10 Fascinating Stories Behind Rock Music Star Stage Names
8. You're Band - Alice Cooper
At first glance, the man known as Alice Cooper actually made a mistake in taking on a pseudonym, as his birth name was way more suitable for his style of shock rock.
The singer was born in 1948 as Vincent Damon Furnier, which sounds like a name Dracula would have gone under when he was pretending to be human. So, why did Alice get cast in Wayne's World instead of Vinny?
Furnier got his start in music as the lead singer of a band. They were the ones who put out songs like I'm Eighteen and School's Out and helped catapult the young Vincent to stardom. They were also the ones called Alice Cooper, a name chosen for its innocent sound in contrast to their hard rock nature.
When the group split up, Furnier wanted to carry on its legacy, and so legally changed his name to Alice Cooper in 1975. With that out of the way, Mr. Cooper continued his ascent to the top of the musical mountain.
You could say that, since he got it legally changed, Alice Cooper doesn't count as a stage name, but this was too good a story not to share.