Cooper reveals moment of near-history and tells how he used to hide from Keith Moon for fear of drinking sessions
Kill the King: Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper once found himself in a hotel penthouse holding a gun to Elvis Presley’s head – with the King ordering him to pull the trigger.
The shock-rocker took a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet one of his all-time heroes in 1971, but could never have imagined how it would pan out.
Cooper tells the Mirror: “This was when he was at the top of his game. I’d always been a fan as a kid so I jumped at the chance to go upstairs and meet him.
“They frisked me for guns at the door. I don’t know why they bothered – when I got inside the place was full of guns.
“Elvis took took me into the kitchen, opened a drawer, pulled out a loaded pistol and told me to put it to his head. I didn’t know what to do. I was expecting one of his security men to come in any second, see me holding a gun and shoot me dead.
“But a little voice in my ear was telling me, ‘Go on – this is history. You’ll always be the guy who killed Elvis.’ In my other ear was a voice saying, ‘You can’t kill Elvis. Wound him and you’ll only get a few years.’
“A fraction of a second later Elvis did a flying kick on the gun, tripped me and pinned me by my neck, announcing: ‘That’s how you stop a man with a gun’.”
Cooper also recalls heavy drinking sessions with his club known as the Hollywood Vampires, including ex-Beatles John Lennon and Ringo Star alongside Who drummer Keith Moon, in the legendary Rainbow Bar and Grill in LA.
He says: “Those guys could drink. When you party with Keith Moon your body really knows about it. One time he stayed with me for a week and I literally wasn’t allowed to sleep for seven days.
“It got to the stage where I’d hear he was in town and I’d hide somewhere because I couldn’t face another bender.”
Moon died in 1978 as he was trying to fight off his alcoholism, by which time Cooper had been locked in a sanitarium as he attempted to deal with his own demons.
“I watched as my friends, one at a time, died as a result of the rock’n'roll situation,” says Cooper. “I realised I had to stop or I’d die. People like me are still working now because we stopped just in time.”
He took his last drink in 1979.
[...] In an interview with The Mirror, Alice Cooper says he once held a gun to Elvis Presley’s head. Alice says this happened in 1971, when Elvis was “at the top of his game”. He was [...]
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Alice Cooper was in a sanitarium in 1978? He played at the Winnipeg Arena on 29 April 1978 and it was an awesome show. When did he check-in or check-out of the sanitarium in ’78?
You’re right – our report was inaccurate. He went into the sanitarium in late 1977 and came out in early 1978. By the time Moonie died he was completing the album From The Inside, based on his experiences in the establishment. Corrected – and thanks! Ch;M.
[...] happened nect?!?!?! Find out here Category: Music, Music News, Weird News Tags: alice cooper, elvis, elvis presley, gun, homicide, [...]
[...] talks to The Mirror about his “near death” experience with Elvis, via the Rock News Desk: Elvis took took me into the kitchen, opened a drawer, pulled out a loaded pistol and told me to [...]
[...] put a gun to their head. Sounds freaky, right? This is what Alice Cooper experienced when meeting Elvis for the first [...]