In a recent interview with Appetite For Distortion, Kane Roberts opened up about his bond with Alice Cooper, especially during a critical period in Cooper’s life.
Cooper faced severe personal challenges behind the scenes, especially in the 1980s.
He battled with alcohol and cocaine addiction. By the late 1970s, his daily consumption had reached alarming levels, pushing him to the brink of liver and pancreas failure. Though he entered rehab and achieved a period of sobriety, the 1980s saw him grappling with relapses. In 1983, frail from substance abuse, Cooper was diagnosed with cirrhosis and hospitalized.
Doctors stressed the importance of quitting drugs and alcohol to ensure Cooper’s recovery. Back in those days, Roberts entered the picture, and according to the guitarist, the two formed an immediate bond:
“Alice Cooper and I became best friends within five minutes. We immediately start joking; he’ll say, he just said it again; he’s been saying it for years; he just did it in a new interview that I have the body of Sylvester Stallone and the brain of Jerry Lewis because we laugh all the time. But he’s the funny one. Humor, it’s unbelievable. We were laughing so much, and we became such great friends.”
Recognizing the seriousness of Cooper’s condition, his management was keen to surround him with positive influences, which Roberts naturally provided:
“Now, here’s the other thing. He just got out of rehab from a very, very critical situation that he was in. He was very, very close to death. The management didn’t want him with anybody who would ever want a beer or pull out a joint. I just didn’t do drugs, I didn’t drink, nothing. I think that was also because they were keeping their fingers crossed that it would work out and that would maintain itself. He ended up pretty much living with me in Woodland Hills as we wrote the different records.”
As reported by Classic Rock, it’s been 46 years since Cooper entered rehab and 40 years since he last drank alcohol.
Cooper’s guitarist Nita Strauss decided to part ways with the rocker last year. After the news, Roberts replaced her until Strauss returned back in March 2023.
You can listen to the rest of the interview below.
