Alice Cooper –The Man, the Myth, the Legend
Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier on February 4, 1948) is an American songwriter, actor, and singer with an ongoing career of 50 years. He is known as “the Godfather of Shock Rock” because of his raspy voice and outrageous stage shows involving fireworks, reptiles, guillotines, fake blood, dueling swords, electric chairs, and baby dolls, among other props and illusions on stage. He’s influenced by garage rock, horror movies, and vaudeville to create a macabre and theatrical kind of rock that shocks audiences.
Alice Cooper: the band was formed in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964. Its roots can be traced back to a band known as the Earwigs, which featured Dennis Dunaway on background vocals and bass guitar, Alice Cooper on harmonica and vocals, and Glen Buxton on lead guitar. The trio turned into a quad with the addition of Michael Bruce in 1966 on rhythm guitar. In 1967, Neal Smith was added on drums. The five formed the band Alice Cooper and their first album, debuting in 1969, had modest commercial success.
Billion Dollar Babies, the band’s sixth studio album, reached commercial success in 1973. After the band disbanded in 1975, Furnier used the band’s name as his stage name and legal name. He launched his solo career in 1975 with the album Welcome to My Nightmare. Cooper has sold over 50 million records during his career.
So how does a rock star with such an astonishing and rebellious career turn to Christianity? When did Alice Cooper become a Christian? How does he lead his life handling both Christianity and fame? Read on and find out the answers to your questions.
Alice Cooper has left the world in awe and shock with his grisly antics and a demeanor that resembles Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? through the course of a five-decade career. Is Alice Cooper a devout follower of any religion, given his cult-like references?
Cooper and his wife both are devout Christians. Coopers’ grandfather was an evangelist, and his father was a preacher. He grew up as a Christian, but he ran as far away as he could from the church after entering the rock’ n roll world. This made his faith dwindle, and he completely disregarded it. Cooper returned to Christianity after getting clean in the 1980s, and he often refers to himself as a born again Christian.
Alice Cooper and Alcoholism
Cooper developed alcoholism in 1970. Many rockers in the 1970s and 1980s dealt with drug abuse and addiction. Cooper’s preferences were cocaine and liquor. He claimed to be consuming a bottle of whiskey a day at the height of his alcoholism in the 1970s. However, he didn’t believe he had a problem. According to him, he didn’t think of alcohol as a problem until he stopped viewing it as a drink and more like medicine to heal his soul.
In 1977, he entered rehab and worked hard on getting clean. He claimed never to have attended an AA meeting. He relapsed just four years later, after inadvertently drinking some of his wife’s wine. His addiction worsened in the following two years, and he started using cocaine. His health deteriorated, and he began to resemble a skeletal imitation of himself.
In the end, when he was on the verge of passing away, his wife Sheryl took him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. He was informed that he would die in a few months unless he stopped drinking and using drugs. Sheryl had also taken their daughter and had opted to file for divorce to protect herself and her daughter. It was high time that Cooper got his act together.
Divine Intervention
Cooper and his wife reconciled once he cleaned up his behavior, and the divorce was not pursued. He’d been sober for quite a while now. While Cooper has stated that he didn’t find God in rehab, he believes that the fact he didn’t end up in AA is a supernatural intervention or God’s gift. In his opinion, this granted him a second chance at life. He even claimed that God told him to continue being a rock star as long as he abided and started being a Christian again.
Cooper and Christianity
Nowadays, Cooper is a devout Christian, and he can recite Bible verses from memory to emphasize his ideas. He even claims to believe every word in the Bible is accurate. He attempts to sign everything that his fans give him and take pictures with every one of them. He considers that as a way to help and serve those around him.
He now belongs to the Evangelical Covenant Church and is the founder of the Solid Rock Foundation. It is a faith-based organization that encourages young people to pursue musical careers while avoiding drug and alcohol misuse. His organization has a facility in Phoenix, Arizona, and he does numerous performances each year to raise money for it.
He also believes that his faith should be kept distinct from his career choices, as he doesn’t want to be a superstar who utilizes his popularity to convert others to religion. Cooper’s trust in God is unshakeable these days, and he does everything possible that he can to live a decent Christian life. Cooper makes time for Bible each day and attends church every Sunday. He is proud that none of his children have any problems with alcohol or drugs.
Our Final Thoughts
What’s important is not why and when did Alice Cooper become a Christian but that he sets an example of how if you try to run away from Christianity, it’ll show you all the reasons to come back and stay. We all must hope and pray that we never leave our faith behind and continue to grow in it more and more each day with the help of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
