Alice Cooper: 'Keith Richards is the only person who won't call me Alice'
Alice Cooper has revealed that The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards is the only person other than his mum who doesn’t call him ‘Alice’.
Born Vincent Damon Furnier in February 1948, the Planet Rock DJ and bona-fide shock rock legend legally changed his name to Alice Cooper when the Alice Cooper band became obsolete in 1975.
In a fresh interview with Syracuse.com, Alice was asked if there’s anyone who still calls him by his birth name of Vincent.
Alice responded: “My mom (Ella Mae Furnier) calls me Vince. The only other person that calls me Vince is Keith Richards.
“Keith Richards will not call me Alice. He'll call me Vinny. ‘Vinny! How're ya doing, Vinny!’ It's one of those things. He would never call me Alice."
Asked if Keith is the only one, Alice responded: “He's the only one, yes. Groucho Marx would call me Coop. He says, ‘I can't call you Alice. I gotta call you Coop.’”
Elsewhere in his chat, Alice cited his desire to always better himself as the secret behind his longevity.
He explained: “I truly believe this of any artist. If you think you've done your best album, if you think you've written your best song, then you should quit. But I still always believe that the next album, the next song, the next show, is going to be the best one I ever did.
“I'm sure (Paul) McCartney thinks like that, I'm sure that any actor thinks like that, any artist. They always kind of think, ‘Well, I'm not done yet, I still have all these ideas that could be the best thing I've ever done.’”
He continued: “I've never really gotten tired of hard rock. Hard rock to me is, when you get on stage and you've got a band like I've got, and I mean, I've got three gunslinger guitar players, I've got the best drummer in rock and roll (Glen Sobel), my female guitar player, Nita Strauss, is voted best female guitar player in rock and roll.
“When you got a band like that, and you got a show like ours, it's impossible to get bored with it. Every song has got its own theatrical bit to it and our show is so much more exciting than most other rock shows, because there's always something going on visually as well as musically.”
Don’t forget, Nights With Alice Cooper airs on Planet Rock on Mondays at 7pm and Tuesdays to Fridays at 10pm.