Legendary rock star Alice Cooper, born Vincent Damon Furnier, recently sat down with Harvest Christian Fellowship Pastor Greg Laurie and shared how God saved his life in the midst of utter darkness.
The 76-year-old is known as “The Godfather of Shock Rock,” a genre of music that takes rock or heavy metal music and combines it with theatrical live performances. Musicians and bands like Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Twisted Sister, and Kiss all credit, in some way, Cooper for how they perform.
Cooper and his band released their first album in the late 1960s. Since then, Cooper has won multiple rock music awards, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and has been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The “School’s Out” rocker grew up in a Christian home, frequenting the inside of the church every Wednesday night, Friday night, and all day Sunday. Cooper told Laurie that all his friends were Christians, and it wasn’t until his band started to take off that he began to stray from those Christian influences and began to rely heavily on drugs and alcohol.
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Despite his alcoholism, which nearly ruined his life and marriage in the 1980s, Cooper has remained married to his wife Sheryl Goddard and often credits her for her faith. He said that his wife, who plays a character during his live shows, is “like a walking Bible.” Goddard filed for divorce in 1984, but the two reconciled shortly after Cooper stopped drinking and got help through a Christian recovery program.
The couple have three children, all of whom are Christians, Cooper said.
“I think God used my alcoholism and my drug addiction,” Cooper told Laurie. The rock star said that God let him go through these struggles so he could use them for God’s glory later. “I sit here and I go, I have no idea why you let me live, except for this fact that I can talk about it now, and I can give him all the credit,” Cooper said.
One of the ways God is using Cooper is through his Solid Rock Teen Centers. Cooper founded the faith-based nonprofit organization, whose “primary mission is to make an everlasting difference in the lives of teens.”
When Laurie asked Cooper who Jesus Christ was to him, Cooper responded, “He’s the core of everything.”
“He’s life itself. He’s the light,” he continued. “If we don’t all revolve around Christ, we’re way out in space somewhere.”
