📍Phoenix, AZ, USA
1961 – 1968“Vincent Damon Furnier was born in Detroit in February 1948, the son of a lay preacher, and as a child suffered from severe asthma and other illnesses. In the early 1960s, hoping the dry desert air would help, his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, then a fast-growing city of new suburbs, palm trees and blazing sun. Vincent went to Cortez High School, where he ran on the cross-country team and worked on the school newspaper and art projects. In 1964 the school's Letterman's Club held a talent show, and Vincent and four of his cross-country teammates, including Dennis Dunaway and Glen Buxton, dressed up like the Beatles and performed parodies of Beatles songs as the Earwigs. They loved it so much that they bought instruments from a local pawn shop and taught themselves to play, with Buxton teaching the others guitar. Renamed the Spiders, they became the house band at the VIP Club, a teen dance hall in Phoenix, and had a local hit, Don't Blow Your Mind, in 1966. Vincent loved horror films and theatrical showmen, and he dreamed of combining rock and theatre. After graduating, the band moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and changed their name to Alice Cooper, which Vincent later adopted as his own. With his snake, guillotine and makeup, he invented shock rock, with hits like School's Out and I'm Eighteen. He later returned to live in Phoenix, where he opened the Solid Rock Teen Centers, giving local young people free music and arts lessons, and Cortez High School is proud of its most famous graduate.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today