Chicago Tribune Article / Interview

Alice Cooper and Julio Iglesias, together (sort of)
By Allison Stewart, Special to the Tribune
July 9, 2010

They are, both of them, wedded to their personas.Alice Cooper, 62, is forever the kohl-eyed, snake-wielding singer of "School's Out." The Spanish-born Julio Iglesias, 66, is forever the perma-tanned crooner, frozen sometime in 1988.But both have moved on. Cooper, a born-again Christian and well-known golf fanatic, is working with his longtime hitmaker Bob Ezrin on a new disc he describes as "classic Alice." Iglesias is touring in celebration of 40-plus years of record-making.

Both men are engaging conversationalists who know a thing or two about surviving in the ever-more-perilous record industry, and about keeping their onstage and offstage personas separate.

Some highlights from our conversations with both:

On the difference between their onstage and offstage personas:

Cooper: When I first started, I honestly didn't know where I began and Alice ended, and the reason was, I was drinking. I had to look up to Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix — those guys were like my big brothers. And they all died, every single one of them, by not separating the stage from the real world. So I learned kind of the hard way. I had to almost die doing it — that you have to have your stage life, which is this really over-the-top image, but you can't pull him off the stage and expect him to live in suburbia … without it driving you insane. I have a wife, I've been married 34 years, I've never cheated on her. I've got three kids who are the best kids. We go to church together. My real life is totally different from Alice Cooper, but when I play Alice Cooper, I play him to the hilt.

Iglesias: Physical things, of course. I don't wear pajamas on the stage. (Offstage,) I love to be in my comfortable pants and my T-shirt. I live in the sun — the three places I have are in the sun. The temperature in these places is no less than 75 degrees. It's a very open-air life.

'If anyone had told me 30 years ago I would still be performing, I would have said…':

Cooper: You're probably going to ask me that question in 30 years, when I'm 92. I'll still be doing it.

Iglesias: I would have told them, "Impossible!" We all believe in ourselves. Everyone who has contact with the people dreams that that is going to be for always. But we have a little (voice) in our brains that says, maybe tomorrow I wake up and I sell no records, maybe tomorrow I wake up and nobody comes to the concerts. … I have my discipline, it's stronger than ever. I can't drink two bottles of wine at night. I only drink a little glass. I used to drink a bottle of wine. The only thing I like in alcohol is wine.

On longevity:

Cooper: I think once you stick around for a long time like Ozzy (Osbourne) and myself and Iggy (Pop) — you know, we were young and dangerous and merciless, now we're sort of old and mischievous and lovable. … I probably do better shows now at 62 than I did when I was 30. … I'm in much better shape. It's like Benjamin Button. When I was 30 I was 65, because of drinking and messing myself up. Now that I'm 62, I feel like I'm 28 onstage.

Iglesias: It's not something I do economically for money at all. … I don't like holidays. Holidays make me feel like I'm retired. I have to work. Work for me is everything. When singers are on the stage, our lungs and our hearts run at a different speed. For example, when I'm singing, I'm breathing 20 times more than normal — 40 times. So my lungs and my heart have an instinct (for this), so when I stop doing it my heart and my lungs and my breath miss it. And I not only feel uncomfortable, I die earlier. You listen to any cardiologist, he will tell you.

On whether they're ever tempted to change their style:

Cooper: You know, it's funny, I've never wanted to go in any direction except hard rock. That's all I ever really wanted to do. Almost every one of my albums is a guitar-driven hard rock album, derivative of the Yardbirds and the Who, except it's got the Alice twist to it, and it's certainly got my lyrical twist to it, and that's really what makes it. I think if you look at all the bands from the '60s to now, all the bands that are still around are the hard rock bands.

Iglesias: My style, I don't have anything else than that. Even if I'd like to change something, it's too late for me. I'm not so young, you know?

(Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ott-0709-cooper-iglesias-20100709,0,4267996,full.story)