His real name is Vincent Damon Furnier but after his band decided to go with the name Alice Cooper, Vincent adopted the name for himself. Like many music artist, he was born in Detroit, but in his case he ended up in Arizona during his high school years. He and some friends wanted to form a rock band but the problem was that only one of them could play an instrument and he played guitar. They wanted the dream so much that they taught themselves how to play musical instruments. After a couple of years of building up their skills, they pursued a music career and became extremely successful. Quite frankly, if it weren't for their amazingly entertaining concerts they wouldn't have been as successful as they were thus making it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The reason I say this is that they weren't cranking out the hits like many of the top bands but their concerts were packed. Everyone wanted to know what crazy antics Cooper was going to do on stage. One time he created the illusion that he cut off someone's head with a guillotine; fake blood was pouring out on stage.
When Cooper began touring, he like so many artists, began partying excessively. His very close girlfriend died of an overdose and Cooper began having a terrible alcohol problem. He said that he overcame his addictions by rededicating himself to God. He grew up a very good kid with a father and grandfather who were preachers. Once he was sober he began helping other music artists with alcohol and drug problems.
Cooper is an extremely intelligent person and a great businessman. He was so good at golf (4 handicap), that at one point he thought about trying out for the senior circuit, instead he does Pro-Am's and Celebrity Golf tournaments. He's a huge sports fan and coached Little League when his son was playing.
He makes it a point to say that he's always been faithful to his wife and they've been married around 43 years and have two daughters and a son. By the way, before he got married he dated Raquel Welch briefly. I admit I'm not a huge fan of his music but I'm a fan of his as a person. He's an extraordinary role model for the entertainment industry.