That time I asked Alice Cooper’s personal assistant if the Coop needed a second personal assistant

photo by cindy smith dunaway

By Steve Newton

Apart from Alice Cooper himself, rock fans might not recognize anyone in the above photo, which was taken on Cooper’s tour bus in 1997.

The other guys saying cheese are Cooper’s former bassist Dennis Dunaway (in shades), his former drummer Neil Smith, and–squeezin’ in on the action from the far right–his longtime archivist and personal assistant, Brian “Renfield” Nelson.

Nelson–who sadly passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly, in 2009–is also known as the world’s biggest Alice Cooper fan. I thought I was a big Alice Cooper fan because as a teen I had the fold-out desk from School’s Out on my dresser and the poster from Killer on my wall, but Nelson’s collection of Cooper memorabilia apparently takes up three large rooms.

The reason I’m blogging about “Ren” is because yesterday I digitized the interview I did with Cooper back in 1999 for the first time, and it was Nelson who called me up with Alice on the line.

After Nelson told me about working on Cooper’s new box set, The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper, I asked him if Cooper needed a second personal assistant, which got a chuckle out of him. The Coop took note of the comment as well.

Have a listen:

To hear the full audio of my 1999 interview with Alice Cooper–and my 1986, 1987, and 1989 conversations with him as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.