After more than four decades of sobriety, Alice Cooper has spoken about how his addiction to drugs almost killed him.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph to mark the release of his new memoir, Devil on My Shoulder, Cooper says his struggles with narcotics came after his well-documented problems with alcohol and only began after he was misleadingly told that he could safely smoke cocaine without becoming dependent.
“This was at the very beginning of crack, and crack is the most addictive drug there is, by far,” says Cooper. “That was really the thing that almost killed me.”
Cooper first entered rehab in 1976 to address his issues with alcohol – a four-week stay that inspired his From The Inside album – but lapsed after a year, before finally conquering his addictions in 1983 after his wife, Sheryl, gave him an ultimatum: clean up and reaffirm his Christian vows, or leave.
“So I did,” says Cooper. “And that put us back together, you know. And it was almost a relief to get back to church.”
Cooper also reveals how modern musicians live very differently from those in the 1970s.
“If you’re in a touring band, nobody gets high, nobody ever drinks, because now it’s a big business and you can’t afford to have a guy that’s doing that,” he says. “In the Seventies, you didn’t hire the guy unless he got high, so everybody was on the same level.”
Alice Cooper begins his Devil On My Shoulder book tour on October 11 in Cardiff, UK, before kicking off the latest leg of his Alice Attic tour at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL, on October 27. Cooper has also just added some more dates to his upcoming Welcome To My Nightmare Las Vegas residency with magician Criss Angel. Full dates below.
Devil On My Shoulder is published on October 8 via Ebury Spotlight in the UK and Da Capo in the US.
Alice Cooper: Devil On My Shoulder UK book tour 2026
Oct 11: Cardiff New Theatre
Oct 12: Cambridge Corn Exchange
Oct 13: London Palladium
Oct 14: Brighton Dome
Oct 16: Manchester Opera House
Oct 17: Stockton Globe
Oct 19: Glasgow Pavilion Theatre
Oct 20: Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Alice Cooper: Alice’s Attic tour 2026
Oct 27: Clearwater Ruth Eckerd Hall, FL
Oct 30: Richmond Altria Theater, VA
Oct 31: Atlantic City Tropicana Casino & Resort, NJ
Nov 01: Bethlehem Wind Creek Bethlehem, PA
Nov 04: Hershey Theatre, PA
Nov 06: Windsor Caesars Windsor – The Colosseum, ON
Nov 07: Kalamazoo Wings Event Center, MI
Nov 08: Waukegan Genesee Theatre, IL
Nov 10: St. Louis Stifel Theatre, MO
Nov 11: Park City Hartman Arena, KS
Nov 14: Indio Fantasy Springs Casino, CA
Nov 15: Prescott Valley Findlay Toyota Center, AZ
Nov 17: San Diego Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre, CA
Nov 18: San Jose San Jose Civic, CA
Nov 20: Wheatland Hard Rock Live at Hard Rock Hotel + Casino, CA
Nov 21: Reno Grand Theatre at Grand Sierra Resort + Casino, NV
Alice Cooper and Criss Angel: Welcome To My Nightmare residency
Nov 27: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Nov 28: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Nov 29: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 03: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 04: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 05: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Dec 06: Las Vegas Criss Angel Theater at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, NV
Find Alice Cooper and Criss Angel tickets.
(LouderSound)
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