Michael Owen Bruce (born March 16, 1948) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist for the rock band Alice Cooper. Early life 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 inspiration in the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. After playing with The Trolls, Michael became part of Mick Mashbir's band The Wildflowers and started taking lessons. Mashbir went to Camelback High School, as did future Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith, and had a desert property where the band rehearsed and partied. This group recorded four songs: "A Man Like Myself", "On a Day Like Today", "More Than Me" and "Moving Along with the Sun". According to Bruce, Bear Family Records (a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues) eventually acquired the masters of those songs. Bruce was also a member of another short-lived group: Our Gang, which also featured Bill Spooner), a student at North High School and later a member of The Tubes. They made no known recordings. In 1966, Michael 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 Rundgren's band, Nazz. The group's new name was Alice Cooper. They premiered the name at a performance in Santa Barbara, California, on March 16, 1968, Michael's 20th birthday. Alice Cooper Bruce was a founding member, rhythm guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist in the original Alice Cooper group (Michael Bruce/Glen Buxton/Dennis Dunaway/Vince Furnier aka Alice Cooper/Neal Smith). He co-wrote