Legendary for his groundbreaking collaborations with Alice Cooper—for whom he was musical director, lead guitarist and co-writer of the icon’s biggest hits, including “Only Women Bleed”, “You and Me” and “Welcome To My Nightmare” – Dick Wagner was Cooper’s right hand man on such groundbreaking albums as, "Welcome to My Nightmare", "Alice Cooper Goes to Hell", "Lace and Whiskey", "From the Inside" and "DaDa". Together, Cooper and Wagner co-wrote the majority of Alice Cooper's top selling singles and albums, including more than 50 songs that are featured on 19 Alice Cooper albums. The Detroit area native helped define an era in rock history by playing lead guitar or writing songs for Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, As a teenage musician living an hour north of Detroit Michigan, Dick Wagner enjoyed his first taste of “big time show biz,” when he was asked to play guitar as backup for some of his musical heroes, including Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Little Richard. Great balls of fire! The public first took notice of Wagner’s talent in 1964, when he formed the band The Bossmen, whose songs like "Baby Boy" were #1 radio favorites in Michigan. Soon Wagner was writing and producing for other Michigan bands and the Wagner name was prominent on local record labels. In the late sixties, as Wagner's work became more complex and featured a harder edge, he formed the wildly popular band, The Frost, recording three Billboard charted albums and drawing enthusiastic crowds to hear songs like "Mystery Man" and "Rock N' Roll Music."
Wagner's guitar virtuousity captured the attention of Lou Reed and he was invited to play on Lou’s European “Berlin” tour in 1973. Wagner assembled a powerhouse band including Wagner and Steve Hunter on dueling lead guitars, Prakash John on bass, Penti Glan on drums and Ray Colchord on keys. The live album, "Rock N' Roll Animal,” recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, remains one of the most celebrated and influential guitar albums in rock history. Lauded by Rolling Stone, Billboard, and many others, rock critic Robert Christgau succinctly described Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal: "This is a live album with a reason for living." Writer Joe Viglione, in his book, "A Study of Lou Reed’s Berlin and Rock & Roll Animal Albums," describes the guitar stylings of Hunter and Wagner: “Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner were as potent a duo as Keith Richards and Mick Taylor, and the four make-up the “Golden Era” of both The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, that period when the recordings were beyond magical….Lou’s 9/1/73 show still rates as numero uno in my book, for presentation, drama, craftsmanship and sheer rock and roll energy." Leaving Lou Reed in 1974, Wagner moved the entire Animal band over to Alice Cooper. Ever since 1972, when Bob Ezrin, Alice Cooper’s producer, brought in Wagner to "ghost" lead guitar on the "School’s Out" album, Wagner had continued to play leads, solos and overdubs on all of Cooper’s albums. The Cooper-Wagner songwriting collaboration began with, ‘I Love The Dead’ on the 'Billion Dollar Babies' album (Wagner was uncredited). Cooper and Wagner began a prolific collaboration that spanned several decades. The first full album they wrote together, "Welcome to My Nightmare," spawned a number of Top 10 singles. The Nightmare tour, with a road crew of more than 45 persons, private airplanes, technical wizardry and extravagant staging and lighting, became the biggest and highest grossing rock tour of its time. Shock rock was born. With Wagner's studio walls lined with gold and platinum awards, he writes with the observant eye of a world traveled artist. In the late 1980’s, Wagner was commissioned to write music by the San Antonio Commission on Child Abuse. Wagner’s poignant composition, "Remember the Child," painfully reflects the ills of child abuse. Renowned author/lecturer John Bradshaw discovered the song and chose it as his theme for the Emmy nominated PBS special "Homecoming." It has since become the anthem for tens of thousands who have been scarred by child abuse, and is a catalytic tool used by many therapists in dealing with their patient's hidden traumatic feelings. Returning to Michigan in early 1994, Dick formed Dick Wagner and the Souls Journey Band. In 2005, Wagner relocated to Phoenix to form a new production company, Desert Dreams Productions, LLC with partners Suzy Michelson and Alex Cyrell, entrepreneurs and founders of Omnimount Systems and Future Primitive Designs. A full service record label and artist management company, Desert Dreams specializes in “Music Production and Artist Development for the extraordinary Artist.” More than forty years after launching his storied and dynamic career, hit songwriter, guitar virtuoso, producer and arranger, Dick Wagner, remains a brilliant, prolific and vibrant force in American music. Whether it be rock, blues, country, jazz or spiritual, Wagner's songs continue to detail the essence of life. His guitar work continues to inspire guitarists world wide, and his production values recall the era of great songs with great melodies and universally accessible lyrics. |
Dick Wagner’s songs and lead guitar have been featured on more than 150 renowned albums, including 14 Platinum records, 16 Gold Records, 5 Silver Records; and Wagner has garnered numerous BMI Songwriter Awards.
Wagner moved to New York to form Ursa Major, a seminal rock band and power trio that recorded one defining album for RCA. The raw musical power and artistry of Ursa Major inspired a generation of rock musicians and remains an influential album for today’s musicians. An unknown fact: the original Ursa Major lineup included Wagner on guitar and Billy Joel on keyboards, but dramas in Billy’s personal life intervened and he left the band. 
