Nita Strauss, the Los Angeles-based guitar shredder for the ALICE COOPER band, has commented on the passing of Neil Peart, who died on January 7 in Santa Monica, California after a three-year battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. The iconic RUSH drummer was 67 years old. Strauss spoke about Peart's passing in a new interview with "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show" conducted at the Metal Hall Of Fame event in Anaheim, California. She said (see video below): "It's always such a tragedy to have the loss of someone that's meant so much to our community. Me not being a drummer, it didn't hit me as hard as I saw some other people on social media, but, of course, I am a big fan of what they did for the genre of music that I love so much, so it's a huge loss, for sure." When interviewer Eric Blair pointed out to Strauss that her longtime boyfriend, manager and occasional bandmate Josh Villalta is a drummer, Nita said: "He actually came in. I was doing a live stream, and he came in and told me, 'Neil Peart died,' and kind of threw me in for a shock and interrupted me. I think he was just so surprised and so overcome by the loss of a legend in our community that he was, like, 'I have to tell you right now.' So, yeah, definitely it hit us in our house, for sure. And it's great to see the community come together and the shockwave kind of pull us all together and realize how lucky we were to have such a great legend in our community." Nita's second solo LP is tentatively due in late 2020. The guitarist's live show is mostly instrumental in nature, combining originals with covers. Strauss has been playing with Alice Cooper since 2014 when she replaced Australian musician and former Michael Jackson player Orianthi. She joined Alice in time for a mammoth MÖTLEY CRÜE tour. She was recommended to Cooper by the legendary rocker's former bass player and WINGER frontman Kip Winger.
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