Artist Name
Dick Wagner

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Dick Wagner is an American rock music guitarist, songwriter and author best known for his work with Alice Cooper, Lou Reed, and KISS. He also fronted his own Michigan-based bands The Frost and The Bossmen.
Wagner grew up in the Saginaw, Michigan area. His first band, called The Bossmen, was a favorite in the Detroit area and scored radio play with the Wagner penned composition "Baby Boy". His next band, The Frost, with Donny Hartman, Bobby Rigg, and Gordy Garris, was formed in the late 1960s and built up a substantial following in the Michigan area. The band released three albums during their tenure together on Vanguard Records: 1969's Frost Music and Rock and Roll Music, plus 1970's Through the Eyes of Love.
Wagner then formed the short-lived group "Ursa Major" with former Amboy Dukes bassist Greg Arama and released one self-titled album. Wagner was soon recruited for Lou Reed's band along with Steve Hunter. They played on the Rock 'n' Roll Animal live album. Soon after, producer Bob Ezrin brought both Wagner and Steve Hunter into sessions with Alice Cooper, Wagner having already featured on the School's Out album playing the memorable guitar solo on the track 'My Stars'.
The result was that after the breakup of the Alice Cooper group Wagner became Alice Cooper's right-hand man on the next four studio albums that followed, the 1975 ground breaking Welcome to My Nightmare the revolutionary live show also featuring Wagner and Hunter in a guitar battle captured on the film of the same name released on home video in 1976. Follow up albums Goes To Hell, Lace and Whiskey, From the Inside and DaDa, also saw Wagner helping in songwriting, composing, production and playing lead guitar. Wagner was assisted in most of these endeavors by Steve Hunter. The two have been best friends since their work with Lou Reed and a film about their work together with Reed, Cooper and others entitled 'Rock and Roll Animals' featuring interviews with Wagner, Hunter and Alice Cooper is currently in production.
In 1978, Wagner released a solo LP called Richard Wagner on Atlantic Records. Strong songs and production (by Bob Ezrin) along with his fiery lead guitar work made for a solid outing. Unfortunately, a lack of promotion saw the album relegated to the cut-out bin. Wagner has also played lead guitar or written songs for Aerosmith, Lou Reed, Burton Cummings, KISS, Meat Loaf, Steve Perry, Ringo Starr, Etta James, Peter Gabriel, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Air Supply, Hall & Oates, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and many more.
Some of the other highlighted albums during the 1970s include: Lou Reed's Rock 'n' Roll Animal and Berlin albums, KISS' Destroyer, Aerosmith's Get Your Wings, Peter Gabriel's self-titled solo debut, Hall & Oates' Along the Red Ledge, Burton Cummings Dream of a Child, Mark Farner's solo debut and a pair of albums for the star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Tim Curry.
One of the best-known songs written by Wagner is 'Only Women Bleed'. It was written during the days of The Frost, but unhappy with his lyrics, Wagner decided not to release it. Once his collaboration with Alice Cooper started, Dick played the song for him, and Alice penned new lyrics shortly after and recorded it for his album Welcome to My Nightmare. Artists from Tina Turner, Etta James, Guns N' Roses, Lita Ford, and Tori Amos, have covered this song.
Two other ballads co-written by Wagner once again brought him public recognition as a great songwriting talent. First 'Shine Silently' with Nils Lofgren, who performed it originally on his 1979 album Nils, then as part of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band's 1990 eponymous first album. Later came 'I Might As Well Be on Mars', again with Alice Cooper, which featured on his 1991 album Hey Stoopid.
Wagner moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 2005 where he was writing with Alice Cooper for a new album. In 2007 he suffered a major heart attack. Since then he has partially recovered and worked with Wensday on the album Torch Rock, released on his independent record label Desert Dreams Records. Her debut album produced by Wagner was included in the 2007 50th Anniversary Grammy Awards ballot.
During Wagner's recovery from his 2007 heart attack, unusual symptoms manifested including difficultly walking and concentrating, threatening his music career. In 2011, Wagner was diagnosed with Normal pressure hydrocephalus, a type of dementia which affects among other things fine motor skills and gait. After successful treatment in 2012, Wagner was able to make a significant recovery, regaining almost all of the dexterity which had been lost over the course of the disorder's progression.
Dick Wagner's former band The Frost was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame in 2008. The group's recording of "Mystery Man", a Wagner composition, was voted a Legendary Michigan Song in 2009. He is continuing to recover from his near-fatal heart attack and recording with long-time collaborator Steve Hunter on an unnamed single for Wensday.
Wagner released a new CD in October 2009, called 'Full Meltdown' on his independent record label Desert Dreams Records. Full Meltdown features 15 lost and newly discovered songs recorded by Wagner between 1979 and 1995. He is also currently producing the band Warsaw Pact and the independent artist Brandon Bullard with releases from both to come in early 2010. Wagner scored with Alice Cooper and the British Funk rock band The Velvet Hearts the soundtrack to the Indie horror film Silas Gore, A Film Trilogy. Similar to his original work on the first Alice Cooper solo album Welcome to mMy Nightmare, Dick also contributed lead guitar to the final track on the album called The Underture from Welcome 2 My Nightmare. It represents instrumental versions of several songs from each album.
In 2012, Wagner's memoirs, Not Only Women Bleed, Vignettes from the Heart of a Rock Musician were released to tremendous acclaim, spending more than two weeks at No. 1 on Amazon.com's Hot New Releases in Biographies & Memoirs of Entertainers. In the words of renowned producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper): Wagner's book is: “witty, artful, literate, sometimes cheeky...wistful and exuberant but, above all, musical.” Ryan Sparks, Classic Rock Revisited: “Wagner takes the reader on a highly entertaining and compelling emotional roller-coaster ride that seemingly leaves no stone unturned. ’Not Only Women Bleed’ is almost impossible to put down.”
Nearly fifty years after launching his storied and dynamic career, hit songwriter, guitar virtuoso, producer of bands like Wensday, arranger and author, Dick Wagner, remains a brilliant and vibrant force on the pop/rock landscape he helped create. Wagner is currently looking into working with Detroit band Shock Wave, who he feels is much more talented than the group's members young age would suggest.
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Last Edit by daje
14th Oct 2013

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