Breaking out with the 1970 single ' I'm Eighteen' and the third album Love It to Death, the band reached their commercial peak in 1973 with their sixth studio album, Billion Dollar Babies. They released their 1969 debut album with limited chart success. The five named the band 'Alice Cooper', with Furnier eventually adopting the latter as his stage pseudonym. By 1966, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar joined the three and Neal Smith was added on drums in 1967.

Originating in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1964, 'Alice Cooper' was originally a band with roots extending back to a band called The Earwigs, consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, and Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and background vocals. He has drawn equally from horror films, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a macabre and theatrical brand of rock designed to shock audiences. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, reptiles, baby dolls, and dueling swords, Cooper is considered by music journalists and peers to be 'The Godfather of Shock Rock'.

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spans over 54 years.