ALICE COOPER Comments On Nomination For ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME Induction

Legendary rocker Alice Cooper has released the following statement in response to the announcement that he is among 15 artists who were nominated for induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2011:

"On behalf of Dennis (Dunaway),Neal (Smith),Michael (Bruce) and the late great Glen (Buxton),we are honored to be nominated for induction in to the Hall. Anytime you are nominated in your chosen profession, it's definitely a compliment to be recognized.

"It's hard to fathom possibly being in the same club as artists who inspired us originally, like THE BEATLES, THE [ROLLING] STONES, THE BEACH BOYS, THE WHO, THE YARDBIRDS, and Chuck Berry, and to be nominated the same year as legendary artists like my personal favorite songwriter of all time, Laura Nyro, as well as Donovan, who sang on our 'Billion Dollar Babies' record, and our good friends in Bon Jovi, is a great feeling.

"Five guys starting a band, just hoping to meet girls and drink free beer, rehearsing and playing local bars five hours a night for the first few years — that was us. We came up with the theatrics and made every effort not to sacrifice the music one bit; we thought it was like our job to bring theatrics to rock 'n' roll. And then, amazingly enough, we were having a bunch of massive hit records which was proof that theatricality and rock 'n' roll could, in fact, be joined successfully. We've been told that we revolutionized the live concert experience and if that's truly the case and it's led to this nomination for induction into the Hall of Fame, the only thing to say is, of course, 'There's no business like show business!'"

Other acts who were nominated for induction into next year's Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame are BON JOVI, BEASTIE BOYS, CHIC, Neil Diamond, Donovan, Dr. John, J GEILS BAND, LL Cool J, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, Donna Summer, Joe Tex, Tom Waits and Chuck Willis.

The inductees will be announced in December, and the 26th annual induction ceremony will be held on March 14, 2011 at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan.

To be eligible for nomination into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, an act must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination. This year's nominees had to release their first single no later than 1985.

Ballots will be sent to more than 500 voters, who will select the artists to be inducted at the induction ceremony, which will be televised live on Fuse.