'He is Irreplaceable': Dick Wagner Dies At 71

By Courtney Bledsoe

Self-taught guitarist Richard “Dick” Wagner, who performed almost until the moment he died Wednesday of respiratory failure, is being remembered by some of rock’s biggest names as “irreplaceable” and “the best and brightest” of a generation.

He died of a respiratory ailment Wednesday in Scottsdale, AZ. He was 71.

His last performance was June 27 in Auburn Hills, where bandmate Ray Goodman said he played “as well as he ever has,” The Oakland Press reports.

“I consider him the best and brightest of my generation,” Goodman told the newspaper. “He could write a song about anything. He had the gift, something he was innately born with – along with his very quick, droll sense of humor, another thing I’m going to miss dearly.”

Born in Iowa, Wagner grew up in the Detroit metro area, where he created a name for himself as a musician by playing for big names like Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison. Kiss, Aerosmith, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper Rod Stewart, Hall and Oates, and Meat Loaf, just to name a few.

Gene Simmons of Kiss called him “the consummate gentleman axeman” whose “blustering” guitar solo on “Sweet Pain” from the “Destroyer” album defined his unique style.

In a statement, Cooper said that is a style that has vanished from the genre.

“Dick Wagner and I shared as many laughs as we did hit records,” Cooper said “He was one of a kind. He is irreplaceable. His brand of playing and writing is not seen anymore, and there are very few people that I enjoyed working with as much as I enjoyed working with Dick Wagner.”

Wagner was able to show off his songwriting on Alice Cooper’s first siki album, “Welcome to My Nightmare,” co-writing the title track, “Department of Youth” and “Only Women Bleed.”

“A lot of my radio success in my solo career had to do with my relationship with Dick Wagner, not just onstage but in the studio and writing…There was just a magic in the way we wrote together,” Cooper said. “He was always able to find exactly the right chord to match perfectly with what I was doing. I think that we always think our friends will be around as long as we are, so to hear of Dick’s passing comes as a sudden shock and enormous loss for me, rock & roll and to his family.”

Cooper’s producer, Bob Ezrin, opened the doors for some of Wagner’s biggest gigs.

Wagner released a self-titled solo album in 1978, where he played the guitar and had a feature from Elvira.

He was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends in 2008.

After suffering a heart attack in 2005, Wagner recovered for two years in rehab and released an album called “Full Meltdown” in 2009.

Wagner was the ambassador for Guitars for Vets and the spokesperson for Hydrocephalus.

“Dick had a huge heart, which is perhaps why it gave him so much trouble, it was simply too full of love, of music and life, his creativity and passion will live on forever in the legacy he has left for us, in his music and his words. We have so much of him to celebrate,” Wagner’s family said in a statement on his website.

A memorial service will be held in Michigan for the beloved guitarist, Rolling Stone said.

» Tell Us: Share a memory about Dick Wagner. What’s the best thing he ever did?

» Go to Wagner’s web site for a detailed discography.

» Watch the YouTube video of Wagner performing “Only Women Bleed” at a Barnes & Noble Bookseller book-signing on April 10, 2013, for his book, “Not Only Women Bleed.”