Prince Allegedly Tried To “Steal” Aussie Muso Orianthi From Alice Cooper’s Band

US rock icon Alice Cooper has spoken out about a dispute he had with Prince over Australian guitarist Orianthi Panagaris.

Orianthi, who also worked with Michael Jackson, Carrie Underwood and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora – was the subject of The Purple One’s desire for quite some time, according to Cooper.

“The only real relationship we ever had was he kept trying to steal Orianthi out of my band,” Cooper told Billboard. “Every time I talked to Orianthi she’d be on the phone and say, ‘It’s Prince again.’ I said, ‘Could you tell him that you’re with me for about the next year’ — kidding, of course. I know that he liked to have pretty girls in his band. Other than that I don’t think I ever talked to the guy.”

Cooper’s patronising “pretty girls” comment aside, Orianthi is one of Australia’s most sort after musical exports, and Prince was well regarded for championing other female artists, through playing in his bands, writing sings for female musicians and supporting their solo careers.

Cooper was also a firm believer that despite Prince’s legendary status, that he was still under-appreciated by the public. Cooper has “total respect for him. Nobody really got how good of a guitar player he was — just a great, great guitar player. Musicians knew how good he was. I don’t think the public knew how good he was, though.”

Watch: Richie Sambora + Orianthi – Seven Years Gone (Live at Music Feeds Studio)

https://youtu.be/QN7hXWWMX1E

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