Glen Edward Buxton (November 10, 1947 – October 19, 1997) was an American guitarist who played lead guitar for the rock band Alice Cooper. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 90 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2011, Buxton was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the original Alice Cooper band.
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Early life
Born in Akron, Ohio, Buxton moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and attended Cortez High School. Cortez High School had a paper called the Tip Sheet which detailed events going on at the school. Alongside Dennis Dunaway and Vince Furnier, Glen Buxton contributed to the school paper. His contribution was as photographer. Dunaway was sports writer for the paper and Furnier was writer of a witty editorial column. In 1964, at Cortez High School, he made his debut in a rock band called The Earwigs. It was composed of fellow high school students Dennis Dunaway, Vincent Furnier, John Tatum and John Speer. At the onset, Buxton was the only member who could play an instrument, and thus taught some of the other members to play after the group decided to take a shot at becoming a real band. They became popular locally, and changed their name to The Spiders in 1965 and later to The Nazz in 1967. In 1966–67, guitarist John Tatum and drummer John Speer left the group, and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Michael Bruce and drummer Neal Smith joined. In 1968, to avoid legal entanglements with the Todd Rundgren-led Nazz the group changed their name to Alice Cooper, premiering their new name at their performance at the Santa Barbara County Fairgrounds on March 20, 1968.