Devil on My Shoulder: A Memoir

by Alice Cooper, Daniel Richler (Primary Contributor)

The definitive autobiography from Alice Cooper, the Godfather of Shock Rock and one of the world's more iconic musicians with a career spanning six decades.

In the beginning Alice Cooper was the name of a rock group. Then my stage name. And then a monster. Now I’ve written a book that tracks Alice’s evilution, how he and I became almost fatally intertwined, and how I’ve tamed him at last. After over thirty records and sixty-plus years, the story of Alice Cooper has become a tangle of embellishments, elaborations and outright fabrications, that I think it’s time to sort reality from the slaughtered chickens, the bans and record burnings, the evangelical terrors, Ouija boards and poltergeists, resurrections and revenge from the grave, the cross-dressers, thieves, drug addicts and hopeless alcoholics, the house fires and car crashes—all will be revealed for what they really were.

I’m also coming clean about the extent of my addictions, my blackout years, the creative process fuelled by alcohol, drugs and round-the-clock TV, my scramble to the top of the pile and the terrible slide back down. I want to talk about the origin of Cold Ethyl, the guillotine and the dead babies, the best and worst of my reviews, my feelings of guilt and regret after people got hurt or died, what life was like on the road until the wheels came off the bus, what a romantic I am at heart and how I’ve stayed married for half a century even after my wife came at me with a frying pan.

And I want to talk about God. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna bang you on the head with a Bible, I just want to describe how it is that I found Him dwelling in me. Alice, that inveterate liar, was a voice in my ear for so long, whispering lies and sweet nothings, pretending to be my better conscience and my inspiration, pretending to be me, that I think it’s only right to present both sides of the the angel on one shoulder, the devil on the other.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Music

464 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication October 6, 2026

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice Cooper has lived enough lives for several memoirs, and apparently he knows it. This one feels like him going back through the stories, the myths, the addictions, the chaos and the character of Alice Cooper himself and trying to separate the man from everything that grew around him.

I liked the parts about how Alice became Alice and the way he looks back at the excess, the mistakes and the people who were there for all of it. There is plenty of rock-and-roll history here, but underneath that it is really about survival, marriage, faith and figuring out who you are after spending decades playing someone else.

If you’ve read his other books, I’ll just say… this one may give you a few things to think about.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the Arc

[Roger Leonhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can I give this book 6 stars?

I have been an Alice Cooper fan since I was a teenager. I remember during the Satanic scare in the 80s, preachers speaking of him as the son of a preacher turned to a satanist. Later, I hear that he is now a Christian. I was excited to see he had a new book coming out and couldn't wait to read it!

I don't want to give too much away, but let's say - he sets the record straight on the many myths about himself. Did he really drink chicken blood? Did he get the band name from a Ouija board? Where did the Guillotine idea come from? Is Alice really a Christian?

This book answers all of those questions and more.

I loved every page and highly recommend it!!

[Sbatdorf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of Devil on My Shoulder. Quirky.