Bon Jovi is a rock band hailing from New Jersey and labeled as one of the most successful acts in America. This five-piece made up of Jon Bon Jovi (lead vocals), Richie Sambora (lead guitar), David Bryan (keyboard), Hugh MacDonald (bass) and Tico Torres (drummer) is a largely unchanged lineup from 1984. Alec John Such (bass) left the band in the mid-90s.

Boasting over 120 million album sales and an obsession with touring, Bon Jovi had its first #1 hits with third album Slippery When Wet in 1986. The band hit popularity at the right time as the hair metal genre was dominating the charts. Jon Bon Jovi’s good looks, devastating smile and flowing locks was also a hit with the ladies, so much so that when he cut his hair for the 1992 release Keep the Faith it made the headlines of CNN.

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Some of Bon Jovi’s music industry trailblazing includes a 1989 MTV Video Music Awards acoustic set that is acknowledged as the inspiration for the channel’s phenomenal Unplugged series and taking a unthought-of action for the time of firing all its business advisors and agents to set up Bon Jovi Management.

The band maintained its popularity amongst the 90s grunge movement with a power ballad, Bed of Roses and an extensive arena sell-out tour schedule.

After a lengthy hiatus in the late-90s, Bon Jovi returned with Crush in June 2000. It contained the single It’s My Life which paid tribute to the band’s fictional characters, Gina and Tommy, who also featured in the classic song Livin’ on a Prayer. The song sold 8 million copies and introduced the band to a whole new generation.

Despite mixed reviews on its subsequent album releases, the new millennium sees Bon Jovi transformed into a legendary act with an induction into the UK Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Royal Variety Performance for the Queen, and cross-over awards in the country music genre. Bon Jovi continues to write new material, collaborate and tour globally.

Juanita Appleby

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This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

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Alice Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier on 4th February 1948, is an American rock singer and composer. With a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Alice Cooper’s shock rock has brought both infamy and success, with 50 million records sold worldwide and a reputation for Vaudeville-like horror stage shows.

"We brought theatrics to rock 'n' roll. We did it before Bowie, we did it before Kiss and before anybody,” Cooper has said in an interview. This shock factor even seems to extend to Alice Cooper’s personal life.  As one of the progenitors of heavy metal, and the first to introduce horror imagery to rock music, it’s something of a surprise to learn that Rolling Stone’s “World’s Most Beloved Entertainer” is a Christian golfer, actor, restaurateur and DJ.

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Alice Cooper was originally the name of Furnier’s band, with Furnier singing and playing the harmonica, supported by guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith. The band was signed to Frank Zappa’s Straight Records in 1969, but commercial success took some time. Their first release, ‘Pretties For You’, floundered low in the charts, and ‘Easy Action’ didn’t do much better the year after. Having been signed to Straight for three albums, the next chance for Alice Cooper to make a successful record may well have been their last. Fortunately, success came.  Teaming up with producer Bob Ezrin, ‘Love It To Death’, as the album was called, was released in 1971 and reached #35 in the US charts after their earlier single, ‘I’m Eighteen’ had reached #21 in the Billboard Hot 100. In the summer of 1972, the single ‘School’s Out’ reached new heights, reaching top spot in the UK and a place in the top 10 of the US charts. ‘Billion Dollar Babies’, the band’s most commercially successful album, was released a year later, reaching the top spot in both the UK and US charts.

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In 1975, Furnier broke away from the rest of the band and used the pseudonym Alice Cooper to start his solo career. The concept album ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ was his first solo release, reaching the top 10 in the US charts, and it was accompanied by a TV special, ‘The Nightmare’, which represents the first music video album ever made. However, Furnier’s alcoholism began to take its toll, and he booked himself into a sanitarium in 1977. In 1983, Furnier was hospitalized for his alcohol abuse, and he took a year-long career break. Between then and Furnier’s most recent release, 2008’s ‘Along Came A Spider’, Alice Cooper has enjoyed consistently good commercial successes and high acclaim for his musical innovation and often groundbreaking cross-media work, not to mention being commonly credited with the inspiration for more than one generation’s musical talents. 

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Born Vincent Damián Fumier, December 25, 1945 (one source says February 4, 1948), in Detroit, MI; son of a protestant minister; married, two children.

Began career during high school as member of the Earwigs; group relocated to Los Angeles, 1968, and changed name to the Spiders, then the Nazz, then Alice Cooper; released first two records on Frank Zappa's Straight Records label; signed to Warner Bros., 1971; launched solo career and released first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare, 1975; moved to MCA records; moved to Epic Records, and released Trash, 1989. Appeared in films Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1978, Sextette, 1979, Roadie, 1980, Monster Dog, 1982, Decline of Western Civilization Part II, 1988, Wayne's World, 1992, and Nightmare on Elm Street Part VI, 1992.

Addresses: Home—Scottsdale, AZ. Record company—Epic Records, 51 West 52nd St., New York, NY 10019.

The release of Cooper's first solo album, 1975's Welcome To My Nightmare, was accompanied by a successful prime-time television special. The album contained an unlikely hit, the ballad "Only Women Bleed." Other cuts demonstrated Cooper's still-sharp penchant for theatrics, including the sinister "Black Widow"—which in concert featured human-sized spiders crawling across a giant web suspended across the stage—and the surreal "Escape," where in live performance Cooper was chased by a ten-foot-tall one-eyed monster.

In keeping with the punk/new-wave era of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cooper in 1980 released Flush the Fashion. Flush is best remembered for the single "Clones (We Are All)"; its liberal use of the Moog synthesizer and monotone vocal style were both indicative of the popular "cold wave" style of the day. David Fricke of Rolling Stone reported that Flush the Fashion "wisely scrapped the flatulent vaudeville trappings and tragicomic pretensions of [Cooper's] late seventies work and reassumed the punk mantle he wore when the original Alice band was cutting a [Civil War Union] General Sherman-like swath."

Trash, Cooper's first release for Epic Records, started a tradition of extensive collaboration with other prominent artists. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith accompanied Cooper on "Hell Is Living Without You," a ballad co-written by Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora, and "Poison," the smash single from the album, the video of which was broadcast regularly on MTV, featured the backing vocals of Bon Jovi. 1991 's Hey Stoopid! boasted a stellar studio lineup that included metal elder statesman Ozzy Osbourne, who sang, and Slash from Guns and Roses, who played guitar on the title track. Guitar aces Joe Satriani and Steve Vai lent dueling guitars to "Feed My Frankenstein," and Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars contributed licks to "Die For You." Hard Force magazine called Hey Stoopid! "the best since Welcome to My Nightmare, a vicious guitar record."

Promotion for Hey Stoopid! was characteristically spectacular. Cooper took to the streets, turning up in various public places to perform songs from the album and generally wreak havoc. Dubbing the September, 1991, tour the "Nightmare on Your Street," he performed at 8:45 in the morning in the parking lot of Los Angeles radio station KLOS, causing a standstill in rush-hour traffic. In New York City, Cooper tempted fate by playing in Times Square on Friday the 13th. Confused onlookers in Detroit were treated to a concert on the roof of the local Sound Warehouse record store, and in Towson, Maryland, Cooper held forth on the steps of the country courthouse.

Further promotion for Hey Stoopid! came in the form of a cameo role in director Penelope Spheeris's block-buster Wayne's World. In the film, Cooper performed the song "Feed My Frankenstein" and offered the star-struck protagonists an impromptu backstage lesson on the history of Milwaukee worthy of the best high school geography teacher. Commenting in Rolling Stone on the head-banging community-access television hosts portrayed in the film, Cooper said, "I like Wayne and Garth, I meet people like them all the time, they are my audience."

And because—or in spite—of his over-the-top image, Cooper's fans seem to be able to relate to Alice as well. Cooper has endured because he consistently plays the type of villain or monster that audiences can't help but cheer. By innovating a diabolic, yet charismatic, character back in the seventies, he has become a legendary figure in rock music. Melody Maker commented aptly on the universal appeal of Cooper's persona, allowing, "There has to be an Alice Cooper just like there has to be a Father Christmas.

Sources: Artistdirect.com; Barry C. Henssler

This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

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