In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism. In medicine (particularly veterinary) and in zoology, a poison is often distinguished from a toxin and a venom. Toxins are poisons produced via some biological function in nature, and venoms are usually defined as biological toxins that are injected by a bite or sting to cause their effect, while other poisons are generally defined as substances which are absorbed through epithelial linings such as the skin or gut.

Terminology

Some poisons are also toxins, usually referring to naturally produced substances, such as the bacterial proteins that cause tetanus and botulism. A distinction between the two terms is not always observed, even among scientists.

Animal toxins that are delivered subcutaneously (e.g. by sting or bite) are also called ''venom''. In normal usage, a poisonous organism is one that is harmful to consume, but a venomous organism uses poison to defend itself while still alive. A single organism can be both venomous and poisonous.

The derivative forms "toxic" and "poisonous" are synonymous.

In nuclear physics, a poison is a substance that obstructs or inhibits a nuclear reaction. For an example, see nuclear poison.

Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, once wrote: "Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison." The term "poison" is often used colloquially to describe any harmful substance, particularly corrosive substances, carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens and harmful pollutants, and to exaggerate the dangers of chemicals. The legal definition of "poison" is stricter. A medical condition of poisoning can also be caused by substances that are not legally required to carry the label "poison".

Environmentally hazardous substances are not necessarily poisons and vice versa. For example, food industry wastewater - which may contain milk or potato juice - can be hazardous to the ecosystems of streams and rivers by consuming oxygen and causing eutrophication, but is nonhazardous to humans and not classified as a poison.

Uses of poison

Throughout human history, intentional application of poison has been used as a method of assassination, murder, suicide, and execution. As a method of execution, poison has been ingested, as the ancient Athenians did (see Socrates), inhaled, as with carbon monoxide or hydrogen cyanide (see gas chamber), or injected (see lethal injection). Many languages describe lethal injection with their corresponding words for "poison shot". Poison's lethal effect can be combined with its allegedly magical powers; an example is the Chinese ''gu'' poison. Poison was also employed in gunpowder warfare. For example, the 14th century Chinese text of the ''Huolongjing'' written by Jiao Yu outlined the use of a poisonous gunpowder mixture to fill cast iron grenade bombs.

The term poison with regards to biology and chemistry is often misused due to lack of a universal definition. Biologically speaking, any substance if given in large enough amounts is poisonous and can cause death. For instance, while botulinum toxin is lethal on the level of nanograms, a person would have to ingest kilograms worth of water to receive a lethal dose. While there may seem to be a large disparity in this example, there are many substances used as medications where the LD50 only one order of magnitude greater than the ED50 such as fentanyl. A better definition would require distinguishing between lethal substances which have a therapeutic value and those which do not. The lack of a mathematical definition for the term poison, precludes any chance of a universal definition.

Biological poisoning

Acute poisoning is exposure to a poison on one occasion or during a short period of time. Symptoms develop in close relation to the exposure. Absorption of a poison is necessary for systemic poisoning. In contrast, substances that destroy tissue but do not absorb, such as lye, are classified as corrosives rather than poisons. Furthermore, many common household medications are not labeled with skull and crossbones, although they can cause severe illness or even death. In the medical sense, poisoning can be caused by less dangerous substances than those receiving the legal classification of "poison".

Chronic poisoning is long-term repeated or continuous exposure to a poison where symptoms do not occur immediately or after each exposure. The patient gradually becomes ill, or becomes ill after a long latent period. Chronic poisoning most commonly occurs following exposure to poisons that bioaccumulate, or are biomagnified, such as mercury and lead.

Contact or absorption of poisons can cause rapid death or impairment. Agents that act on the nervous system can paralyze in seconds or less, and include both biologically derived neurotoxins and so-called nerve gases, which may be synthesized for warfare or industry.

Inhaled or ingested cyanide, used as a method of execution in gas chambers, almost instantly starves the body of energy by inhibiting the enzymes in mitochondria that make ATP. Intravenous injection of an unnaturally high concentration of potassium chloride, such as in the execution of prisoners in parts of the United States, quickly stops the heart by eliminating the cell potential necessary for muscle contraction.

Most biocides, including pesticides, are created to act as poisons to target organisms, although acute or less observable chronic poisoning can also occur in non-target organism, including the humans who apply the biocides and other beneficial organisms. For example, the herbicide 2,4-D imitates the action of a plant hormone, to the effect that the lethal toxicity is specific to plants. Indeed, 2,4-D is not a poison, but classified as "harmful" (EU).

Many substances regarded as poisons are toxic only indirectly, by toxication. An example is "wood alcohol" or methanol, which is not poisonous itself, but is chemically converted to toxic formaldehyde and formic acid in the liver. Many drug molecules are made toxic in the liver, and the genetic variability of certain liver enzymes makes the toxicity of many compounds differ between individuals.

The study of the symptoms, mechanisms, treatment and diagnosis of biological poisoning is known as toxicology.

Exposure to radioactive substances can produce radiation poisoning, an unrelated phenomenon.

Initial management

Initial management for all poisonings includes ensuring adequate cardiopulmonary function and providing treatment for any symptoms such as seizures, shock, and pain.

Poisons that have been injected (e.g. from the sting of poisonous animals) can be treated by binding the affected body part with a pressure bandage and by placing the affected body part in hot water (with a temperature of 50°C). The pressure bandage makes sure the poison is not pumped troughout the body and the hot water breaks down the poison. This treatment however only works with poisons that are composed of protein-molecules.

Decontamination

If the toxin was recently ingested, absorption of the substance may be able to be decreased through gastric decontamination. This may be achieved using activated charcoal, gastric lavage, whole bowel irrigation, or nasogastric aspiration. Routine use of emetics (syrup of Ipecac), cathartics or laxatives are no longer recommended.

Activated charcoal is the treatment of choice to prevent absorption of the poison. It is usually administered when the patient is in the emergency room or by a trained emergency healthcare provider such as a Paramedic or EMT. However, charcoal is ineffective against metals such as sodium, potassium, and lithium, and alcohols and glycols; it is also not recommended for ingestion of corrosive chemicals such as acids and alkalis.

Whole bowel irrigation cleanses the bowel, this is achieved by giving the patient large amounts of a polyethylene glycol solution. The osmotically balanced polyethylene glycol solution is not absorbed into the body, having the effect of flushing out the entire gastrointestinal tract. Its major uses are following ingestion of sustained release drugs, toxins that are not absorbed by activated charcoal (i.e. lithium, iron), and for the removal of ingested packets of drugs (body packing/smuggling).

Gastric lavage, commonly known as a stomach pump, is the insertion of a tube into the stomach, followed by administration of water or saline down the tube. The liquid is then removed along with the contents of the stomach. Lavage has been used for many years as a common treatment for poisoned patients. However, a recent review of the procedure in poisonings suggests no benefit. It is still sometimes used if it can be performed within 1 hour of ingestion and the exposure is potentially life threatening.

* Nasogastric aspiration involves the placement of a tube via the nose down into the stomach, the stomach contents are then removed via suction. This procedure is mainly used for liquid ingestions where activated charcoal is ineffective, e.g. ethylene glycol poisoning.

Emesis (i.e. induced by ipecac) is no longer recommended in poisoning situations, because vomiting is ineffective at removing poisons.

Cathartics were postulated to decrease absorption by increasing the expulsion of the poison from the gastrointestinal tract. There are two types of cathartics used in poisoned patients; saline cathartics (sodium sulfate, magnesium citrate, magnesium sulfate) and saccharide cathartics (sorbitol). They do not appear to improve patient outcome and are no longer recommended.

Antidotes

Some poisons have specific antidotes:

Poison/Drug	! Antidote
paracetamol (acetaminophen)	N-acetylcysteine
	vitamin K
opioids	naloxone
Iron (and other heavy metals)	desferrioxamine, Deferasirox or Deferiprone
benzodiazepines	flumazenil
ethylene glycol	ethanol or fomepizole, and thiamine
methanol	ethanol or fomepizole, and folinic acid
Cyanide	amyl nitrite, sodium nitrite and sodium thiosulfate
Organophosphates	Atropine and Pralidoxime
Magnesium	Calcium Gluconate
Calcium Channel Blockers (Verapamil, Diltiazem)	Calcium Gluconate
Beta-Blockers (Propranolol, Sotalol)	Calcium Gluconate and/or Glucagon
Isoniazid	Pyridoxine
Atropine	Physostigmine
Thallium	Prussian blue
Hydrofluoric acid	Calcium Gluconate
Anticholinergics	Cholinergics (and vice-versa)

Enhanced excretion

In some situations elimination of the poison can be enhanced using diuresis, hemodialysis, hemoperfusion, hyperbaric medicine, peritoneal dialysis, exchange transfusion or chelation. However, this may actually worsen the poisoning in some cases, so it should always be verified based on what substances are involved.

Further treatment

In the majority of poisonings the mainstay of management is providing supportive care for the patient, i.e. treating the symptoms rather than the poison.

Epidemiology

thumb|Disability-adjusted life year for poisonings per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004.

See also

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

Antidote

Biosecurity

Food taster

Lethal injection

List of extremely hazardous substances

List of fictional toxins

List of poisonings

List of poisonous plants

List of types of poison

Toxics use reduction

Venom

Mr. Yuk

TZ

References

External links

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

American Association of Poison Control Centers

American College of Medical Toxicology

Clinical Toxicology Teaching Wiki

Find Your Local Poison Control Centre Here (Worldwide)

Poison Prevention and Education Website

Cochrane Injuries Group, Systematic reviews on the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of traumatic injury (including poisoning)

Category:Execution methods Category:Execution equipment Category:Suicide methods

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Name	Nicole Scherzinger
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente
Born	June 29, 1978Honolulu, Hawaii, United States
Genre	Pop, R&B;
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, model, actress, showgirl
Years active	1997–present
Label	A&M;, Interscope
Associated acts	Pussycat Dolls (2003–10), Eden's Crush (2001)
website	}}

Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente Scherzinger (born June 29, 1978) is an American entertainer who is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. Previously, Scherzinger was a backing vocalist for the late-1990s rock group Days of the New, then she was part of reality TV girl group Eden's Crush. After the disbandment of the group, she joined the Pussycat Dolls and became the group's lead vocalist during their transition into a career in music. With the Pussycat Dolls, she released two albums ''PCD'' and ''Doll Domination'' and embarked on several concert tours. After leaving the group in December 2010, Scherzinger began a solo career with the release of her debut studio album ''Killer Love''. The album's second single, "Don't Hold Your Breath" peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, in turn marking her first number one hit as a solo artist.

Scherzinger became the winner of the tenth season of ''Dancing with the Stars'' in early 2010, and was hailed by judge Carrie Ann Inaba, "by far the best dancer we've ever had on the show." She will judge the American version of ''The X Factor'' which will air in fall 2011.

Early life

Nicole Scherzinger was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in a staunchly Catholic family. Her father, Alfonso Valiente, is Filipino, and her mother, Rosemary, is a mix of Hawaiian and Russian descent. Her mother was eighteen at the time of Scherzinger's birth and lived in an inner city neighborhood.

Nicole's parents separated when she was still a baby. When she was six years old, her maternal family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, with her sister Keala and her German American stepfather Gary Scherzinger.

She first attended Meyzeek Middle School as an adolescent. Growing up, Scherzinger states that she did not have a lot of money and the singer thanks her mother for all the support she gave her to become what she is today. Scherzinger began performing in Louisville, attending the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School and performing with Actors Theatre of Louisville. As a teenager, Scherzinger was the first runner-up at the 1996 Kentucky State Fair's Coca-Cola Talent Classic contest. Scherzinger majored in acting and musical theatre at Wright State University, where she played Velma Kelly in ''Chicago'' and Julie La Verne in ''Show Boat'' but put her studies on hold in 1999 to sing backing vocals for the rock band Days of the New.

Music career

2001–03: Eden's Crush and Pre-Pussycat Dolls

In 2001, Scherzinger competed in the premiere season of The WB's television show ''Popstars'', on which she earned a spot in the all-girl pop group Eden's Crush along side the other four chosen members Ivette Sosa, Maile Misajon, Ana Maria Lombo and Rosanna Tavarez . She became one of the main vocalists for the group. Their 2001 US single "Get Over Yourself (Goodbye)" peaked at number one in sales and hit the top ten on Billboard Hot 100. They toured in support of both *NSync and Jessica Simpson. Scherzinger was approached to be the fourth member of The Black Eyed Peas, but was forced to decline because she was a member of Eden's Crush and was under contract, the position was given to Fergie. Later however, Eden's Crush' record company, London-Sire Records, folded and the group eventually disbanded. In November 2007, Scherzinger spoke of her time in Eden's Crush:

It was hell... I was in a band with five other girls and every day was torture for me. We were on TV all the time and the atmosphere was awful... Every day I was in that band I cried my eyes out. The band was meant to be fun and frivolous but the reality was that it was miserable... I was too sensitive back then, but I got toughened up. I couldn't have gone into the Dolls without my experience in Crush.

After the disbanding of Eden's Crush, Scherzinger made a few promotional solo appearances under the stage name of Nicole Kea, including covering "Breakfast in Bed" for the soundtrack to ''50 First Dates'' in 2003. Scherzinger later worked with Yoshiki of Japanese rock band X Japan on his Violet UK project. She sang the English version of "I'll Be Your Love" live with the Tokyo Symphonic Orchestra. The track also appeared on the 2003 Various Artists album ''Exposition of Global Harmony''.

2003–06: The Pussycat Dolls and ''PCD''

In May 2003, Scherzinger joined the Pussycat Dolls burlesque troupe, who were being re-cast as recording artists. She had first seen them performing on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'' in November 2002, where Carmen Electra sang "Big Spender" from the Bob Fosse musical ''Sweet Charity''. In 2006, Scherzinger said "It caught my eye because I’d played Velma Kelly in [Fosse's] ''Chicago'' in college." In one interview she spoke of her role with the Pussycat dolls stating that it was a "challenge fronting the group" but that "every girl has something different to bring and add to the success".

The success of ''PCD'' brought Scherzinger into the media spotlight and she went on to record a series of duets/guest vocals with a wide array of male vocalists. In 2005, she appeared on recordings by Shaggy, Vittorio Grigolo and Will Smith. In 2006 she sang co-lead vocals with Avant on his single "Lie About Us", and Diddy's hit "Come to Me" (which she also co-wrote). Other appearances are listed in discography. In the biography section of her official website she says that everyone recognises her from the Pussycat Dolls's debut single "Dont Cha" which although amazing does not fulfill her musical desires. When asked what she intended to achieve with her solo career she commented "Some people only have their glasses half full, but there was never a limit to mine." The purpose of the album was to appeal to younger audiences, show them "the heart of Nicole" and show that she is "not always strong and fearless".

2006–09: ''Her Name Is Nicole'' and ''Doll Domination''

From 2006 until late 2008 Scherzinger had been working on her debut album which was titled ''Her Name Is Nicole''. She recorded/wrote about 75–100 songs for the album which was supposed to be released in 2007 before being pushed to October 16, 2008 and later into 2009 before being shelved. She told MTV "I've always said that in the Pussycat Dolls, I kind of feel like Superwoman. But that's just one of my alter egos. I've got the vulnerable, lovesick side of me amongst others which all appear on my record." The album saw Scherzinger work with a wide roster of producers and song writers some of whom had worked with Scherzinger for albums with the Pussycat Dolls. Sean Garrett and Polow da Don worked on "Whatever U Like" (featuring T.I.) which was released as the album's lead single on July 24, 2007 but deemed unsuccessful reaching just 57 in Canada. "Baby Love" was the second single released on September 10, 2007. Although well received and compared to the Pussycat Dolls' song "Stickwitu" the track did not chart well in the United States. Internationally the single fared well reaching Top 15 in most countries including the UK, and mainland Europe. It was remixed to be included on ''Doll Domination'' as a bonus track. The third single "Supervillain" was described as having a "danceable jam with a catchy chorus" and featured a reggae–dancehall interlude. Written by Rock City and produced by Mad Scientist it was only released to US iTunes in November 2007. The song's synthy melodies and disco-motown feel with Scherzinger's 5-octave range were not enough to chart in the US. Fourth single "Puakenikeni" (a type of flower in Hawaii) also released to iTunes in November was produced by Akon to as a tribute to Scherzinger's heritage but failed to chart. Other songs included the critically acclaimed "Just Say Yes", written by Gary Lightbody (of Snow Patrol) which was a soft and slow song with its pulsing, electronic beat. She told MTV of her excitement to record the song previously rejected by Gwen Stefani. "I'm such a huge fan of Snow Patrol's music, I felt like I was supposed to make it my own. "It's a very honest and truthful song." Ne-Yo gave Scherzinger two songs, "Happily Never After" a slow ballad of which Scherzinger said she felt it "important for young girls to have an empowering message that they deserve better". Interestingly the song was originally written for Britney Spears to record for her album ''Blackout'' in 2007. The other song has a tear jerking ballad called "Save Me from Myself" for which Scherzinger helped Ne-Yo in developing the hook before recording the song. When commenting on another song "March" Scherzinger said she wanted a powerful record. "It's about never giving up on your dreams and it’s about what I went through to get where I am today." Timbaland produced and featured on the song "Physical" on which his trademark vocals can be heard over the upbeat melody and thumping baseline. Part of the song was used in the film ''Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer''. The album sessions also produced a number of other songs including "When Your Falling" (also co-written by Akon) "Power's Out" a riveting duet with English singer Sting (featured in Revlon adverts with Jessica Alba) and "I M.I.S.S You" written by Pharrell Williams & produced by The Neptunes.

In August 2007 Scherzinger was a guest mentor for judge Sharon Osbourne on the fourth series of the X Factor in the uk for the ''judges homes'' section of the compettion.

Doubt was cast over the future of the album when the Pussycat Dolls released their second album ''Doll Domination'' which featured some of the songs which had initially been recorded for Scherzinger's own album. "Happily Never After" and "Who's Gonna Love You" were placed on the album with no changes whilst additional backing vocals were added to "When I Grow Up" before it was released as the album's lead single. In 2010 during an interview with ''X'' magazine she also revealed that "I Hate This Part", a song which became a top-ten hit in Europe for the Pussycat Dolls, was also intended for her own solo album. Christopher "Tricky Stewart" and The-Dream were also working with Scherzinger and produced, wrote and recorded at least two songs for the album. Both of the known recordings, "Punch You In Your Sleep" and "I'm a Cheat" were re-allocated to The-Dream's ex-wife Christina Milian who has recorded them for her fourth studio album ''Elope'' due in 2010. Furthermore it was revealed that Keri Hilson (a writer who has been heavily involved in writing for the Pussycat Dolls) had written a song called "Alienated" for Scherzinger, however when the album was delayed and shelved Hilson reclaimed the song and instead recorded the song with producer Cory Bold for her own debut studio album ''In a Perfect World…'' Reviews later went on to give the song critical acclaim for its "electro-blips and whispery raps that are alluring." In September 2009 it was confirmed that the teary ballad, "Just Say Yes" was reclaimed by Gary Lightbody who has since re-tooled and reworked the song. It was released as the lead single from his band, Snow Patrol's compilation album ''Up to Now'', on November 2, 2009. Addressing the delayed release of her solo album, in September 2008 Scherzinger said, "Despite what other people might write, it was my decision, ultimately. I actually put some of my solo songs on the Pussycat Dolls' new album ''Doll Domination''. Everything is all about timing. I believe it will come out next year, and it will be able to coexist wonderfully with the Dolls' album. It's completely separate from what you've heard with "Baby Love" and "Whatever U Like," and I'm still working on it — that's what happens when you're a perfectionist." She was interviewed by ''Billboard'' magazine in April 2009 regarding her own career plans as well as what The Dolls were up to. She said "the current incarnation of the album is just in talks and in the writing process. I haven't started recording yet." She plans to enter the studio again after the Pussycat Dolls have finished their World Domination Tour. Speaking about the project Scherzinger said she will be working again with Will.i.am, Timbaland as well as with new associates Lady Gaga and A.R. Rahman. In April 2008, Scherzinger recorded a cover version of "Rio" by Duran Duran for an advertising campaign for Unilever's Caress brand of body wash. A commercial video was released, and the single was released via download only, after May 2008. In 2008, in support of Barack Obama, she was one of many musicians to contribute to a track by will.i.am called "Yes We Can". Also on September 5, 2008, Scherzinger joined an all-star cast to perform the charity song "Just Stand Up" on live TV. The Pussycat Dolls returned to the Music scene on May 27, 2008 with the new single "When I Grow Up" which reached number nine on the U.S. Hot 100 and number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play. The song topped several European charts and became a worldwide top ten hit. The follow-up single "Whatcha Think About That" with Missy Elliott failed to enter the U.S. charts but managed to reach top 20 in several other countries including the UK with a limited release.

After a slight delay and with two singles released the album, ''Doll Domination'' was finally released as a standard and deluxe edition. The latter featured a disc with a solo song by each of the girls. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, with 79,000 copies sold in its first week beating their debut album by one chart position but selling 20,000 less copies. It only spent seven weeks in the top 100, compared with their debut album which sat in the top 100 for nearly one year. In January 2009 it re-entered the top 100 following several more successful singles. The album in original form spawned two other singles, worldwide top 20 hit "I Hate This Part" and the number-one club song "Bottle Pop" which only received a limited release in the US and Oceania. On January 2009 they embarked their second world tour called ''Doll Domination Tour'' to support ''Doll Domination''. Lady Gaga opened for them in Europe and Australia, while Ne-Yo supported the Pussycat Dolls in the UK leg. In mid-2009 they opened for Britney Spears' tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears on the first leg in North America. In April 2009 Scherzinger confirmed to ''Billboard'' that the album would be re-released to give more people a chance to get their music. In Europe the album was re-released with three or four new songs. In Australia a compilation called ''Doll Domination 2.0'' was released with six songs from the original version plus four new songs whereas the UK received a six-song EP called ''Doll Domination: The Mini Collection'' released on April 27, 2009 featuring four of the original songs plus a remix and a new song. In August 2009 the album was repackaged once more, this time as ''Doll Domination 3.0'' to include all of the previously released bonus songs on one CD with the original album. Its release was limited to Europe and the UK where the group's singles had all reached top 20. The repackaged versions spawned two more singles: the worldwide number one "Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" (featured on the soundtrack for ''Slumdog Millionaire'') and euro-pop remix of "Hush Hush" (retitled "Hush Hush; Hush Hush") which reached top 20 internationally. Following Scherzinger's over-emphasis in the release of these two singles there were several emotional outbursts to the media including one by Thornton during one of the group's appearances on tour. Scherzinger performed "America the Beautiful" at WWE's WrestleMania XXV in Houston, Texas at the Reliant Stadium on April 5, 2009. Nicole Scherzinger performed with guitarist Slash on October 2 in Las Vegas.

2010–present: ''Killer Love'' and ''The X Factor''

Scherzinger confirmed that she has done one song with Slash for his solo album ''Slash'' released in April 2010. On February 1, 2010 along with other artists Scherzinger had re-recorded "We Are the World", a charity single for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The song debuted during NBC's coverage of the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It was released as a single on iTunes on February 12, 2010 accompanied by the music video. Reports of a second attempt at a solo album surfaced in January 2010 when ''Contactmusic'' reported that singersongwriter Ne-Yo is working with Scherzinger on new material. Ne-Yo had previously given two songs he wrote, "Save Me From Myself" and "Happily Never After", to Scherzinger for ''Her Name Is Nicole''. Of the new collaborations he said,"she is putting all her energy into her work". He was also quoted as saying }}

On January 26, 2010, it was revealed that Jay Sean and Scherzinger were both working on something in the studio together. The video was originally posted to twitter but has been uploaded to the general internet too and shows the pair having a good time at ''Hit Factory (Criteria)'' record studios in Miami, Florida. In the video Scherzinger reveals she has been recording in the studio which Mariah Carey created some of her best known material as well as 'Studio F' where Sean recorded "Down" with Lil Wayne and where Scherzinger previously laid down vocals for Timbaland's hit single "Scream" with Keri Hilson. The pair also made note to T-Pain and Lil Wayne who were present at the studio. It is unknown whether the pair achieved any musical success e.g. recorded any usable songs and it is unknown if the records are for an upcoming single for Jay Sean, the upcoming third album from the Pussycat Dolls or Scherzinger's own heavily delayed studio album which is also due for release in 2010. Separately it was reported that she was working with Chuck Harmony whose previous credits include Rihanna's top-ten hit "Russian Roulette" (2009) as well as multiple credits on Ne-Yo's ''Year of the Gentleman'' (2008) and Mary J. Blige's ''Growing Pains'' (2007). "My music that I’m working on now for my album might have a little more rock, funk, soul edge, but it’s basically in the genre of popular music and it’s just honest music, fun music".

''Rap Up'' first reported her intention to release a new song on May 23, 2010 stating that "The single ["Nobody Can Change Me"] is an empowering song, so it’s very much like Pussycat Dolls, but it’s just [Nicole] singing the same thing". Scherzinger herself described the single as "uplifting and powerful song with a deep meaning" During one radio interview she the song was recorded at night whilst she was competing on season ten of U.S. reality competition, ''Dancing with the Stars''. It was mastered on May 23, 2010 ready for its premiere on Ryan Seacrest's KIIS FM radio show the following day. Amongst the first to review the song was Beck Bain of ''Idolator''. She was not impressed, "after listening to the treacly pop tune, we think she has a better shot at becoming a full-time sailor than reviving her solo career anytime soon. ... Her voice sounds a little bit higher/squeakier than usual, and the overproduction of the track certainly doesn’t help—we know this girl can saaang, and this generic pop song about empowerment or independence or some other vague 'let me be me' message does nothing to utilize her vocal range. ... And if Nicole wants to win the public back, it’s probably in her best interest to release a thumping dance track with sex appeal than an uninspired, uninteresting message song." However Amos Barshad of ''New York'' magazine actually liked the song stating that "there’s none of the Pussycat Doll’s forced sexiness here; instead, it sounds like something that could have just missed the final cut on a Kelly Clarkson album (that is sort of supposed to be a compliment, yeah)."

In June 2010 Scherzinger was a replacement guest judge on Simon Cowell's British talent show X Factor due to regular judge Dannii Minogue on maternity leave in Australia. Scherzinger stood in for Minogue at the Manchester auditions. In August 2010 regular judge Cheryl Cole fell ill with Maleria and Scherzinger stepped in again this time as a replacement judge for Cole during the ''Bootcamp Stage'' of the compettion.

Then in August 2010 Moroccan electropop producer RedOne was interviewed by the BBC. In the interview he revealed he had been working on Scherzinger's album. "I just finished her album. Her last one never came out because it was collecting hamburgers, like fast food. One from McDonald's, one from Burger King, and so on. It tasted good, but it wasn't consistent. Her new record – people are really going to go crazy about it because it's the real her." Scherzinger confirmed these reports in a September 2010 interview with ''X'' magazine. In reference to ''Her Name is Nicole'' she said "It was actually my decision not to put it out, not the label's". Then she said "I've been working with RedOne, which is an honour. He's an unbelievable producer and musician. He had made some amazing songs with Lady Gaga. Now, there is someone with the 'x factor'. I can't touch GaGa or RedOne in that space, but I know that we've created something unique of our own." Scherzinger's new single, "Poison", premiered on her official website and YouTube account on October 14, 2010. It is due for release on November 29, 2010. A picture from the video shoot was revealed by MTV, showing Scherzinger dressed provocatively. "Poison" serves as the first single from the album and peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart becoming Scherzinger's most successful single, until her #1 hit with "Don't Hold Your Breath" in Spring of 2011.

On November 18, 2010, she joined Prince on-stage during his concert in Abu Dhabi. While working with RedOne she has also recorded vocals for songs which will be included on Mohombi's debut album. Mohombi is the first signee to RedOne's record label. Scherzinger appeared at the Jingle Bell Ball at London's O2 Arena on December 4, 2010. The second single, "Don't Hold Your Breath", was released on March 13, 2011 and preceded the album, ''Killer Love'', which was released March 21, 2011. The song debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart.

Scherzinger released her third single, "Right There" which features American rapper, 50 Cent on June 6, 2011 at the United Kingdom. The single was also released in the United States as her first American lead single for her debut album, ''Killer Love''. "Right There" was sent to mainstream radio in the US on May 24, 2011. On June 12, she performed at Capital FM's ''Summertime Ball'' at ''Wembley Stadium'' in ''London''.

On May 5, 2011, Scherzinger was announced as one of two co-hosts of the first season of the American version of Simon Cowell's ''The X Factor'' alongside Steve Jones, set to premiere on FOX in September 2011. On June 6, 2011, a Fox press release announced Scherzinger would replace Cheryl Cole, whose contract Fox had terminated, following the third show. Scherzinger will serve as judge alongside Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid, leaving Jones to host by himself. The show will premiere on Fox on September 21, 2011

On August 16, 2011, Scherzinger released "Don't Hold Your Breath" in the United States as her second US single. Her first US single,"Right There (feat. 50 Cent)" & "Don't Hold Your Breath" will precede her debut album, "Killer Love" which is set to be released in the US in November. Scherzinger also released a music video for "Wet", which is currently a UK single, on August 15, 2011.

Other ventures

Scherzinger has made minor appearances as an actress. She appeared in the TV comedy, ''Half & Half'', ''My Wife and Kids'' and the 2003 film ''Love Don't Cost a Thing''. She also had a role in 2001 as one of the "Pop Stars" in the episode "Finally!" of the show ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'', in ''Wanda at Large'', ''Chasing Papi'', ''Be Cool'' and ''Cane''. Scherzinger was supposed to cast in one of the lead roles in the upcoming movie with the Filipino Boxing Champion Manny Pacquiao together with professional wrestler Dave Batista. She was about to play the leading lady of the Filipino Champ but it was cancelled and her role went to the filipina actress Ruffa Mae Quinto. She also made an appearance in the Nickelodeon show ''Big Time Rush'' as herself.

In 2006, she made a "Bench Body" brand underwear commercial in the Philippines and in October 2008, she promoted Clear Shampoo and Conditioner. Both commercials were reportedly aired throughout Southeast Asia. She appeared in a Nike shoe commercial with basketball player LeBron James. In 2010 she made a commercial for the C&A; campaign. In late 2009, it was reported that Scherzinger is working closely with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the musical ''Love Never Dies'', the sequel to ''The Phantom of the Opera''.

In December 2009, Scherzinger served as a celebrity judge on NBC's reality singing competition, ''The Sing-Off'', along with singer-songwriter Ben Folds and Boyz II Men bandmember Shawn Stockman. The show was hosted by singer Nick Lachey. Scherzinger's role was to critique performances of the competitors and vote on eliminations in all but the final round, which was determined by audience vote. In the show finale, Scherzinger performed "You Don't Own Me" with competition finalists the Beelzebubs of Tufts University. She returned to her role as judge for a second season of ''The Sing-Off'' in December 2010.

On March 1, 2010, it was announced that Scherzinger would be a celebrity contestant on ''Dancing with the Stars'' for the tenth season and would be partnered with Season 7 champion Derek Hough. On May 25, 2010 Nicole won ''Dancing with the Stars'' season 10. On June 4, 2010, it was announced that Nicole would take on the role of Maureen in the Hollywood Bowl production of the rock musical ''Rent'', directed by Neil Patrick Harris. She played the role from August 6–8, 2010.

On July 1, 2010, MTV reported the media mogal Simon Cowell had hired Scherzinger as a guest judge for season seven of the UK reality TV series ''The X Factor'' after regular judge Danni Minogue went on maternity leave. According to ''The Daily Mail'' she is one of several celebrities being considered for a role on the U.S. version of ''The X Factor'' and so the role on the UK version served as an important screen test and opportunity to impress the producers. Following praise from the show's producers, Scherzinger was asked to return as a guest judge after it was discovered that Cole had contracted malaria and was unable to film the 'bootcamp' stages of the competition. Fellow judge and permanent panel member Louis Walsh praised Scherzinger, saying "My favourite though was Nicole who I had never met before. This girl has the X Factor in every way. She just got it, was incredibly impressive and ticked every box." The host of the show, Dermot O'Leary, also praised Scherzinger, saying she was his favourite guest judge. "She was brilliant, tailor-made for it and hilarious too. We were all stunned by her beauty." Scherzinger left her mark on the competition after she persuaded producers to change the ages of the judging categories. An ''X Factor'' spokesman told the media that "At Nicole's suggestion, and agreed by Simon and Louis, the boys' and girls' category age limit has been increased to 28. The judges believe this will strengthen the competition and talent." Additionally it was reported that Scherzinger will be asked to help Cowell or Walsh during the "judges' houses" stages of the competition where each judge is given a category of acts to mentor and then, with the help of other celebrities and musicians, they choose three acts to take through the live finals.

In 2010, Scherzinger appeared in the ''How I Met Your Mother'' episode "Glitter", as Robin Scherbatsky's former best friend, Jessica Glitter. She has also recorded a version of "GoldenEye" — the theme song of the 1995 Bond film ''GoldenEye'' — for the 2010 video game ''GoldenEye 007''. Scherzinger is currently slated to play Lilly in the upcoming film ''Men in Black III'', to be released May 25, 2012.

In May 2011, Scherzinger was announced as one of the two co-hosts of the American version of ''The X Factor'' alongside Steve Jones. However, on June 6 Fox confirmed that Nicole would replace Cheryl Cole as a judge and that Steve Jones will now serve as the sole host for the show.

Scherzinger has frequently appeared in FHM Magazine's 100 Sexiest Women poll, ranking at #73 in 2010, #60 in 2009, #49 in 2008, #22 in 2007 and #49 in 2006. In 2011 she jumped 64 places to rank number nine.

Personal life

Scherzinger considers herself a devout Catholic. After a three-year relationship and engagement to 311 singer Nick Hexum, as well as a fling with reality TV star Talan Torriero, Scherzinger began dating 2008 Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who currently races for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

Over the past five years Scherzinger was ranked in ''Maxim'''s Hot 100 at 22 and 21 in 2006 and 2007 respectively. In 2008 she ranked at number 19 along with the Pussycat Dolls. In 2009, she ranked at number 49 and in 2010 landed at number 24.

Discography

''Killer Love'' (2011)

Filmography

Television

!Year	!Title	!Role	Notes
	''Half & Half''	Jasmine
''My Wife & Kids''	Veronica	The Kyles Go to Hawaii: Part 1,2
		Guest judge
	Contestant & Winner
''How I Met Your Mother''	Jessica Glitter
	''Danse avec les stars''	Guest	Season 1 Final of Dancing with the Stars (France)
''Big Time Rush''	Herself	1 Episode
	Herself	Judge, Season 1 – Present (2011–Present)

Films

!Year	!Title	!Role	Notes
		Champagne Girl
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle	Dancer (with theThe Pussycat Dolls)	(uncredited)
	''Men in Black III''	Lily	Post-production

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Event	Award	Result
2010	Nicole Scherzinger	Virgin Media Music Awards	Hottest Female
2011	Nicole Scherzinger	Italian TRL Awards	Best Look

References

External links

Xfactor 2011 Uk community

Category:1978 births Category:Actors from Hawaii Category:Actors from Kentucky Category:American dance musicians Category:American dancers Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pop singers Category:American mezzo-sopranos Category:Singers with a five octave vocal range Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American people of Filipino descent Category:American people of Russian descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Hawaii Category:Native Hawaiian people ! Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Honolulu, Hawaii Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky Category:People of Native Hawaiian descent Category:Reality show winners Category:The X Factor judges Category:Wright State University alumni Category:The X Factor (UK) Category:The X Factor hosts

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Name	Alice Cooper
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Vincent Damon Furnier
Born	February 04, 1948Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, harmonica, guitar
Genre	Rock, hard rock, heavy metal, shock rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actor, DJ
Years active	1964–present
Associated acts	Alice Cooper band, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash
Label	Straight, Warner Bros., Atlantic, MCA, Epic, Spitfire, Eagle, New West
Website	}}

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors, and baby dolls, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal designed to shock.

Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and drummer Neal Smith. The original Alice Cooper band broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album ''Love it to Death'', which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album ''Billion Dollar Babies''.

Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 concept album ''Welcome to My Nightmare''. In 2008 he released ''Along Came a Spider'', his 18th solo album but his 25th album. Expanding from his original Detroit rock roots, over the years Cooper has experimented with many various musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, hard rock, new wave, pop rock, experimental rock and industrial rock.

Alice Cooper is known for his social and witty persona offstage. ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'' goes so far as to call him the world's most "beloved heavy metal entertainer". He helped to shape the sound and look of heavy metal, and is seen as the one who "first introduced horror imagery to rock'n'roll, and whose stagecraft and showmanship have permanently transformed the genre". Away from music, Cooper is a film actor, a golfing celebrity, a restaurateur and, since 2004, a popular radio DJ with his classic rock show ''Nights with Alice Cooper''.

In 2011 the original Alice Cooper band was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early life

Cooper was born as Vincent Damon Furnier in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Ella Mae (Née McCart) and Ether Moroni Furnier. His father was a lay preacher in the Church of Jesus Christ (also known as the Bickertonite Church) which, historically, is a branch of the Latter Day Saint movement. He has French Huguenot, Sioux Native American, English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, and was named after one of his uncles (Vincent Collier Furnier) and the writer Damon Runyon. His paternal grandfather, Thurman Sylvester Furnier, was an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite). Vincent Furnier was active in his church at the ages of 11 and 12.

While growing up in Detroit, Furnier attended Washington Elementary School, then Nankin Mills Jr. High, now Lutheran High School Westland. Following a series of childhood illnesses, Furnier moved with his family to Phoenix, Arizona, where he attended Cortez High School in north Phoenix, and was a member of the Order of DeMolay.

Recording career

1960s

In 1964 sixteen year-old Furnier was eager to take part in the local annual letterman's talent show, so he gathered fellow cross-country teammates to form a group for the show. They named themselves The Earwigs. Since they did not know how to play any instruments at the time, they dressed up like The Beatles and mimed their performance to Beatles songs. As a result of winning the talent show and loving the experience of being onstage, the group immediately proceeded to learn how to play instruments they acquired from a local pawn shop. They soon renamed themselves The Spiders, featuring Furnier on vocals, Glen Buxton on lead guitar, John Tatum on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and John Speer on drums. Musically, the group was inspired by artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, and The Yardbirds. For the next year the band performed regularly around the Phoenix area with a huge black spider's web as their backdrop, the group's first stage prop. In 1965 they recorded their first single, "Why Don't You Love Me" (originally performed by The Blackwells), with Furnier learning the harmonica for that song.

In 1966 The Spiders graduated from high school, and after North High School footballer, Michael Bruce, replaced John Tatum on rhythm guitar, the band scored a local #1 radio hit with "Don't Blow Your Mind," an original composition from their second single release. By 1967 the band had begun to make regular road trips to Los Angeles, California to play shows. They soon renamed themselves The Nazz and released the single "Wonder Who's Lovin' Her Now," backed with future Alice Cooper track "Lay Down And Die, Goodbye." At around this time drummer John Speer was replaced by Neal Smith. By the end of the year the band had relocated to Los Angeles permanently.

In 1968 upon learning that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, the band was again in need of another stage name. Believing that the group needed a gimmick to succeed, and that other bands were not exploiting the showmanship potential of the stage, Furnier chose "Alice Cooper" as the band's name and adopted this stage name as his own. Cooper later stated that the name change was one of his most important and successful career moves.

Nonetheless, at the time Cooper and the band realized that the concept of a male playing the role of a villian, a woman killer, in tattered women's clothing and wearing make-up, would have the potential to cause considerable social controversy and grab headlines. In 2007 in his book ''Alice Cooper, Golf Monster'' Cooper stated that his look was inspired in part by film. One of the band's all time favorite movies was ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane'' starring Bette Davis. "In the movie, Bette wears disgusting caked makeup smeared on her face and underneath her eyes, with deep , dark, black eyeliner." Another movie watched over and over was ''Barbarella''. "When I saw Anita Pallenberg playing the Great Tyrant in that movie in 1968, wearing long black leather gloves with switchblades coming out of them, I thought, 'That's what Alice should look like'. That, and a little bit of Emma Peel from ''The Avengers''".

The conception for the character that Cooper plays on stage came when he took careful observation of the rock world around him. He noticed that rock stars were always made out to be heroes, and that rock villains were scarce. In a 2010 interview he stated, "Why do we always have rock heroes? Why not a rock villain? I was more than happy to be rock's Darth Vader. I was more than happy to be Captain Hook."

The classic Alice Cooper group line-up consisted of singer Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier), lead guitarist Glen Buxton, rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, and drummer Neal Smith. With the exception of Smith, who graduated from Camelback High School (which is referred to in the song "Alma Mater" on the ''School's Out'' album), all of the band members were on the Cortez High School cross-country team, and many of Cooper's stage effects were inspired by their cross-country coach, Emmett Smith (one of Smith's class projects was to build a working guillotine for slicing watermelons). Cooper, Buxton and Dunaway were also art students, and their admiration for the works of surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalí would further inspire their future stage antics.

One night after an unsuccessful gig at the Cheetah club in Venice, California, where the band emptied the entire room of patrons after playing just ten minutes, they were approached and enlisted by music manager Shep Gordon, who ironically saw the band's negative impact that night as a force that could be turned in a more productive direction. Shep then arranged an audition for the band with composer and renowned record producer, Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. For the audition Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock." The band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of psychedelic rock at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough to sign them to a three-album deal. Another Zappa-signed act, the all-female GTOs, who liked to "dress the Cooper boys up like full size barbie dolls," played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look.

Cooper's first album ''Pretties for You'' (released in 1969) had a slight psychedelic feel. Although it touched the US charts for one week at #193, it was ultimately a critical and commercial failure.

Alice Cooper's "shock rock" reputation apparently developed almost by accident at first. An unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper and a live chicken garnered attention from the press, and the band decided to capitalize on the tabloid sensationalism, creating in the process a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the infamous "Chicken Incident" at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert in September 1969 was an accident. A chicken somehow made its way onto the stage during Cooper's performance, and not having any experience around farm animals, Cooper presumed that, because the chicken had wings, it would be able to fly. He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting it to fly away. The chicken instead plummeted into the first few rows occupied by disabled people in wheelchairs, who reportedly proceeded to tear the bird to pieces.

The next day the incident made the front page of national newspapers, and Zappa phoned Cooper and asked if the story, which reported that he had bitten off the chicken's head and drunk its blood on stage, was true. Cooper denied the rumor, whereupon Zappa told him, "Well, whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it", obviously recognizing that such publicity would be priceless for the band.

1970s

Despite the publicity from the Chicken Incident, the band's stronger second album, ''Easy Action'', released in June 1970, met with the same fate as its predecessor. At around this time the band, fed up with Californians' indifference to their act, relocated to Cooper's birthplace, Detroit, where their bizarre stage act was much better received by the crowds of the Midwest states who were accustomed to the similar hard rock styles of local bands such as The Stooges and The MC5. Despite this, Cooper still managed to receive a cream pie in the face when performing at the Cincinnati Pop Festival. Detroit would remain their steady home base until 1972. "LA just didn’t get it," Cooper stated. "They were all on the wrong drug for us. They were on acid and we were basically drinking beer. We fit much more in Detroit than we did anywhere else."

Alice Cooper appeared at the Woodstock-esque, Strawberry Fields Festival near Toronto, Ontario in August 1970. The band's mix of glam and increasingly violent stage theatrics stood out in stark contrast to the bearded, denim-clad hippie bands of the time. As Cooper himself stated: "We were into fun, sex, death and money when everybody was into peace and love. We wanted to see what was next. It turned out we were next, and we drove a stake through the heart of the Love Generation".

In autumn 1970 the Alice Cooper group teamed with producer Bob Ezrin for the recording of their third album ''Love it to Death''. This was the final album in their Straight Records contract and the band's last chance to create a hit. That first success came with the single "I'm Eighteen", released in November 1970, which reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1971. Not long after the album's release in January 1971 Warner Bros. Records purchased Alice Cooper's contract from Straight and re-issued the album, giving the group a higher level of promotion.

''Love it to Death'' proved to be their breakthrough album, reaching number 35 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album charts. It would be the first of eleven Alice Cooper group and solo albums produced by Ezrin, who is widely seen as being instrumental in helping to create and develop the band's definitive sound.

The group's 1971 tour featured a stage show involving mock fights and gothic torture modes being imposed on Cooper climaxing with a staged execution by electric chair, with the band sporting tight, sequined, and color-contrasting glam rock-style costumes made by prominent rock fashion designer Cindy Dunaway (sister of band member Neal Smith, and wife of band member Dennis Dunaway). Cooper's androgynous stage role had developed to present a villainous side, portraying a potential threat to modern society. The success of the band's single, the album, and their tour of 1971, which included their first tour of Europe (audience members reportedly included Elton John and a pre-Ziggy David Bowie), provided enough encouragement for Warner Bros. to offer the band a new multi-album contract.

Their follow-up album ''Killer'', released in late 1971, continued the commercial success of ''Love It To Death'' and included further single success with "Under My Wheels", "Be My Lover" in early 1972, and "Halo Of Flies" which became a Top 10 hit in the Netherlands in 1972. Thematically, ''Killer'' expanded on the villainous side of Cooper's androgynous stage role, with its music becoming the soundtrack to the group's morality-based stage show, which by then featured a boa constrictor hugging Cooper onstage, the murderous axe chopping of bloodied baby dolls, and execution by hanging at the gallows. Back then, the real criticism was aimed at questioning the artists' sexual ambiguity, rather than the stage gore. In January 1972, Cooper was again asked about his peculiar name, and told talk show hostess Dinah Shore that he took the name from a "Mayberry RFD" character.

The summer of 1972 saw the release of the single "School's Out". It went Top 10 in the US, was a #1 single in the UK, and remains a staple on classic rock radio to this day. ''School's Out'' the album reached #2 on the US charts and sold over a million copies. The band now relocated to their new mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. With Cooper's on-stage androgynous persona completely replaced with brattiness and machismo, the band solidified their success with subsequent tours in the US and Europe, and won over devoted fans in droves while at the same time horrifying parents and outraging the social establishment. Controversy seemed to have little negative effect on the band's popularity, as they were selected to be the first band to appear on then-new US television series ABC In Concert in September 1972. In England, Mary Whitehouse, a well known campaigner for values of morality and decency, succeeded in having the BBC ban the video for "School's Out" and Member of Parliament Leo Abse petitioned Home Secretary Reginald Maudling to have the group banned altogether from performing in the country.

In February 1973 ''Billion Dollar Babies'' was released worldwide and became the band's most commercially successful album, reaching #1 in both the US and UK. "Elected", a late-1972 Top 10 UK hit from the album, which inspired one of the first MTV-style story-line promo videos ever made for a song (three years before Queen's promotional video for "Bohemian Rhapsody"), was followed by two more UK Top 10 singles, "Hello Hooray" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy", the latter of which was the last UK single from the album; it reached #25 in the US. The title track, featuring guest vocals by Donovan, was also a US hit single. Due to Glen Buxton's waning health around this time Mick Mashbir was secretly added to the band (who also played, without credit, on ''Muscle of Love'') to supplement Glen's playing.

With a string of successful concept albums and several hit singles, the band continued their gruelling schedule and toured the US once again. Continued attempts by politicians and pressure groups to ban their shocking act only served to fuel the myth of Alice Cooper further and generate even greater public interest. Their 1973 US tour broke box office records previously set by The Rolling Stones and raised rock theatrics to new heights; the multi-level stage show by then featured numerous special effects, including Billion Dollar Bills, decapitated baby dolls and mannequins, a dental psychosis scene complete with dancing teeth, and the ultimate execution prop and highlight of the show: the guillotine. The guillotine and other stage effects were designed for the band by magician James Randi, who appeared on stage during some of the shows as executioner. The Alice Cooper group had now reached its peak and it was among the most visible and successful acts in the industry. (Cooper's stage antics would influence a host of later bands, including, among others, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Kiss, Blue Öyster Cult, GWAR, W.A.S.P., Lizzy Borden and, later, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Rob Zombie and Norwegian black metal bands.) Beneath the surface, however, the repetitive schedule of recording and touring had begun to take its toll on the band, and Cooper, who was under the constant pressure of getting into character for that night's show, was consistently sighted nursing a can of beer.

''Muscle of Love'', released at the end of 1973, was to be the last studio album from the classic line-up, and marked Alice Cooper's last UK Top 20 single of the 1970s with "Teenage Lament '74". An unsolicited theme song was recorded for the James Bond movie ''The Man with the Golden Gun'', but a different song of the same name by Lulu was chosen instead. By 1974, the ''Muscle of Love'' album had not matched the top-charting success of its predecessor, and the band began to have constant disagreements. Cooper wanted to retain the theatrics in the show that had brought them so much attention, while the rest of the group thought they should be toned down so that they could concentrate more on the music which had given them credibility. Largely as a result of this difference of opinion, the band decided to take a much-needed hiatus.

During this time Cooper relocated back to Los Angeles and started appearing regularly on TV shows such as ''Hollywood Squares'', and Warner Bros. released the ''Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits'' compilation album. It featured classic style artwork and reached the US Top 10, performing better than ''Muscle of Love''. However, the band's 1974 feature film ''Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper'' (consisting mainly of 1973 concert footage with 'comedic' sketches woven throughout to a faint storyline), released on a minor theatrical run mostly to drive-in theaters, saw little box office success.

As some of the Alice Cooper band members had begun recording their own solo albums, Cooper decided to do the same himself. In 1975 he released his first solo album, ''Welcome To My Nightmare''. To avoid legal complications over ownership of the group name, Alice Cooper had by then become the singer's new legal name. The success of the solo album marked the final break with the original members of the band with Cooper collaborating with their producer Bob Ezrin, who recruited Lou Reed's backing band, including guitarists Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter, to play on the album. Spearheaded by the US Top 20 hit ballad, "Only Women Bleed", the album was released by Atlantic Records in March of that year and became a Top 10 hit for Cooper. It was a concept album that was based on the nightmare of a child named Steven, featuring narration by classic horror movie film star Vincent Price (several years after ''Welcome To My Nightmare'', he guested on Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), and serving as the soundtrack to Cooper's new stage show, which now included more theatrics than ever (including an furry Cyclops which Cooper decapitates and kills).

By this time, however, alcohol was clearly affecting Cooper's performances. During the ''Welcome to My Nightmare'' tour in Vancouver, and only a few songs into the routine, Cooper tripped over a foot-light, staggered a few paces, lost his bearings, and plunged head-first off the stage and onto the concrete floor of the Pacific Coliseum. Some fans, thinking it was all part of the act, reached through the barriers to pull at his blood-matted hair before bouncers could pull him away for help. He was taken to a local hospital, where medical staff stitched his head wound and provided him with a skullcap. Cooper returned to the venue a couple of hours later and tried to perform a couple of more songs, but within minutes he had to call it a night. The opening act, Suzi Quatro, had already left the building and the remainder of the concert was canceled.

Accompanying the album and stage show was the TV special ''The Nightmare'', starring Cooper and Vincent Price, which aired on US prime-time TV in April 1975. ''The Nightmare'', the first rock music video album ever made (it was later released on home video in 1983 and gained a Grammy Awards nomination for Best Long Form Music Video), was regarded as another groundbreaking moment in rock history. Adding to all that, a concert film, also called ''Welcome to My Nightmare'' produced, directed and choreographed by the West Side Story cast member David Winters and filmed live at London's Wembley Arena in September 1975, was released to theaters in 1976. Though it failed at the box office, it later became a midnight movie favorite and a cult classic.

Such was the immense success of Cooper's solo project that he decided to continue alone as a solo artist, and the original band became officially defunct. It was also during this time that Cooper co-founded the legendary drinking club The Hollywood Vampires, which gave him yet another reason to indulge his continued ample appetite for alcohol.

Following the 1976 US #12 hit "I Never Cry", another ballad, two albums, ''Alice Cooper Goes to Hell'' and ''Lace and Whiskey'', and another ballad hit, the US #9 "You and Me", it became clear from his performances during his 1977 US tour that he was in dire need of help with his alcoholism (at his alcoholic peak it was rumored that Cooper was consuming up to two cases of Budweiser and a bottle of whiskey a day). Following the tour, Cooper had himself hospitalized in a New York sanitarium for treatment, during which time the live album ''The Alice Cooper Show'' was released. His experience in the sanitarium was the inspiration for his 1978 semi-autobiographical album ''From The Inside'', which Cooper co-wrote with Bernie Taupin. The release spawned another US Top 20 hit "How You Gonna See Me Now", which peaked at #12, and was yet another ballad, based on his fear of how his wife would react to him after his spell in hospital.

The subsequent tour's stage show was based inside an asylum, and was filmed for Cooper's first home video release, ''The Strange Case of Alice Cooper'', in 1979. Around this time, Cooper performed "Welcome To My Nightmare", "You and Me", and "School's Out" on ''The Muppet Show'' (episode # 307) on March 28, 1978 (he played one of the devil's henchmen trying to dupe Kermit the Frog and Gonzo into selling their souls). He also appeared in an against-type casting in the campy role of a piano playing, disco bellboy in Mae West's final film, ''Sextette''. Cooper also led celebrities in raising money to remodel the famous Hollywood Sign in California. Cooper himself contributed over $27,000 to the project, buying an O in the sign in memory of friend and comedian Groucho Marx.

1980s

Cooper's albums from the beginning of the 80s, ''Flush the Fashion'', ''Special Forces'', ''Zipper Catches Skin'', and ''DaDa'', were not as commercially successful as his past releases, and Cooper has claimed that, suffering from acute alcoholic amnesia, he has no recollection of recording the latter two of these albums. ''Flush the Fashion'', produced by Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker, had a thick, edgy New Wave musical sound that baffled even long-time fans, though it still yielded the US Top 40 hit "(We're All) Clones". The album ''Special Forces'' featured a more aggressive but consistent form of New Wave style, and included a new version of "Generation Landslide". The following album, ''Zipper Catches Skin'' was a more power pop-oriented recording, with lots of quirky high-energy guitar-driven songs. While those three albums engaged the experimental New Wave sound with energetic results, 1983 marked the return collaboration of producer Bob Ezrin and guitarist Dick Wagner with the haunting epic ''DaDa'', the final album in his Warner Bros. contract.

In 1983 after the recording of ''DaDa'', Cooper was re-hospitalized for alcoholism. In a deathly state of health he moved back to Phoenix to save his marriage from collapse, and so that he could receive the support of family and friends. Cooper was finally clean and sober by the time ''DaDa'' and ''The Nightmare'' home video (of his 1975 TV Special) were released in the fall of that year; however, both releases performed below expectations. Even with ''The Nightmare'' scoring a nomination for 1984's Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video (he lost to Duran Duran), it was not enough for Warner Bros. to keep Cooper on their books, so in 1984 Cooper became a "free agent" for the first time in his career.

After over a year on hiatus, during which time he spent being a full-time father, perfecting his golf swing every day on the golf course, and finding time to star in the Spanish B-grade horror movie production ''Monster Dog'', Cooper sought to pick up the pieces of his musical career. In 1985 he met and began writing songs with guitarist Kane Roberts. Cooper was subsequently signed to MCA Records, and appeared as guest vocalist on Twisted Sister's song "Be Chrool To Your Scuel". A video was made for the song, featuring Cooper donning his black snake-eyes make-up for the first time since 1979. But any publicity it may have generated toward Cooper's return to the music scene was cut short as the video was promptly banned because of its graphically gory make-up (by Tom Savini), and because of the innumerable zombies in the video and their insatiable appetite for gorging on human flesh.

In 1986 Alice Cooper officially returned to the music industry with the album ''Constrictor''. The album spawned the hits "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" (the theme song for the movie ''Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives''; in the video of the song Cooper was given a cameo role as a deranged psychiatrist) and the fan favorite "Teenage Frankenstein". The Constrictor album was a catalyst for Cooper to make (for the first time since the 1982 ''Special Forces'' tour) a triumphant return to the road, on a tour appropriately entitled ''The Nightmare Returns''. The Detroit leg of this tour, which took place at the end of October 1986 during Halloween, was captured on film as ''The Nightmare Returns'', and is viewed by some as being the definitive Alice Cooper concert film. The concert, which received rave reviews in the rock music press, was also described as bringing "Cooper’s violent, twisted onstage fantasies to a new generation". The ''Constrictor'' album was followed by ''Raise Your Fist and Yell'' in 1987, which had an even rougher sound than its predecessor, as well as the Cooper classic "Freedom". The subsequent tour of ''Raise Your Fist and Yell'', which was heavily inspired by the slasher horror movies of the time such as the Friday the 13th series and Nightmare on Elm Street, served up a shocking spectacle similar to its predecessor, and courted the kind of controversy, especially in Europe, that recalled the public outrage caused by Cooper's public performances in America in the early 1970s.

In Britain Labour M.P. David Blunkett called for the show to be banned, saying "I'm horrified by his behaviour — it goes beyond the bounds of entertainment". The controversy spilled over into the German segment of the tour, with the German government actually succeeding in having some of the gorier segments of the performance removed. It was also during the London leg of the tour that Cooper met with a near fatal accident during the hanging execution sequence at the end of the show. Needless to say the attendant publicity served only to increase public interest and ensure that the tour was completely sold out.

''Constrictor'' and ''Raise Your Fist and Yell'' were recorded with lead guitarist Kane Roberts and bassist Kip Winger, both of whom would leave the band by the end of 1988 (although Kane Roberts played guitar on "Bed Of Nails" on 1989's album Trash). Roberts would continue as a solo artist while Kip Winger would go on to form Winger.

In 1987 Cooper made a brief appearance as a vagrant in the horror movie ''Prince of Darkness'', directed by John Carpenter. His role had no lines and consisted of generally menacing the protagonists before eventually impaling one of them with a bicycle frame. Cooper also appeared at ''WrestleMania III'', escorting wrestler Jake 'The Snake' Roberts to the ring. After the match was over, Cooper got involved and threw Jake's snake Damien at The Honky Tonk Man's manager Jimmy Hart. Jake considered the involvement of Cooper to be an honor, as he had idolized Cooper in his youth and was still a huge fan.

In 1988 Cooper's contract with MCA Records expired and he signed with Epic Records. Then in 1989 his career finally experienced a real revival with the Desmond Child produced album ''Trash'', which spawned a hit single "Poison", which reached #2 in the UK and #7 in the US, and a worldwide arena tour.

1990s

1991 saw the release of Cooper's 19th studio album, ''Hey Stoopid'', again featuring several of rock music’s glitterati guesting on the record. Released as glam metal's popularity was on the wane, and just before the explosion of grunge, it failed to have the same commercial impact as its predecessor. The same year also saw the release of the video ''Alice Cooper: Prime Cuts'' which chronicled his entire career using in depth interviews with Cooper himself, Bob Ezrin, and Shep Gordon. One critic has noted that ''Prime Cuts'' demonstrates how Cooper had used (in contrast to similar artists who succeeded him) themes of satire and moralisation to such good effect throughout his career. It was in the ''Prime Cuts'' video that Bob Ezrin delivered his own summation of the Alice Cooper persona: "He is the psycho killer in all of us. He's the axe murderer, he's the spoiled child, he's the abuser, he's the abused; he's the perpetrator, he's the victim, he's the gun slinger, and he's the guy lying dead in the middle of the street".

By the early 1990s Cooper had become a genuine cultural icon, guesting on records by the most successful bands of the time, such as the Guns N' Roses album ''Use Your Illusion I'', (on which he shared vocal duties with Axl Rose on the track "The Garden"); making a brief appearance as the abusive stepfather of Freddy Krueger in the ''Nightmare On Elm Street'' film ''Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare'' (1991); and making a famous cameo appearance in the 1992 comedy film ''Wayne's World'', in which he and his band intellectually discuss (after a performance of the song "Feed My Frankenstein" from ''Hey Stoopid'') the history of Milwaukee in surprising depth. In a now famous scene, the movie's main characters Wayne and Garth, upon seeing Cooper, kneel and bow reverently before him while chanting "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" He later made an appearance on an episode of ''That 70s Show'', at the end of which he and two other (minor) guest characters parody ''Dungeons & Dragons''.

In 1994 Cooper released ''The Last Temptation'', his first concept album since ''DaDa''. The album deals with issues of faith, temptation, alienation, and the frustrations of modern life, and has been described as "a young man's struggle to see the truth through the distractions of the 'Sideshow' of the modern world". Concurrent with the release of ''The Last Temptation'' was a three-part comic book series written by Neil Gaiman, fleshing out the album's story. This was to be Cooper’s last album with Epic Records, and his last studio release for six years, though during this period the live album ''A Fistful of Alice'' was released, and in 1997 he lent his voice to the first track of Insane Clown Posse's ''The Great Milenko''. In 1999, the four-disc box set ''The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper'' appeared, which contained an authorized biography of Cooper, ''Alcohol and Razor Blades, Poison and Needles: The Glorious Wretched Excess of Alice Cooper, All-American'', written by ''Creem'' magazine editor Jeffrey Morgan.

During his absence from the recording studio, Cooper toured extensively every year throughout the latter part of the 1990s, including, in 1996, South America, which he had not visited since 1974. Also in 1996, Cooper sang the role of Herod on the London cast recording of the musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar''.

2000s

The first decade of the 21st century saw a sustained period of activity from Alice Cooper. In the decade that he turned sixty, he toured extensively and released (after a significant break) a steady stream of studio albums to favorable critical acclaim. During this period Cooper was also recognized and awarded in various ways: he received a Rock Immortal award at the 2007 Scream Awards; was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003; he received (in May 2004) an honorary doctoral degree from Grand Canyon University; was given (in May 2006) the key to the city of Alice, North Dakota; he scooped the living legend award at the 2006 Classic Rock Roll of Honour event; he won the 2007 Mojo music magazine Hero Award; and fans twice tried to induct him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The lengthy break between studio albums ended in 2000 with ''Brutal Planet'', which was a return to horror-lined heavy metal, with industrial rock, and with subject matter thematically inspired by the brutality of the modern world, set in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future, and also inspired by a number of news stories that had recently appeared on the CNN news channel. The album was produced by Bob Marlett, with longtime Cooper production collaborator Bob Ezrin returning as Executive Producer. The accompanying world tour, which included Cooper's first concert in Russia, was a resounding success, introducing Alice Cooper to a new audience and producing the live home video, ''Brutally Live'', in 2001. During one memorable episode in ''Brutally Live'', Britney Spears (being played by Alice Cooper's real life daughter, Calico), and representing "everything that my audience hates — the softening of rock and roll...the sweetness of it" is executed by Cooper.

Brutal Planet was succeeded by the sonically similar and widely acclaimed sequel ''Dragontown'', which saw Bob Ezrin back at the helm as producer. The album has been described as leading the listener down "a nightmarish path into the mind of rock's original conceptual storyteller" and by Cooper himself as being "the worst town on Brutal Planet". Like ''The Last Temptation'', both ''Brutal Planet'' and ''Dragontown'' are albums which explore Cooper's personal faith perspective (born again Christianity). It is often cited in the music media that ''Dragontown'' forms the third chapter in a trilogy begun with ''The Last Temptation''; however, Cooper has himself indicated that this in fact is not the case.

Cooper again adopted a leaner, cleaner sound for his critically acclaimed 2003 release ''The Eyes Of Alice Cooper''. Recognizing that many contemporary bands were having great success with his former sounds and styles, Cooper worked with a somewhat younger group of road and studio musicians who were very familiar with his oeuvre of old. However, instead of rehashing the old sounds, they updated them, often with surprisingly effective results. The resulting ''Bare Bones'' tour adopted a less-orchestrated performance style that had fewer theatrical flourishes and a greater emphasis on musicality. The success of this tour helped support the growing recognition that the classic Cooper songs were exceptionally clever, tuneful and unique.

Cooper's radio show, ''Nights with Alice Cooper'', began airing on January 26, 2004 in several US cities. The program showcases classic rock, Cooper's personal stories about his life as a rock icon, and interviews with prominent rock artists. The show is broadcast on nearly 100 stations in the US and Canada, and has also been broadcast all over the world. In 2005, Alice Cooper was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

A continuation of the songwriting approach adopted on ''The Eyes of Alice Cooper'' was again adopted by Cooper for his 24th studio album, ''Dirty Diamonds'', released in 2005. ''Dirty Diamonds'' became Cooper's highest charting album since 1994's ''The Last Temptation''. The Dirty Diamonds tour launched in America in August 2005 after several European concerts, including a performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on July 12. Cooper and his band, including Kiss drummer Eric Singer, were filmed for a DVD released as ''Alice Cooper: Live at Montreux 2005''. One critic, in a review of the Montreux release, commented that Cooper was to be applauded for "still mining pretty much the same territory of teenage angst and rebellion" as he had done more than thirty years previously.

In December 2006 the original Alice Cooper band reunited to perform six classic Alice Cooper songs at Cooper's annual charity event in Phoenix, entitled "Christmas Pudding".

On July 1, 2007, Cooper performed a duet with Marilyn Manson at the B'Estival event in Bucharest, Romania. The performance represented a reconciliation between the two artists; Cooper had previously taken issue with Manson over his overtly anti-Christian onstage antics, which included tearing up Bibles, and he had sarcastically made reference to the originality of Manson's choosing a female name and dressing in women's clothing. Cooper and Manson have been the subject of an academic paper on the significance of adolescent antiheroes.

In January 2008 he was one of the guest singers on the new ''Avantasia'' album ''The Scarecrow'', singing the 7th track, ''The Toy Master''. In July 2008, after lengthy delays, Cooper released ''Along Came a Spider'', his 25th studio album. It was Cooper's highest charting album since 1991's ''Hey Stoopid'', reaching #53 in the US and #31 in the UK. The album, visiting similar territory explored in 1987's ''Raise Your Fist and Yell'', deals with the nefarious antics of a deranged serial killer named "Spider" who is on a quest to use the limbs of his victims to create a human spider. The album generally received positive reviews from music critics, though Rolling Stone magazine opined that the music on the record sorely missed Bob Ezrin's production values. The resulting ''Theatre of Death'' tour of the album (during which Cooper is executed on four separate occasions) was described in a long November 2009 article about Cooper in ''The Times'' as "epic" and featuring "enough fake blood to remake Saving Private Ryan".

2010s

On January 22, 2010, it was announced that Alice would be touring with Rob Zombie on the "Gruesome Twosome" tour.

On March 29, 2010, Cooper revealed during his weekly radio show on ''Planet Rock'' that his next record is to be titled ''The Night Shift''. Cooper stated he has 10 demos ready.

On May 26, 2010, Cooper made an appearance during the beginning of the season finale of the reality-show, American Idol, in which he sang "School's Out".

On June 20, 2010, Cooper joined Slash on stage in Paris to perform the song "School's Out". On June 15, 2010 to coincide with the release of the "Alice Cooper Track Pack" for Guitar Hero, a free download of the newly-recorded "Elected" was made available on Alice Cooper's official website. He scored alongside his daughter and band member Dick Wagner the score for the Indie horror flick Silas Gore.

During 2010 Cooper began working on a new album, dubbed ''Welcome 2 My Nightmare'', a sequel to the original ''Welcome to My Nightmare''. In a Radio Metal interview, he said that "[w]e'll put some of the original people on it and add some new people[...]I'm very happy with working with Bob (Ezrin) again."

During a press conference in France Cooper said about ''Welcome to My Nightmare II'': "this album is more bloody and more accomplished than the first. It sounds like the early years." By October 2010, Alice and Bob Ezrin had come up with 13 songs, including the ballads "I Am Made of You" and "Something to Remember Me By." In addition, Cooper cut three new songs with original band members Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and Michael Bruce.

On December 15, 2010, it was announced Cooper and his former band would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The official Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place March 14, 2011, where Cooper was inducted by fellow horror-rocker Rob Zombie. He showed up for the event wearing a (presumably fake) blood-splattered shirt and had a live giant albino boa snake wrapped around his neck. Cooper told ''Rolling Stone'' magazine that he was "elated" by the news and that the nomination had been made for the original band, as "We all did go to the same high school together, and we were all on the track team, and it was pretty cool that guys that knew each other before the band ended up going that far".

On March 10, 2011 Jackson Browne, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Alice Cooper, Jennifer Warnes, and others performed at a benefit concert in Tucson, Arizona benefiting The Fund For Civility, Respect, and Understanding, a foundation that raise awareness about and provides medical prevention and treatment services to people with mental disorders. The concert also benefited the injured and the families of victims of the January 8, 2011 shootings in Tucson, AZ. On March 19, 2011, Alice appeared on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno, and on June 26, 2011, he took his place in the Reasonably Priced Car at the BBC auto show Top Gear. He also announced on the BBC One chat show, Lee Mack's All Star Cast, that he would be shooting a small cameo in Tim Burton's upcoming film version of Dark Shadows.

On July 2 he joined the Foo Fighters on the first of their two nights at the Milton Keynes Bowl to perform "Schools Out" and "I'm 18".

Influences and fans

During an interview for the program ''Entertainment USA'' in 1986 Cooper stunned interviewer Jonathan King by stating that The Yardbirds were his favorite band of all time. Perhaps King should not have been so taken aback, as Cooper had as far back as 1969 gone on record as saying that it was music from the mid-sixties, and particularly from British bands The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones, as well as The Yardbirds, that had the greatest influence on him. Cooper would later pay homage to The Who by singing "I'm A Boy" for ''A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who'' in 1994 at Carnegie Hall in New York, and performing a cover of "My Generation" on the ''Brutal Planet'' tour of 2000.

During an interview Cooper himself conducted with Ozzy Osbourne on his radio show, ''Nights with Alice Cooper'' in 2007, Cooper again affirmed his debt of gratitude to these bands, and to The Beatles in particular. During their discussion, Cooper and Osbourne bemoaned the often inferior quality of songwriting coming from contemporary rock artists. Cooper stated that in his opinion the cause of the problem was that certain modern bands "had forgotten to listen to The Beatles".

On the 25th Anniversary DVD of ''Cabaret'', Liza Minnelli stated that her good friend, Alice Cooper, had told her that his whole career was based on the movie ''Cabaret''.

Evidence of Cooper's eclectic tastes in both classic and contemporary rock music, from the 1960s to the present, can be seen in the track listings of his radio show; in addition, when he appeared on the BBC Radio 2 program ''Tracks of My Years'' in September 2007, he listed his favourite tracks of all time as being: "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966) by The Rolling Stones; "Turning Japanese" (1980) by The Vapors; "My Sharona" (1979) by The Knack; "Beds Are Burning" (1987) by Midnight Oil; "My Generation" (1965) by The Who; "Welcome To The Jungle" (1987) by Guns N' Roses; "Rebel Rebel" (1974) by David Bowie; "Over Under Sideways Down" (1966) by The Yardbirds; "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" (2003) by Jet; and "A Hard Day's Night" (1964) by The Beatles, and when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2010 he chose the songs "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" by The Yardbirds; "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys; "I'm a Boy" by The Who; Timer by Laura Nyro; "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson; "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction; "Work Song" by The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and "Ballad of a Thin Man" by Bob Dylan.

Rob Zombie, former frontman of White Zombie, claims his first "metal moment" was seeing Alice Cooper on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

In a 1978 interview with ''Rolling Stone'', Bob Dylan stated, "I think Alice Cooper is an overlooked songwriter".

In the foreword to Alice Cooper's CD retrospective box set ''The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper'', John Lydon of The Sex Pistols pronounced ''Killer'' as the greatest rock album of all time, and in 2002 Lydon presented his own tribute program to Cooper on BBC radio. Lydon told the BBC that "I know the words to every Alice Cooper song. The fact is, if you can call what I have a musical career, it all started with me miming to I'm Eighteen on a jukebox".

The Flaming Lips are longtime Alice Cooper fans and used the bass line from "Levity Ball" (an early song from the 1969 release ''Pretties for You'') for their song "The Ceiling Is Bending". They also covered "Sun Arise" for an Alice Cooper tribute album. (Cooper's version, which closes the album ''Love It To Death'', was itself a cover of a Rolf Harris song.)

In 1999 Cleopatra Records released ''Humanary Stew: A Tribute to Alice Cooper'' featuring a number of contributions from rock and metal all-star collaborations, including Dave Mustaine, Roger Daltrey, Ronnie James Dio, Slash, Bruce Dickinson, and Steve Jones. The album was notable for the fact that it was possible to assemble a different supergroup for each cover version on the record, which gave an indication of the depth of esteem in which Cooper is held by other eminent musicians within the music industry.

A song by alternative rock group They Might Be Giants from their 1994 album ''John Henry'' entitled "Why Must I Be Sad?" mentions 13 Cooper songs, and has been described as being "from the perspective of a kid who hears all of his unspoken sadness given voice in the music of Alice Cooper; Alice says everything the kid has been wishing he could say about his alienated, frustrated, teenage world".

Such unlikely non-musician fans of Cooper included Groucho Marx and Mae West, who both reportedly saw the early shows as a form of vaudeville revue, and artist Salvador Dalí, who on attending a show in 1973 described it as being surreal, and made a hologram, ''First Cylindric Chromo-Hologram Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain''.

Personal life

Cooper, a huge fan of ''The Simpsons'', was asked to contribute a storyline for the September 2004 edition of Bongo Comics's ''Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror'', a special ''Monsters of Rock'' issue that also included stories plotted by Gene Simmons, Rob Zombie and Pat Boone. Cooper's story featured Homer Simpson being a Jason Voorhees, Friday the 13th style killer and Alice and the citizens of Springfield are being stalked by Homer.

On June 20, 2005, ahead of his June–July 2005 tour, Cooper had a wide-ranging interview with interviewer of celebrities Andrew Denton for the Australian ABC Television's ''Enough Rope''. Cooper discussed various issues during a revealing and frank talk, including the horrors of acute alcoholism and his subsequent cure, being a Christian, and his social and work relationship with his family. During the interview, Cooper remarked "I look at Mick Jagger and he's on an 18-month tour and he's six [sic] years older than me, so I figure, when he retires, I have six more years. I will not let him beat me when it comes to longevity."

The actual ownership of the Alice Cooper name is often cited by intellectual property lawyers and law professors as an example of the value of a single copyright or trademark. Since "Alice Cooper" was originally the name of the band, and not the lead singer (e.g. Uriah Heep, Jethro Tull, Amy Meredith, etc.), and it was actually owned by the band as whole, Cooper paid, and continues to pay, a yearly royalty to his original bandmates for the right to use the name commercially. Although the exact amount is not known, insiders agree that it is large enough for the surviving band members to live comfortably.

Relationships and family

In the period when the Alice Cooper group was signed to Frank Zappa's Straight label, Miss Christine of the GTOs became Cooper's girlfriend. Miss Christine (real name: Christine Frka), who had actually recommended Zappa to the group, died on November 5, 1972 of an overdose.

Another long-time girlfriend of Cooper's was Cindy Lang, with whom he lived for several years. They separated in 1975. Lang sued Cooper for palimony, and they eventually settled out of court in the early 1980s.

After his separation from Lang, Cooper was briefly linked with actress Raquel Welch. Cooper then reportedly left Welch, however, to marry, on March 20, 1976, ballerina instructor/choreographer Sheryl Goddard, who performed in the Alice Cooper show from 1975 to 1982. In November 1983, at the height of Cooper's alcoholism, Sheryl filed for divorce, but by mid-1984, she and Cooper had reconciled. The couple has remained together since. In a 2002 television interview, Cooper claimed that he had "never cheated" on his wife in all the time they had been together. In the same interview, he also claimed that the secret to a lasting and successful relationship is to continue going out on dates with your partner. The couple have three children: elder daughter Calico Cooper (born 1981), an actress and singer who has been performing in the Alice Cooper show since 2000; son Dash (b. 1985), a student at Arizona State University, and also plays in a band called Runaway Phoenix; and younger daughter Sonora Rose (b. 1993).

Drug recovery

In 1986, Megadeth was asked to open for Cooper for dates on his US tour. After noticing the hardcore abuse of alcohol and other drugs in the band, Cooper personally approached the band members to try to help them control their abuse, and he has stayed close to front man Dave Mustaine ever since; Mustaine in fact considers him his godfather. Since conquering his own addiction to alcohol in the mid 1980s, Cooper has continued to help and counsel other rock musicians battling addiction problems who turn to him for help. "I've made myself very available to friends of mine - they're people who would call me late at night and say, 'Between you and me, I've got a problem.'" In recognition of the work he has done in helping other addicts in the recovery process, Cooper received in 2008 the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award at the fourth annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert in Los Angeles.

Religion and politics

Although he originally tended to shy away from speaking publicly about his religious beliefs, Cooper has in recent years been quite vocal about his faith as a born-again Christian. He has avoided so called "celebrity Christianity" because, as Cooper states himself: "It's really easy to focus on Alice Cooper and not on Christ. I'm a rock singer. I'm nothing more than that. I'm not a philosopher. I consider myself low on the totem pole of knowledgeable Christians. So, don't look for answers from me".

When asked by the British ''Sunday Times'' newspaper in 2001 how a shock-rocker could be a Christian, Cooper responded "Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's real rebellion!"

Throughout his career, Cooper's philosophy regarding politics is that politics should not be mixed with rock music. He has usually kept his political views to himself, and in 2010 said "I am extremely non-political. I go out of my way to be non-political. I'm probably the biggest moderate you know. When John Lennon and Harry Nilsson used to argue politics, I was sitting right in the middle of them, and I was the guy who was going 'I don't care.' When my parents would start talking politics, I would go in my room and put on The Rolling Stones or The Who on as long as I could to avoid politics. And I still feel that way". On occasion he has spoken out against musicians who promote or opine on politics, for example in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election, he told the Canadian Press that the then crop of rock stars campaigning for and touring on behalf of Democratic candidate John Kerry were committing "treason against rock n' roll". He also added that upon seeing the list of musicians who supported Kerry, "if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush."

Love of golf

Cooper has on several occasions credited golf as having played a major role in helping him to overcome his addiction to alcohol, and has even gone as far to say that when he took up golf, it was a case of replacing one addiction with another. The importance that the game has had in his life is also reflected in the title to his 2007 autobiography, ''Alice Cooper, Golf Monster''. Cooper, who has participated in a number of Pro-Am competitions, plays the game six days a week, off a handicap of two. Since 1997, he has hosted an annual golf competition, the ''Alice Cooper Celebrity AM Golf Tournament'', all proceeds from which go to his charity, the Solid Rock Foundation. In 2005, while playing with manager Shep Gordon on The Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Cooper recorded an impressive round of two-over par 74 on the world-class course. Cooper has also appeared in commercials for Callaway Golf equipment, was a guest of veteran British player and broadcaster Peter Alliss on ''A Golfer's Travels''. He wrote the foreword to the Gary McCord book "Ryder Cup" and participated in the second All*Star Cup in South Wales. In an interview with VH1, friend and fellow golfer Pat Boone said that Cooper was "'this close' to being a pro".

Discography

:''See: Alice Cooper discography''

Awards and Nominations

Grammy Awards

!Year	!Nominated work	!Award	!Result
align=center	Alice Cooper: The Nightmare
align=center	Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)

Filmography

:''See: Alice Cooper filmography''

List of Alice Cooper band personnel

;Current

Alice Cooper – vocals, guitar, harmonica (1963–present)

Steve Hunter – guitar (1975–79; 2011–present)

Tommy Henriksen – guitar (2011–present)

Orianthi Panagaris – guitar, vocals (2011–present)

Chuck Garric – bass guitar, vocals (2002–present)

Glen Sobel – drums, percussion (2011–present)

;Past

Bibliography

References

External links

Download music (promotional use only)

Official ''Nights with Alice Cooper'' website

Alice Cooper Artist Page @ VH1.com

Alice Cooper at Allmusic.com

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:People from Allen Park, Michigan * Category:American heavy metal singers Category:American actors Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of French descent Category:Actors from Michigan Category:American Christians Category:American musicians of English descent Category:American musicians of French descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American heavy metal musicians Category:American DJs Category:American rock musicians Category:American rock singers Alice Cooper Category:Musicians from Arizona Category:Bands with fictional stage personas Category:Musicians from Detroit, Michigan Category:People from Phoenix, Arizona Category:People from Paradise Valley, Arizona Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees

bg:Алис Купър ca:Alice Cooper cs:Alice Cooper da:Alice Cooper de:Alice Cooper et:Alice Cooper eml:Alice Cooper es:Alice Cooper fa:آلیس کوپر fr:Alice Cooper gl:Alice Cooper hr:Alice Cooper io:Alice Cooper it:Alice Cooper he:אליס קופר la:Alice Cooper lt:Alice Cooper hu:Alice Cooper mk:Елис Купер nl:Alice Cooper ja:アリス・クーパー ka:ელის კუპერი no:Alice Cooper oc:Alice Cooper uz:Alice Cooper pl:Alice Cooper pt:Alice Cooper ro:Alice Cooper ru:Элис Купер scn:Alice Cooper simple:Alice Cooper sk:Alice Cooper sl:Alice Cooper sr:Алис Купер sh:Alice Cooper fi:Alice Cooper sv:Alice Cooper th:อลิซ คูเปอร์ tr:Alice Cooper uk:Еліс Купер

name	Tarja Turunen
alt	Turunen has long black hair parted in the middle and is wearing a bright yellow dress.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen
born	August 17, 1977Kitee, Finland
city of residence	Buenos Aires, Argentina
instrument	Vocals, piano
genre	Symphonic rock, symphonic metal, classical, classical crossover, Lied
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1996–present
label	Universal, Spinefarm, Nuclear Blast, Roadrunner, NEMS Enterprises, Drakkar Entertainment
associated acts	Nightwish, Beto Vázquez Infinity, Noche Escandinava
website	TarjaTurunen.com }}

Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli or Tarja Turunen (), born August 17, 1977, is a Finnish singer-songwriter and composer. She is a full lyric soprano and has a vocal range of three octaves.

She is well-known as a professional classical (art song) singer but best known as the former lead vocalist of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, which she founded with Tuomas Holopainen and Erno Vuorinen in 1996. Their combination of hard and fast guitar riffs with Turunen's classical lead vocals quickly aroused the enthusiasm of critics and audiences. Their symphonic metal style, soon dubbed "opera metal", inspired many other metal bands and singers.

Turunen was dismissed from the band on October 21, 2005. She started her solo career in 2006 with the release of a Christmas album called ''Henkäys Ikuisuudesta'', which was supported by a classical tour in Finland and Russia. In 2007, Turunen released ''My Winter Storm'', an album featuring various styles, including alternative rock and symphonic metal. Her Storm World Tour supported this album. Turunen released her third album, ''What Lies Beneath'', on September 1, 2010. She performed several concerts in Europe, playing in metal festivals including the Graspop Metal Meeting and the Wacken Open Air, before starting the What Lies Beneath World Tour, scheduled to last until the end of 2012.

Early life

Tarja Turunen was born in the small village of Puhos, near Kitee, Finland. She has an older brother, Toni, and a younger brother, Timo. Her talent for music was first noted when she sang the song ''Enkeli taivaan'' (the Finnish version of ''From Heaven Above to Earth I Come'') in the Kitee church hall at age three. She joined the church choir and started having vocal lessons. At age six, she started playing piano.

At comprehensive school, Turunen performed as a singer for several projects. Her first piano teacher Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen remembered that “Tarja was in a school that had some very musical people. Even then she got to perform a lot. I think she sang in every school function there was.” Her music teacher, Plamen Dimov, later explained that “If you gave Tarja just one note, she immediately got it. With the others, you´d have to practice three, four, five times”. At school she had a tough time, since some girls bullied her because they envied her voice. To solve that problem, Dimov organized projects outside school. At fifteen, Turunen had her first major appearance as a soloist at a church concert in front of a thousand listeners. In 1993 she attended the Senior Secondary School of Art and Music in Savonlinna.

For several years Turunen preferred to perform soul music, like her biggest childhood idols, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin. Later she listened to songs from the classical singer Sarah Brightman, especially the song ''The Phantom of the Opera'', and decided to focus on that genre of music. At eighteen, she moved to Kuopio to study at the Sibelius Academy.

Musical career

With Nightwish

At Christmas break 1996 former classmate Tuomas Holopainen invited Turunen to join his new acoustic mood music project. She immediately agreed. At the recording session for the first demo Holopainen discovered that due to her classical singing lessons, Turunen's voice had become much more powerful than he recalled from their school days. At the following band practices, Emppu Vuorinen used an electric guitar instead of an acoustic guitar because he felt that it gave a better accompaniment to her voice. Holopainen decided to form Nightwish as a metal band. He later explained that the band members had gradually realised that Turunen's voice had become too dramatic for acoustic mood music. They came to the conclusion that the music had to be massive too. In this way Turunen was a major influence on the musical style of Nightwish.

In September 1997 Nightwish recorded a second demo with "more bombastic, dramatic" songs. Holopainen used this material to convince the Finnish label Spinefarm Records to publish the band's debut album, ''Angels Fall First''. The success of the first album came as a surprise to everyone. As the album hit the top 40 of the Finnish charts, Nightwish started their tour The First Tour of the Angels. That same year, Turunen performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival for the first time, singing songs from Richard Wagner and Verdi.

Due to her commitment to the band, Turunen was not able to concentrate sufficiently on her schoolwork and interrupted her academic studies. In 1998 Nightwish published their second album, ''Oceanborn''. This album lacked the earlier elements of folk and ambient music, and instead focused on fast, melodic keyboard and guitar lines and Turunen's dramatic voice. In addition to the Oceanborn Europe Tour (1999), Turunen sang solo in Waltari's rock-themed ballet ''Evankeliumi'' (also known as ''Evangelicum'') in several sold-out performances at the Finnish National Opera. In 2000 and 2001 Nightwish recorded ''Wishmaster'' and ''Over the Hills and Far Away'' and toured Europe and South America (the Wishmaster World Tour).

In 2000 Turunen enrolled at the German music university Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe to gain a professional qualification as a soloist with further specialization in art song. In addition to the good reputation of the university, Turunen chose to go to Karlsruhe because her increased profile in Finland meant that some people at the Finnish university did not take her seriously as a classical singer due to her commitment in a metal band. At Karlsruhe she was accepted as a classical singer who also sang in a metal band. In particular, her professors did not think of it as a flaw. While there, she recorded vocals for Nightwish's 2002 album ''Century Child'' and for Beto Vázquez Infinity. As with the other albums, Holopainen wrote the pieces and sent Turunen the lyrics and a demo recording of the prerecorded instrumental tracks by mail. Using the demo, Turunen designed her vocal lines and the choral passages.

In 2002 Turunen toured South America, performing in the classical Lied concert ''Noche Escandinava'' (''Scandinavian Night'') to sold-out houses. Following this and an exhausting world tour in support of ''Century Child'' (the World Tour of the Century), Nightwish took a hiatus and Turunen returned to Karlsruhe to finish her studies. In 2003 she married the Argentine Marcelo Cabuli, whom she had met on tour while staying in Buenos Aires in 2000. After the hiatus Nightwish recorded the album ''Once''; it was released on October 5, 2004. The album hit No. 1 on the European Top 100 Albums. The band performed in the supporting Once Upon a Tour throughout 2004 and 2005.

For Christmas 2004, Turunen released her first solo single, titled "Yhden Enkelin Unelma" (One Angel's Dream), which sold gold in her native country of Finland. At Christmas 2005 it made a reentry at position one in the Finnish Charts. In spring 2005 she prepared the duet "Leaving You for Me", a collaboration with Martin Kesici, accompanied by a video.

Breakup

The first change in the line up of Nightwish was in September 2001, when bassist Sami Vänskä was fired because Holopainen was no longer able to continue working with him. In the following years the relationship between Holopainen and Turunen's husband and manager Marcelo Cabuli deteriorated. This had an impact on the relationship between Holopainen and Turunen as well. In December 2004 Turunen announced to the band members that she wanted to leave the band after one more album and its subsequent tour, planned for 2006/2007. According to her husband, Turunen had agreed to release her first solo album after the new studio album from Nightwish. After the last concert of the ''Once Upon a Tour'' on October 21, 2005 (which was released on video as ''End of an Era''), Holopainen gave Turunen a letter signed by himself and the other band members informing her that the band did not want to work with her any more. The letter was simultaneously published on the band's website. The letter accused Turunen of having skipped too many rehearsals and of having behaved like a diva, and claimed her husband was partly responsible for her behavior. Turunen responded through an open letter on her website and through some interviews in which she explained her view. She was upset that after nine years of working together, Holopainen had announced the separation via an open letter. She felt the allegations were untrue, and asked that her husband be kept out of the debate. Because of the continuing media interest, Marcelo Cabuli posted a message addressing the situation on the website in February 2006. He asked that anyone who had questions should email him. In June 2006 Cabuli posted a lengthy reply to many of the questions he had received.

Despite the circumstances of the separation, Holopainen's appreciation of Turunen as an artist remained. He explained that he did not search for a similarly trained singer as a successor for Turunen because he considers her to be extraordinarily good in her genre and therefore irreplaceable. He said that one day he would like to reestablish the friendship. In October 2007, Turunen said in an interview that she is very proud of her career with Nightwish. She considers the remaining band members extremely talented and wishes all the best for them and their subsequent lead singer Anette Olzon.

Between 1997 and 2006 she had toured the world with Nightwish, playing in all the continents except Africa and Antarctica. She performed live for more than 500,000 people.

Independent career

In December 2005 Turunen performed several classical concerts in Finland, Germany, Spain, and Romania. Since Turunen expected to participate in another Nightwish album, several Christmas concerts and the release of her Christmas album ''Henkäys Ikuisuudesta'' (Finnish for "breath of eternity") were the only activities scheduled for 2006.

In July 2006 Turunen again played at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, this time as the main act; Turunen sang alongside Finnish tenor Raimo Sirkiä, supported by the Kuopio Symphonic Orchestra. Turunen performed classical arias like "O mio babbino caro" by Puccini, "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" by Verdi and some songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber—"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Phantom of the Opera"—among other songs. In November she performed at the charity concert “Tomorrow's Child” with the Tapiola Choir as a benefit for the UNICEF Children's Fund. On December 6, 2006, Turunen performed a big concert at the Sibelius Hall in Lahti, Finland; it was broadcast live by the Finnish channel YLE TV2 for 450,000 viewers. She was nominated for the Finnish Emma Award as Best Soloist of 2006. Also in 2006, she recorded vocals for her brother Timo Turunen's debut album.

In 2007 Turunen recorded vocals for the track "In The Picture" on the Nuclear Blast All-stars album ''Into the Light'' In spite of speculation to the contrary at the time, Turunen did not focus entirely on classical music after the separation of Nightwish. Since August 2006 she worked on her next solo album, ''My Winter Storm'', the beginning of her solo projects. It was the first time that Turunen had written songs. She was supported by some professional songwriters. The choir and orchestral arrangements were written by film music composer James Dooley.

Turunen released ''My Winter Storm'', an album featuring various styles, including symphonic metal with classical “operatic” lead vocals, in November 2007. The album took the number one spot on the Finnish charts, and went platinum in Finland and double platinum in Russia. In late 2007 Turunen was nominated for an Echo as best newcomer and an Emma for best Finnish artist.

On May 9, 2008, Turunen embarked the Storm World Tour to promote ''My Winter Storm''. She opened the tour by performing at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig and ended the tour in 2009 at the O2 Academy Islington in London. In December 2008, the EP ''The Seer'' was released in the UK and the new extended edition of ''My Winter Storm'' released on January 2, 2009.

On November 18, 2009, the Finnish charity Christmas album ''Maailman kauneimmat joululaulut'' (Finnish for "The World's Most Beautiful Christmas Songs") was released; three songs feature Turunen's vocals. In December 2009 she recorded her vocal part for the song "The Good Die Young", a duet with Klaus Meine which is included on the final Scorpions album ''Sting in the Tail''.

Turunen recorded her third album, ''What Lies Beneath'', in 2009 and 2010; it was released on September 1, 2010. The album combined metal with classical “operatic” elements in an out of the box approach. She started the What Lies Beneath World Tour performing in several festivals, including the Wacken Open Air and the Graspop Metal Meeting, with special concerts at Miskolc Opera Festival and at the Masters of Rock, when she performed accompanied by a full orchestra. The tour is scheduled to last until the end of 2012. Also in 2010 she supported Alice Cooper on the German leg of his tour.

On April 12, 2011, Turunen announced that she was planning to record a Classical album live in a church in Finland with the finnish organist Kalevi Kiviniemi. On July 17, 2011, she is scheduled to sing again at the Savonlinna Opera Festival as the main act, accompanied by the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra.

Singing style

Development

Parallel to visiting the music school in Savonlinna, Turunen began serious classical vocal training at 17. After school, she began studying music (with a specialization in church music) at the Sibelius Academy. Due to her commitment with Nightwish, she had to interrupt her academic studies.

From 2001 to 2003 she studied at the music academy Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, where she trained as a soloist with further specialization in art song. Turunen originally applied to train as a choir singer. At the audition she attracted the attention of professor Mitsuko Shirai, who encouraged Turunen to apply for soloist training.

As a classical singer, Turunen always sings with classical vocal technique. She explained that in the early days of Nightwish, it was difficult to combine classical technique with the metal sound in a way that gave her liberty of action without damaging her vocal cords. Classical techniques helped her to play with her voice, so she decided not to pursue extra training in rock/pop singing.

Towards the turn of the millennium, the combination of hard and fast guitar riffs with classical female lead vocals attracted a great deal of attention in the metal scene. The new music style of Nightwish quickly aroused the enthusiasm of critics and audiences; this symphonic metal style was soon dubbed "opera metal". Turunen does not see herself as an opera singer. She has sung excerpts from operas at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, but she stresses that singing opera cannot be performed as a side project. She would need special training to perfectly sing an entire opera without a microphone.

When asked how the association between the opera and metal genres may have arisen, Turunen said that despite the obvious differences, the two music styles have some similarities:

From the first Nightwish album ''Angels Fall First'' (1997) on, critics described Turunen's vocals using adjectives such as ''angelic'' or ''valkyrian''. On the following albums the singing was technically more complex. On the Nightwish album ''Oceanborn'' (1998), her classical vocal training was much more noticeable. For the song "Passion and the Opera", Turunen performed a staccato coloratura reminiscent of the aria "Hell's vengeance boils in my heart", sung by the soprano role Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. "Sleeping Sun" required a well trained breathing technique. Turunen explained in an interview that when they recorded ''Oceanborn'', she had serious doubts, fearing that she was not yet advanced enough in her studies to have mastered the required techniques.

A challenge of a different kind was the cover version of "Over the Hills and Far Away" (2001), as it required a deeper voice, far below the vocal range of an average soprano. In an interview with ''Breakout'' magazine, she reported that in the studio, the band members were shaken by a paroxysm of laughter as she tried to warm up for the vocal lines. As a side benefit of her efforts, Turunen gradually expanded her vocal range considerably into the lower range, which manifested even more on the following albums.

For the album ''Century Child'' (2002), she experimented with a more "rock" sounding voice, where she maintained the classical singing technique, but, for example, sang with less vibrato. Turunen was not satisifed that she had successfully transitioned to this new style until the album ''Once'' (2004).

This deeper "rock"-sounding voice on ''Once''—as well as on the song "In the Picture" of the album ''Into the Light''—was welcomed by critics as a refreshing change.

Her first solo album ''My Winter Storm'' (2007) contains rock and metal songs as well as songs that resemble classical songs. Turunen uses both her classical singing voice and a rock-sounding voice. In many songs she starts with a rock voice, and then switches for widely arching melodies into a distinctly classical singing voice.

In an interview, she explained that ''My Winter Storm'' was the first album where she had the chance to use her full vocal range.

Register

Turunen's voice type is soprano (more precisely, (full) lyric soprano). Over the course of her career, Turunen has developed a vocal range of three octaves.

Reception

Turunen's voice is described by critics as remarkably powerful and emotional. Sometimes it is stated that her voice is too trained or operatic for metal music, but even critics who do not like classical voices admit that her voice suits the kind of metal songs she sings unusually well.

Until the end of their collaboration, Turunen's singing was a trademark of Nightwish. She was known as the face and voice of Nightwish while bandleader Holopainen was the soul. Turunen was seen as a key to Nightwish's success. She is respected by other musicians of the metal genre and is an influence on their work; for instance, Simone Simons names her as her inspiration to study classical music and apply that vocal style to a metal band.

The media closely covered her very public separation from Nightwish, and Turunen's character became the subject of many media discussions. The band members stated that she had become greedy.

Marcelo Cabuli answered fans' questions related to this topic, stating that the band had agreed on the distribution of earnings in a contract at the formation of Nightwish. Based on that contract, other members got a higher share of royalties, which Turunen has never regretted.

Turunen receives most of her media attention in her homeland of Finland. In December 2003 she was invited by Finnish president Tarja Halonen to celebrate the Finnish Independence Day at the Presidential Palace together with other local celebrities. The event is televised annually live by the state-owned brodcaster, the Finnish Broadcasting Company. In December 2007 she performed different versions of the Finnish national anthem "Maamme" (Finnish: "Our country") accompanied by the Tapiola Sinfonietta, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Finnish independence. The concert was televised by the Finnish Broadcasting Company for 2 million Finnish viewers. During her solo career, Turunen has sold over 86,000 certified records in Finland, which places her among the top 50 of best-selling female soloists.

In Europe, her popularity is mainly limited to the hard rock and metal scene. She had a broader exposure on November 30, 2007, when she was invited to open the farewell fight of Regina Halmich. Her performance of "I Walk Alone" was televised live by the German television station ZDF for 8.8 million viewers.

Discography

''Henkäys Ikuisuudesta'' (2006)

''My Winter Storm'' (2007)

''What Lies Beneath'' (2010)

References

External links

Tarja's Official Website

Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kitee Category:Female heavy metal singers Category:Finnish female singers Category:Finnish heavy metal singers Category:Finnish singer-songwriters Category:Finnish sopranos Category:Women composers Category:Nightwish members

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name	Bullet for My Valentine
landscape	Yes
background	group_or_band
origin	Bridgend, Wales
genre	Heavy metal, thrash metal, metalcore
Years active	1998–present
label	Columbia, Trustkill, Gun, Sony Music, Jive
website	www.bulletformyvalentine.com
current members	Matthew Tuck Michael Paget Michael Thomas Jason James
past members	Nick Crandle

Bullet for My Valentine are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is composed of Matt Tuck (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Michael Paget (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jay James (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Michael Thomas (drums). They were formed under the name Jeff Killed John and started their music career by covering songs by Metallica and Nirvana. Jeff Killed John recorded six songs which were not released; two of these tracks were reworked later in their career as Bullet for My Valentine. Financial difficulties dictated the name change, which was followed by a change in music direction. In 2002, the band secured a five-album deal with Sony BMG. The band has stated that their music is influenced by classic heavy metal acts such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Slayer. The band is part of the Cardiff music scene.

Bullet for My Valentine's debut album, ''The Poison'', was released on October 3, 2005 in the United Kingdom and on February 14, 2006 in the United States to coincide with Valentine's Day hence their band name. The album entered the ''Billboard 200'' in the US at number 128. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The band made appearances at the Download Festival and ''Kerrang!'' XXV, and undertook a US tour with Rob Zombie. Bullet for My Valentine's second studio album, ''Scream Aim Fire'', was released on January 29, 2008 and debuted at number four on the ''Billboard 200''. The band's third album, ''Fever'', was released on April 26, 2010 and debuted at number three on the ''Billboard 200''. The band has sold over one million albums in the United States and nearly 2,500,000 albums worldwide and are the most-successful act in the ''Kerrang! Awards'' category of "Best British Band" with three wins.

History

Jeff Killed John and record deal (1998—2005)

Jeff Killed John was the forerunner band to Bullet for My Valentine and was formed in 1998 by Matthew Tuck, Michael "Padge" Paget, Nick Crandle, and Michael "Moose" Thomas while studying music at Bridgend College. Playing Nirvana and Metallica cover songs, the band released a two-track EP in 2002, ''You/Play with Me'', which was produced by Greg Haver. The EP was financed through the Pynci scheme for new Welsh musicians and the release garnered radio airplay on BBC Radio 1's broadcast at Newport's T.J.'s. Jeff Killed John's music followed the nu metal trend set by bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit. Bassist Crandle left the band on the eve of entering the recording sessions for ''You/Play with Me'' and was replaced by Jason James. The band then changed their name to Bullet for My Valentine and reworked their musical strategy; they decided to play thrash metal songs with "harmony guitars and big angelic choruses" according to frontman Tuck.

Roadrunner Records showed interest in Bullet for My Valentine and offered the band a deal. The offer was ultimately turned down, and the band signed a five-album record deal with Sony BMG and a UK licensing deal with Visible Noise. According to Tuck, they chose Sony because, "We thought that a lot more doors would be open to us." A self-titled EP was released on 15 November 2004 in the UK. Produced by Colin Richardson, it featured five tracks and marked the band's first official release. A second EP, ''Hand of Blood'', was released on 22 August 2005 through Trustkill Records and was only available in the US; the release contained one extra track than the self-titled EP, "4 Words (To Choke Upon)". Daniel Lukes of ''Decibel Magazine'' reviewed the EP by stating, "The worst part is that the music itself isn’t all that bad, for the genre." He went on to comment that the band should be "embarrassed" about the release. Zeromag's Josh Joyce complimented the band on "how technical they can get without confusing the kids".

''The Poison '' (2005—2007)

Bullet for My Valentine's debut album, ''The Poison'', was released on 3 October 2005 in the UK and on Valentine's Day, 2006 in the US. It entered the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 128, and attained number 11 on the Independent Albums chart. On 30 January 2009, the album was certified gold by the RIAA after 500,000 copies were sold in the US. Four singles were released from ''The Poison'': "4 Words (To Choke Upon)", "Suffocating Under Words of Sorrow (What Can I Do)", "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)", and "Tears Don't Fall". Bullet for My Valentine promoted the album by touring across the world. In 2005, with increased popularity, they played on the larger Download Festival Snickers stage; in 2006, the band were moved to near the top of the main stage bill. Other tours included opening for Metallica and Guns N' Roses in the summer of 2006, the Vans Warped Tour, ''Kerrang!'' tour, and Earthday Birthday. The band's performance at the Brixton Academy in London on 28 January 2006, was filmed for their first DVD, ''The Poison: Live at Brixton''. During June 2007, Tuck suffered from laryngitis, which let to an emergency tonsillectomy in July. Bullet for My Valentine were forced to cancel several shows, including supporting Metallica for three dates on their Sick of the Studio '07 tour on 29 June in Bilbao, 5 July in Vienna, and 8 July at the recently completed Wembley Stadium in London. Unable to speak, Tuck wrote that as soon as doctors cleared him he would be in the studio working on the band's next album.

''Scream Aim Fire'' (2007—2008)

Bullet for My Valentine's second studio album, ''Scream Aim Fire'', was recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios and was produced by Colin Richardson. Tuck commented at the time, "It's a lot more up tempo, a lot more aggressive". The album was released in the US on 29 January 2008. It sold 53,000 copies in its first week and peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200. Three songs were released as singles: "Scream Aim Fire", "Hearts Burst into Fire", and "Waking the Demon".

In support of the new album, the band toured North America and Australia in the spring of 2008 for the Taste of Chaos tour alongside Atreyu, Blessthefall, and Avenged Sevenfold. Bullet for My Valentine cut short the Canada portion of the tour and flew back home to support the daughter of James who was in hospital. The band performed in North America again in the summer of 2008 as part of the No Fear Tour with Bleeding Through, Cancer Bats, and Black Tide. In late 2008, the band toured Europe, supported by Lacuna Coil, Bleeding Through, and Black Tide. In December 2008, ''Scream Aim Fire'' was re-released with four bonus tracks that were recorded during the album's studio sessions, but with re-recorded vocal-lines. Bullet for My Valentine confirmed in August 2009 that they were aiming for an early 2010 release for the new album, while Tuck stated that the upcoming record is "a lot more mature-sounding, it's a lot more classic. It'll stand the test of time [more] than both the previous things we've done". In a January 2010 interview with ''Rock Sound'', Tuck stated explained details for the album; it would be titled ''Fever'' and that the 11-track record would have a sound closer to ''The Poison'' rather than ''Scream Aim Fire'' and would feature no ballads.

During the summer of 2009, Bullet for My Valentine toured across the United States as part of the Mayhem Festival, alongside Killswitch Engage, Slayer, and Marilyn Manson on the main stage; they also appeared on the UK leg of the Sonisphere tour at Knebworth, headlining the second stage. The band will be headlining the second stage at the Download Festival 2010 on the Friday night. The band has also been confirmed for Nova Rock, Metaltown, Rock am Ring, Rock on the Range, The Bamboozle, Bilbao Live Festival, Fortarock and Graspop. In addition, they will be playing alongside the Big Four on the Greek leg of Sonisphere. ''Fever'' was released on 27 April 2010. A free download of a new track called "Begging For Mercy" was released on the band's website on 14 February, 2010 as part of a Twitter promotion. The song "Your Betrayal" was chosen as the lead single for the album and was set to release on 9 March 2010, but, unexpectedly, was released earlier on 2 March 2010 as a digital single on iTunes Store. The second single is called "The Last Fight" and was released on 19 April. The album artwork for this studio album was released on the official website on 5 March 2010. Bullet for My Valentine announced the start their US tour in support of ''Fever''. It began on 30 April with the bands Airbourne and Chiodos as support. On 12 March the band released the music videos for "The Last Fight" and "Your Betrayal". The band revealed the track listing on their website on March 15, as well as other various sources that include an email to all of their subscribers on the mailing list. On 26 April the band played a secret show in London to celebrate the release of ''Fever''. This was their only UK headline show until the end of the year.

Fourth studio album (2011-present)

On 28 January 2011, Michael Paget stated that the group had already drawn proportions for the next studio album and will sound a lot like ''Fever''. He followed-along with stating that the band plans to have the songs for it written within 2011 and will begin recording the album by the end of the year. A couple tracks left from the ''Fever'' sessions might be redone, re-arranged and re-recorded for the new record. The band will play at Uproar Festival 2011, after which they intend to begin writing material for a fourth studio album. The band hopes to release the album sometime in 2012.

Musical style and influences

Bullet for My Valentine are primarily deemed as a contemporary metal band. With detailed statements, their music has been described by critics as heavy metal, metalcore and thrash metal. The band has cited being influenced by bands such as Metallica, Annihilator, Pantera, Machine Head, Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses, Testament, Stuck Mojo, Slayer, Judas Priest, and Megadeth. These bands inspire Bullet for My Valentine's "catchy vocals, aggressive riffs and melodies," according to Thomas. The band describe two of their albums, ''The Poison'' and ''Fever'', as having a "super dark" tone, Tuck went on to state that "…we're a hard rock band with metal influences, and I’ve said that from Day One.” Kirk Miller of Decibel Magazine praised the band for the effort in synchronised song structures. When asked of their views on their looks, members of the band have stated that they would not change their sound or image for a commercial approach; Tuck commented that, "Without sounding harsh, we're more interested in what our music sounds like than what our fucking hair looks like."

Band members

;Current members

Michael Paget – lead guitar, backing vocals (1998–present)

Michael Thomas – drums (1998–present)

Matthew Tuck – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1998–present)

Jason James – bass guitar, backing vocals (2003–present)

;Former members

Nick Crandle – bass guitar (1998–2003)

Discography

;Studio albums

''The Poison'' (2005)

''Scream Aim Fire'' (2008)

''Fever'' (2010)

Awards and achievements

Welsh Music Award

Best Newcomer (2004)

Metal Hammer Golden God Award

Best British Band (2006, 2010)

Kerrang! Awards

Best UK Single for "Tears Don't Fall" (2006)

Best British Newcomer (2005)

Best British Band (2008, 2009, 2010)

Headlined ''Kerrang!'''s 25 year anniversary tour of the UK

Best Live Band (2010)

References

External links

Official website

Category:Welsh heavy metal musical groups Category:British metalcore musical groups Category:British thrash metal musical groups Category:Musical groups established in 1998 Category:Musical quartets Category:Jive Records artists Category:Kerrang! Awards winners Category:People from Bridgend

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