Michael Owen Bruce
| Michael Bruce | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Owen Bruce |
| Born | March 16, 1948 |
| Genres | Rock, pop, folk, shock rock, hard rock, heavy metal |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer/songwriter |
| Instruments | Piano, guitar, keyboards |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Labels | Warner Bros., Polydor, ERT, One Way Records, New Millenium Communications Ltd./Burning Airlines |
| Associated acts |
Alice Cooper Billion Dollar Babies Ant-Bee |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gibson SG | |
Michael Owen Bruce (born March 16, 1948) is an American rock musician, best known as a member of Alice Cooper.
Michael Owen Bruce was born to Alvin and Ruth (Owen) Bruce. The Bruce and Owen families had moved to Arizona from Kansas. The family ancestry includes Cherokee, Scottish, Irish, English and Norman French. Ruth's father, Clarence Glenn Owen, was a veteran of World War I and also a professional baseball player: "Blacky" Owen. "Al" was in the military during the 1940s and, Ruth played piano on the radio and performed for many U.S.O. functions. After the military, "Al" worked for The Coca-Cola Company. Michael and his brothers, David and Paul, attended North High School in Phoenix, Arizona.
Bruce began his professional music career in the mid-1960s. Like so many young people of that time, he found a fiery inspiration in The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. After playing with The Trolls, Michael became part of Mick Mashbirs (who later played on Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle Of Love and also went to Camelback High,the same high school as Neal Smith) band The Wildflowers and started taking lessons.4 songs were recorded by this group ("A Man Like Myself", "One A Day Like Today", "More Than Me" and "Moving Along with the Sun").Mick had a place in the desert where they rehearsed but it was also a party place and the alice cooper gang would hang out and party. According to Bruce, the masters were bought from a man in Phoenix by Bear Family Records (A Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues). There was another short lived group that Michael was a part of called Our Gang (Our Gang also featured North High School friend and member of The Tubes, Bill Spooner). They made no known recordings. In 1966, he replaced John Tatum in a Phoenix band called The Spiders; featuring Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, John Speer (replaced by Neal Smith), and Vince Furnier; all from area high schools. One of their top venues was the VIP Club in Phoenix. In 1967 they changed the band's name to The Nazz but had to change it again in 1968 after a legal-issue over Todd Rungren's band, Nazz. The band's new name was Alice Cooper.
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