "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Elected," Alice Cooper's album Billion Dollar Babies hits #1 in America (it hits the top spot in the UK three days later).

Alice Cooper makes the cover of Forbes magazine under the headline, "A New Breed Of Tycoon." The story, which plays into Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies album, is about how rock music has become big business.

Alice Cooper releases Welcome To My Nightmare, the first album where he's considered a solo artist and not part of the band Alice Cooper. The ensuing tour is an elaborate production with dancers, video screens, and giant spiders.

A forebear to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video, the Alice Cooper horror/music special Alice Cooper: The Nightmare (featuring Vincent Price) airs on ABC.

After a show in Knoxville, Tennessee, Alice Cooper leaves one of his stage props, a 13-foot boa constrictor, in the hotel bathroom, where it escapes down the toilet. The snake shows up two weeks later in a room occupied by country singer Charley Pride; Cooper learns to put the lid down.

At a stop in Vancouver on his Welcome To My Nightmare tour, Alice Cooper falls from the stage and breaks six ribs.

Alice Cooper gets married for the first (and only) time. His bride is Sheryl Goddard, a 19-year-old dance instructor who performed on his Welcome To My Nightmare tour.

Alice Cooper's boa constrictor - a star of his stage show - dies after the rat he is served for breakfast bites him. Cooper holds open auditions for a new snake, eventually choosing one named Angel.

Alice Cooper appears on The Muppet Show, where he performs "Welcome to My Nightmare" and "School's Out." He also offers to give the Muppets fame and riches if they'll sign their souls over to him. Kermit is horrified. Gonzo spends the entire episode looking for a pen.

Marvel publishes the first Alice Cooper comic book. The story takes place in a sanitarium and is based on his stay in rehab.

The film Roadie, starring Meat Loaf as, yep, a roadie, opens in theaters.More

Alice Cooper and his wife Sheryl have their first child, a daughter named Calico. Their next two kids also have creative names: Dash and Sonora.

Alice Cooper completes rehab, beating a drug and alcohol addiction that threatened his marriage and nearly killed him. He becomes a devout Christian and works to help others beat their addictions.

At a concert in Phoenix, Alice Cooper claims he is running for governor of Arizona, representing the "Wild Party." (A special election was being held to replace Evan Mecham, who had been impeached.) Cooper's slogan: "A troubled man for troubled times."

When the piano wire that keeps him safely suspended during his gallows stunt snaps, Alice Cooper nearly hangs himself for real on stage at Wembley Arena in London. He's able to slip his chin over the rope to keep his neck from snapping until a roadie can rescue him.

Thanks to a video that gets Alice Cooper his first significant spins on MTV, "Poison" hits #7 - the rocker's first Top 40 hit in nine years.

Alice Cooper plays Freddy Krueger's father in the movie Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Thanks to Alice Cooper's appearance in Wayne's World, we learn that "Milwaukee" is Algonquin for "the good land." We also get a fresh blast of "Bohemian Rhapsody."More

After a number of health scares related to a lifetime of drug and alcohol abuse, original Alice Cooper guitarist Glen Buxton dies of viral pneumonia at age 49.

Alice Cooper's Cooper'stown restaurant opens in Phoenix (try the "Welcome To My Nightmare" chili). To celebrate, Cooper performs with his original bandmates Michael Bruce and Neal Smith - the first time the three have been on stage together in 24 years.