Alice Cooper: I'll keep touring into my 90s, if I'm in good enough shape
Alice Cooper will only retire if he can't physically perform and tour anymore.
Alice Cooper will still be rocking the stage in his 90s - if he's in "good enough shape".
The 75-year-old shock rocker has no plans to retire like his peers in KISS and Aerosmith and insists that if Rolling Stone Sir Mick Jagger, 80, "can do it, so can I".
He told Rock Candy magazine: "A farewell tour hasn't crossed my mind at all. And it's weird, because all my friends are retiring. Gene Simmons said to me recently, 'Look, I'm done. Come December, it's over.'
"And I go, 'Well, you know, these farewell tours go on for years and years now, right?'
"But Gene was very serious and said, 'Not this time. I promise you that come December, Kiss as we know it is absolutely done.'
"The guys in Aerosmith are saying the same thing, as are many other bands from my era.
"But none of that occurs to me. It's never been a thought that I'd retire. I feel great, and the band sounds great. I'm 75, but I'll be up there at 90 if I'm still in good enough shape.
"I'm looking at Mick Jagger as the prototype. Mick still does three-hour shows and the soundcheck. So if Mick can do it, so can I."
The 'Poison' hitmaker - who released his 22nd solo album and 29th album overall, 'Road', in August - previously insisted the word "retirement" "doesn't exist" in his "vocabulary".
The music legend has enjoyed decades of success but is showing no signs of slowing down with two touring bands: his own band and The Hollywood Vampires with movie legend Johnny Depp and Aerosmith's Joe Perry.
Asked if he planned to hang up his microphone anytime soon, Cooper told KZZK radio station in 2020: "Not in the least. That word doesn't exist in my vocabulary.
"A long, long time ago, I said if I come into your town and put on a show and nobody shows up, well, then I know I'm done. That hasn't happened.
"At 72, I was not expecting to be in two touring bands.
"And the [Hollywood] Vampires are just like my band -- everybody in that band are best friends.
"You've got Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and myself -- three alpha males -- and we've been together six years and I have never heard one argument. Everybody just goes, 'Okay. Good idea. Let's try that.'"
The 'School's Out' hitmaker also previously stated he has no desire to retire because he still "belongs" on stage and both he and his wife, Sheryl Goddard, his dancer, get "restless" if they take too much time off.
He explained: "I feel better now physically than I ever have in my life. I'll get up on stage and do that show and be the only one who's not breathing hard.
"I'm not making records now to build a new audience, I'm making records because there's a huge fanbase around the world that wants to hear new songs.
"So why wouldn't I make albums? It's what I do. Why wouldn't I go up on stage?
"I feel more at home on stage than just about anywhere else. It's where I belong.
"If Sheryl and I go six months without a tour, we both get a little restless. And then in the middle of the tour we're like, 'We can't wait for the tour to be over?' I don't have any desire to retire and I'm not going to go fishing. What am I gonna do?"
