Sheryl Cooper

Sheryl Cooper (, ) is an American dancer, stage performer, and the wife of the shock rock singer Alice Cooper. In addition to regularly performing on tour with her husband, she teaches, choreographs, produces, and directs children's dance and theatre in the Phoenix, Arizona area. She was also one of three co-founders of Alice Cooper's Solid Rock, a non-profit foundation for inner-city teens in Arizona.

Biography and touring career Sheryl Cooper was born Sheryl Goddard in Denver, Colorado. At age 3, her family moved to Connecticut while her father studied at Yale University. She began dancing at a young age, training in classical ballet until age 16, when she switched to jazz.

Sheryl met Alice in 1975 at the age of 18, when she auditioned as a dancer for his "Welcome to My Nightmare" tour. She was studying jazz at Citrus College when she became aware that Alice Cooper was holding auditions for two female and two male dancers for a one-and-one-half year contract which included a world tour, a television special, and stage appearances. When she found out about the auditions for Cooper's tour, she responded "Wow. Alice Cooper. Who is she?" Around 3,000 women auditioned for the roles, and after two days, Sheryl was successful in landing a position as one of the dancers. At first, the two did not get along well. Sheryl (right) performing with Alice (left) at Wembley Arena in 2017. In the second half of the 1970s, Alice became deeply consumed by alcoholism, going to rehab twice, in 1976 and 1979. Sheryl attempted to intervene for him. Sheryl initiated divorce proceedings in November 1983. Alice finally committed to sobriety that year, Cooper kissing a mock-up of Alice's severed head. At The O2 Arena in Greenwich, May 2022. Since the start of her career in 1975, Sheryl frequently tours with her husband as a dancer, choreographer, and backing singer, although she went on hiatus when their children were young. Some performances have involved acts where Alice kills her or fails in his attempt to do so. A longstanding act is her portraying a sadistic ghoulish nurse (sometimes alongside their daughter Calico performing a similar character), a character who often beheads him. In 1987, when Alice returned to touring after recovering from addiction, Sheryl portrayed a giant spider. Recent acts have seen her as a devil, a ghost, and a Marie Antoinette-style character which helps apprehend Alice and sends him to the guillotine. When her daughter Calico was hired by Alice in 2001 to perform instead of herself in the Brutal Planet tour, Sheryl instructed Calico in dancing while using a bullwhip, the "bullwhip girl" being a character Sheryl had previously portrayed.

Additional work and projects

Cooper has instructed dance and choreography for decades. In the early 1980s, she taught at two Valley Profile for Dance studios in Paradise Valley, Arizona. In 1995, Sheryl and Alice, along with their friend Chuck Savale, founded Alice Cooper's Solid Rock, a non-profit foundation for inner-city teens in Arizona. After finding a benefactor, Genesis Church, the first center was opened in 2012, a second center opened in 2020, and the forthcoming opening of a third was announced 2023. In 2003, Cooper opened a 500-student dance school called Destiny Dance International. She then closed the school in 2007 to teach weekly at a Scottsdale location and devote more time to Solid Rock. Since 1985, she and Alice have lived in Paradise Valley.

Discography

Videography