Dick Wagner, who played guitar with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed and records Kiss and Aerosmith at various points in his career, died on July 30 after being hospitalized in Scottsdale, Arizona from respiratory failure. Two weeks earlier, he had undergone a heart procedure, according to the Detroit Free Press. He was 71.
How Dick Wagner saved the day on Kiss' 'Destroyer'
In his life, Wagner played guitar with a number of notable names in pop and rock, including Rod Stewart, Hall and Oates and meatloaf, among others. He also made a name for himself as a composer for his work in the mid-seventies with Cooper.
Wagner was born in Iowa, but grew up in the Detroit area and as a self-taught guitarist; he was asked to make a copy of Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison in concert once. By the latter part of the decade, who rose to fame as the leader of the rock group Frost and, after moving to New York City in the early seventies, as a member of the Big Dipper? The last group, the original group featured keyboardist Billy Joel, recorded with Alice Cooper producer Bob Ezrin, who recognized talent and brought Wagner to play additional guitar on Out of school, Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle of Love LPs.
the Ezrin connection pave the way for major concerts of Wagner. His play was presented in Lou Reed 1973 Rock Opera Berlin - an album that also featured guitarist Steve Hunter - and later that year, Wagner and Hunter backed Reed on tour that appeared on the albums Live Rock 'n' roll Animal and Lou Reed Live.
The guitar tandem Wagner-Hunter would go on to play in the first solo album produced by Bob Ezrin Alice Cooper, Welcome to My Nightmare. It was in this album that Wagner was able to show his ability to compose songs, co-writing the hits "Welcome to My Nightmare", "Department of Youth" and "Only Women Bleed", among others. In later records seventy Cooper, Wagner helped write the hits "I Never Cry", "You and Me" and "How you gonna see me now" and toured with the singer. Guitarist occasionally plays Cooper records in the eighties and nineties, and they even made an appearance on the most recent record of Cooper, 2011 Welcome 2 My Nightmare, co-writing a song and play guitar another lead.
"Although we know that it is inevitable, we never expect suddenly lose close friends and collaborators," Cooper said in a statement. "Dick Wagner and I shared many laughs as we hit records. Was one of a kind? He is irreplaceable. Their brand of playing and writing is never seen again, and there are very few people that I love working with so many like me enjoyed working with Dick Wagner.
"Much of my success in my radial solo career had to do with my relationship with Dick Wagner," he continued. "Not only on stage but in the studio and writing .... There was only a magic in the way we write together. Always been able to find exactly the right chord to match perfectly with what I was doing., I think I always think our friends will be as long as us, so upon hearing of the death of Dick comes as a sudden shock and a huge loss for me, rock & roll and his family. "
"Dick and I were fortunate to play in some very interesting records," Hunter wrote in a tweet.”The things we did together in the seventies were truly magical."
Outside of his work with Cooper and Reed, Wagner released a solo album produced-Ezrin, guitar Richard Wagner, in 1978 also played - often uncredited - in the records of Aerosmith (one on "Train Kept A-Rollin '" ), Kiss (acoustic guitar on "Beth"), Peter Gabriel ("Here Comes the Flood") and air supply ("Just as I am.") Their website contains a detailed discography, to an appearance on a record of Elvira.
"Dick Wagner guitarist was the consummate gentleman," Gene Simmons wrote in a statement, via Billboard. "He will be missed."
"Dick was a star player and his work with Steve Hunter on Rock 'n' Roll Animal is legendary, Lou Reed," said Paul Stanley in the same article. "He also did a great job with Alice Cooper and ghosting uncredited Destroyer and albums by some of our contemporaries. A huge talent in a tone of great big heart. A great unsung hero."
In 2008, Wagner and his bandmates Frost were included in a local hall of fame online, the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends, whose website also contains a detailed history of his works.
Wagner moved to Arizona in 2005 and suffered a heart attack two years later. He spent two weeks in a coma and woke up with a paralyzed left arm, reports Billboard. After two years of rehabilitation, he released a new album; Full Meltdown in 2009 also became involved in charity work, becoming the first artist to Ambassador Guitars for vets and spokesman Hydrocephalus.org, among others.
Over time it is performed on stage back in 2011 in the Detroit area. The following year, he put out a memoir, not only women Bleed: Vignettes from the Heart of a Rock Musician, containing stories of his career. On 29 June the following year, Billboard reported that played its last concert in Owosso, Michigan.
"Dick had a huge heart, which is perhaps why I gave him so much trouble, it was just too full of love, music and life," the family label and record Wagner wrote in a statement on its web page. "Their creativity and passion will live forever in the legacy he has left for us in his music and his words. We have much to celebrate it."
Plan your family holding a tribute in memory of him in Michigan.
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