Sep. 16, 2022

Alice Cooper: my stories of Lemmy, Raquel Welch, Pink Floyd and more

via Louder Sound

Alice Cooper has for a long time moved in elevated show business circles. The legendary veteran shock-rocker has never been one to restrict himself to the closeted company of musicians. Indeed, one of the highlights of Alice’s career was when he was inducted into The Friars Club of Los Angeles.

“It’s an exclusive society that’s reserved for comedians and people who work in mainstream entertainment. You have to be elected into it,” Alice tells Classic Rock. “I was the only rock’n’roll guy in the Friars Club. But I was totally accepted by them because they saw me as a retro character, this vaudevillian kind of guy.”

From Ronnie to Raquel, from Mae to Marc, here’s a catholic selection of recollections about the characterful personalities Alice Cooper has encountered over the years.

Lemmy

When I first met him back in the 70s I liked him immediately. He was a tough motorcycle type. If he’d been born in America he would’ve come from Detroit. Back then Detroit was the murder capital of the United States; there was no such thing as a nice neighbourhood. It was really rough. But it’s where I started to make a name for myself. Lemmy would’ve fit right in there.

Lemmy felt comfortable being around us. There was all this urban legend surrounding Alice Cooper, but Lemmy saw right past that. Me and the guys in the group were much more hawk than dove. We more of a gang than a band. Lemmy kind of got that. And we were hard rockers, y’know? Our lineage was The Yardbirds and The Who. That was where we came from. Throw in a bit of West Side Story and Clockwork Orange and you’ve got Alice Cooper.

Raquel Welch

People talk about my relationship with Raquel as being a boyfriend-girlfriend thing, but it was never consummated. What people forget is that Raquel wasn’t just a movie actress, she was a stage performer. She was like Ann-Margret – she could sing, dance, tell jokes. She was the full package. And of course she was beautiful. She was the Angelina Jolie of her time.

When I first met Raquel it was back when it was very trendy for movie stars to go out with rock stars. I was very complimented that she was even interested in me. But the problem was I’d just fallen in love with Sheryl [Goddard, a dancer in the Alice Cooper show, who would eventually become Mrs Cooper.] Sheryl was this little 90-pound ballerina. She wasn’t a battleship like Raquel. But I was totally smitten. When you’re in love, you’ve in love. The more I tried to move away from Raquel, the more she pursued me. Nobody ever said no to Raquel, but I just wasn’t interested. I was in love with this other girl.

Of course, any other time I would’ve been all over her. Are you kidding?! Raquel was the greatest sex-symbol bombshell on the planet. But I was in love. And that made Raquel a little bit crazy, to the point where she became obsessed. People used to say to me: “You had Raquel Welch locked in a bedroom and you didn’t do anything?” And I’d go: “Nope.” It was just one of those crazy things.

Continue Reading at Louder Sound