Alice Cooper

Published: Nov. 21, 2010, noon

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Kirsty Young\'s castaway is the rock musician Alice Cooper.

As a teenager he says it was British music that he tuned in to - listening to The Beatles, The Yardbirds and The Who. He realised that while rock music had many heroes, there were few villains - that was the territory he marked out for himself. He developed his trademark look - blackened eyes, straggly hair and glamorous clothes - and set about designing live shows that were gleefully gory and macabre.

While critics have described him as \'the world\'s most beloved heavy metal entertainer\', it took him a while to untangle himself from his creation. "For a long time I honestly didn\'t know where I began and Alice ended. My friends at the time were Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and I was trying to keep up with them. And I realised when they all died that you didn\'t have to be your character off stage."

Record: Work Song - The Butterfield Blues Band\\nBook: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut\\nLuxury: An indoor golf driving range

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

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