Alice Cooper to open 3rd teen center in metro Phoenix. Here's where and when

Alice Cooper's Solid Rock Teen Centers will open a third metro Phoenix location in 2024.

The teen centers are expanding into Goodyear, bringing free music, dance and arts programs to youths ages 12 to 20 in the former library on Van Buren Street just west of Litchfield Road.

The original Solid Rock Teen Center opened in 2012 on the southeastern corner of Thunderbird Road and 32nd Street in Phoenix, built in partnership with Genesis Church and Cooper's Solid Rock Foundation after more than a decade of fundraising. Additional funding comes from donations and grants.

The legendary rocker and his wife, Sheryl Cooper, worked with Mesa Public Schools to expand the concept into a second location, a 12,000-square-foot former elementary school at 122 N. Country Club Drive in downtown Mesa. That location opened in 2021.

Solid Rock Teen Centers offer after-school training in music, dance, photography and art as well as vocational training in sound/recording, staging/lighting, video production and more.

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Alice and Sheryl Cooper look forward to joining teens in Goodyear

In a press release announcing their expansion into Goodyear, Alice Cooper said, “With the support of the local community, more teens will have a safe space to spend their time, and they can also pursue their dreams with free high-quality music, art and dance lessons. Sheryl and I look forward to joining teens in the recording studio, being on stage with teens and in the dance studio at the Goodyear teen center.”

In that same press release, Goodyear Mayor Joe Pizzillo said, “I am thrilled to have Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center join the Goodyear community. It’s so unique and something that’s really needed in our city to give teens a safe, fun place to learn and express themselves through the arts.”

Cooper recently announced the 2023 Christmas Pudding lineup

Cooper recently announced the lineup for his annual Christmas Pudding concert to benefit the Solid Rock Teen Centers. The yuletide tradition returns to the rotating stage of the historic Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix on Saturday, Dec. 9, with Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson, Sammy Hagar and Quiet Riot joining the man of the hour.

Cooper also has a show on Sunday, Sept. 24, at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre in Phoenix as part of the Freaks on Parade Tour with a Ghost of Christmas Puddings Past, Rob Zombie.

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Alice Cooper's musical roots in Phoenix stretch back to the early '60s

The Coopers live in Paradise Valley, but the singer's roots in Phoenix stretch back much farther than that.

It was 1964 when Alice Cooper made his first onstage appearance in the Cortez High School cafetorium with the Earwigs, a small group of friends from the track team who shook the wigs they'd bought at Woolworths while spoofing the Beatles as part of a talent show.

At that point, Cooper was still going by his real name, Vince Furnier. He and future bandmates Dennis Dunaway and Glen Buxton were among the lettermen who'd changed the words to several Beatles hits to suit their status as varsity stars.

It wasn't long before the Earwigs had become the Spiders, a name change encouraged by teen-club impresario Jack Curtis as a condition of earning a spot in the house band at the VIP.

Recruiting North High's Michael Bruce to play guitar, they charted a regional hit with the primal garage rock of "Don't Blow Your Mind."

They'd moved to California and become the Nazz by 1967, when drummer Neal Smith joined, completing the lineup that became their generation's most notorious hit machine — a band called Alice Cooper fronted by a singer also known as Alice Cooper.

Their early hits included "I'm Eighteen," "School's Out," "Elected," "Hello Hooray" and "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

In 1973, their U.S. tour in support of the chart-topping "Billion Dollar Babies" broke box-office records then held by the Rolling Stones. Two years later, after seven albums with the Alice Cooper group, the singer struck out on his own with "Welcome to My Nightmare."

Cooper recently released his 22nd solo record, "Road."

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Alice Cooper to open 3rd Solid Rock Teen Center in Phoenix