Rock stars come and go, but Alice Cooper's contributions to the canon of rock 'n' roll showmanship have been remarkably lasting. In a career spanning three decades, Cooper has elevated the live presentation of rock music with bizarre theatrics, taboo subjects, and an uncompromising hard-rock sound.

Alice Cooper was born Vincent Furnier in Detroit, Michigan, on February 4, 1948, the son of Ether (an ordained minister) and Ella Furnier. The family moved quite frequently. Living in Phoenix, Arizona, Vincent was a high-school jock who was on the track team, and reported for the school newspaper. During his time in school, he met Glen Buxton, a tough kid with an unsavory reputation as a juvenile delinquent who was a photographer for the newspaper. Buxton played guitar; the young Furnier wrote poetry. It wasn't too long after school that the duo moved to Los Angeles in search of...