Orianthi to return to Alice Cooper's band as Nita Strauss does her own thing

Alice Cooper and Orianthi onstage
Alice Cooper and Orianthi onstage in 2012 (Image credit:  Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis via Getty Images)

Orianthi, who played guitar in Alice Cooper's band from 2011 until 2014, is to rejoin the shock-rocker's band for his upcoming Too Close For Comfort tour. She's filling in for her own replacement, Nita Strauss, who is committed to a run of solo dates.

"When Orianthi moved on to pursue her own career in 2014, we were lucky to find Nita," says Cooper. "Over the past decade, Nita, Chuck [Garric], and Tommy [Henriksen] have also launched their own projects, and we always try to coordinate our schedule so we can keep the band together, but these shows came up after Nita had already committed to another tour. So I reached out to Orianthi, and thankfully she was available to jump back in, so we’re all really looking forward to doing these shows with her. I’m so fortunate to always have such great musicians to work with."

Orianthi, whose latest single Some Kind Of Feeling was released last week, will join Cooper band for a run of dates that begin on January 31 in Augusta, GA, and end aboard the Rock Legends cruise, which embarks from Miami on February 13. Full dates below.

In 2022, Nita Stauss temporarily left Cooper's band to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Kane Roberts, who played on his 1980s' albums Constrictor and Raise Your Fist and Yell.

Tommy Henkriksen's solo project, the Mutt Lange-produced Crossbome Skully, released their debut album, Evil World Machine, last week.

Alice Cooper: Too Close For Comfort Tour

Jan 31: Augusta The Bell Auditorium, GA
Feb 01: Cherokee Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort, NC
Feb 02: Greensboro Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, NC
Feb 04: Mobile Saenger Theatre Mobile, AL
Feb 06: Orlando Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL
Feb 07: Ft Myers Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, FL
Feb 08: Clearwater The BayCare Sound at Coachman Park, FL
Feb 11: St. Augustine Amphitheatre, FL
Feb 13-17: Miami Rock Legends Cruise, FL

Tickets are on sale now.

Alice Cooper tour poster

(Image credit: Alice Cooper)
Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.