Shock rock pioneer and pop culture icon Alice Cooper has announced his autobiography, ‘Devil On My Shoulder’, to be released 8 October this year and accompanied by a British book tour. The book will tell the warts and all life of one of music’s most notorious characters, responsible for such hits as ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ and ‘Poison’ across his lengthy career.
The book, published by the company Ebury Spotlight, will be released in hardback, digital and audiobook upon its publication. The cover, announced with the book, features Cooper’s face in his infamous stage makeup, which has been a trademark part of his act since his ascendency to rock god status in the mid-1970s.
The book, according to Cooper, is built around the the theme of “evilution” and his struggles in distinguishing his own self, born Vincent Furnier, from his creation which threatened to destroy him through substance abuse and alcoholism in the late ‘70s. “I was born Vincent Damon Furnier but, seduced by my character’s reputation, changed my name legally to Alice Cooper, and in the process lost sight of who I really was”, Cooper claimed.
The singer has said that he wants the book to take on a didactic role in helping readers understand the contradictions of their own identity. He said that “with the benefit of hindsight and a certain maturity, I’d like to describe our journey to Hell and back together, because it’s not only rock stars who can lose their way.”
In the press release announcing the book, Cooper’s team said that the book’s tales will feature appearances from Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Salvador Dali, Bette Davis, Gerald Ford and Frank Sinatra among others, chronicling the highs and lows of a life spent often outside the musical mainstream for his visual extremity.
Cooper’s career began in the late 1960s with the band of the same name, of which he was merely the frontman. While the band had a string of chart successes with singles like ‘School’s Out’, it wasn’t until he went solo in 1975 that he fully realised his persona with the concept album ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’. The next decade was marked by dizzying hits and stunning lows with huge albums like ‘Alice Cooper Goes to Hell’ and a decline into substance abuse. With the late 1980s, having cleaned up, he became a figurehead of MTV hair metal with albums like ‘Trash’. Touring and hosting radio shows for decades after, he reunited the original band last year for an album, ‘The Revenge of Alice Cooper’.
The book tour will run across the UK from 11 October for nine days.
- 11/10 – Cardiff – New Theatre
- 12/10 – Cambridge – Corn Exchange
- 13/10 – London – London Palladium
- 14/10 – Brighton – Brighton Dome
- 16/10 – Manchester – Manchester Opera House
- 17/10 – Stockton – Globe
- 19/10 – Glasgow – Pavilion Theatre
- 20/10 – Wolverhampton – Civic Hall
