Richard Allen Wagner (December 14, 1942 – July 30, 2014) was an American rock 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.
Born in Oelwein, Iowa, Wagner grew up in the Owosso, Michigan, area and graduated from Waterford Township high school in 1961. His first band, called the Bossmen, was a favorite in the Detroit area and scored radio play with the Wagner-penned composition "Baby Boy", "You're the Girl for Me" and others. Wagner formed his next band, the Frost, with Donny Hartman, Bobby Rigg and Gordy Garris, in the late 1960s and built up a substantial following in the Michigan area. The band featured the dual lead guitars of Wagner and Hartman. The band released three studio 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 was the principal songwriter, arranger and lead vocalist of the Frost. Their live appearances brought out large crowds of young fans throughout the region.
In 1972, Wagner moved to New York and formed the short-lived group "Ursa Major". The original line-up included Billy Joel on keyboards and Rick Mangone on drums. As Billy Joel had to leave the band for personal reasons, Wagner replaced him with former Amboy Dukes bassist Greg Arama. They released one seminal, acclaimed self-titled studio album as a power trio. The band toured nationally with Jeff Beck and then with Alice Cooper.
In 1973, Wagner was recruited by producer Bob Ezrin for Lou Reed's band along with Steve Hunter. Wagner and Hunter were featured guitarists on Reed's dark and controversial third solo studio album, Berlin (1973). Soon after, Wagner and Hunter were joined by Prakash John, Pentti "Whitey" Glan and Ray Colcord for Reed's Rock 'n' Roll Animal Tour. As band leader and arranger, Wagner took the early Reed songs that had been recorded by the Velvet Underground and rearranged them for the concert stage. The new arrangements left behind the laid back feeling that had been established by the prior Reed band and won Reed his first gold album. The band toured internationally with Reed, culminating in the album Rock 'n' Roll Animal (1974), recorded live at the New York Academy of Music in December 1973. Readers of Guitar World ranked the Hunter/Wagner solos on the 1973 live version of "Sweet Jane" 81st among the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time.
It was during Wagner's days with the Frost that he first met Alice Cooper. Producer Bob Ezrin brought both Wagner and Steve Hunter into the studio to play guitar on the early Alice Cooper albums. Wagner had already been featured on the band's fifth studio album School's Out (1972), notably for playing the memorable guitar solo on the track "My Stars". Wagner continued to play lead guitar (sometimes uncredited) on every Alice Cooper band album that followed, through the break-up of the original group.
When the members of the original Alice Cooper group parted ways in 1974, Wagner officially teamed up with Alice Cooper and became his principal co-writer, lead guitarist and band director. Together they wrote their first concept album, Welcome to My Nightmare. Produced by Bob Ezrin, the album was released in 1975. The Nightmare Tour became the largest and longest touring rock show of the time. The live show also featured the dueling lead guitars of Wagner and Hunter in a guitar battle captured in the film of the same name. The film became a TV special and was later released on home video in 1976. The world tour covered more than 120 cities over an eighteen-month period. Wagner continued to co-write songs and play lead guitar on additional Cooper albums, including: Goes to Hell (1976), The Alice Cooper Show (1977), Lace and Whiskey (1977), From the Inside (1978; written by the team of Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner and Bernie Taupin), Zipper Catches Skin (1982), DaDa (1983) and Hey Stoopid (1991) among others.
At the suggestion of producer Bob Ezrin, Wagner contributed guitar tracks to the highly successful fourth studio album by Kiss, Destroyer (1976) – the first Kiss album to prominently feature outside musicians. Though uncredited, Wagner replaced Ace Frehley as lead guitarist for the tracks "Flaming Youth" (only guitar licks) and "Sweet Pain" (guitar solo), while also playing the acoustic guitar found on the ballad "Beth". As one of Ezrin's hired guns throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s, Wagner continued to lend his playing (and in some cases, songwriting) talents to albums including Peter Gabriel's self-titled solo debut (1977), Air Supply, Aerosmith's Get Your Wings (1974; Wagner played the guitar solos on "Same Old Song and Dance" and "Train Kept A-Rollin'", the latter with Steve Hunter), Hall & Oates' Along the Red Ledge (1978), Kiss's Revenge (1992), and Burton Cummings' Dream of a Child (1978). Wagner produced and co-wrote songs for Mark Farner's solo debut and a pair of albums for the star of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Tim Curry, and more.
In 1978, Wagner released a solo studio album called Richard Wagner, produced by Bob Ezrin, and released on Atlantic Records. The album title confused both record stores and disc jockeys, who relegated the record to the classical music bin, assuming it was a classical music record composed by the 19th-century classical composer with the same name.
One of the best-known songs written by Wagner is "Only Women Bleed". Written during Wagner's days with the Frost and titled "Movin' On", Wagner was unhappy with his lyrics and did not release it. After starting his collaboration with Alice Cooper, Wagner played the song for him. Alice had a title for a song he had been wanting to write. While keeping the main riff and vocal melodies, Cooper and Wagner penned new lyrics and recorded it for Cooper's debut solo studio album Welcome to My Nightmare. The song delivered a message against domestic violence. Since its initial release in 1975 "Only Women Bleed" has been covered by more than 30 artists, including Tina Turner, Etta James, Guns N' Roses, Lita Ford, Carmen McRae and Tori Amos.
Following "Only Women Bleed", Wagner co-wrote a series of hit power ballads with Alice Cooper, including "I Never Cry", "You and Me" and "How You Gonna See Me Now" (the latter written by Cooper, Wagner and Bernie Taupin). Other songs co-written by Wagner brought him public recognition as a songwriting talent. First "Shine Silently" with Nils Lofgren, who performed it originally on his fifth solo studio album Nils (1979), then as part of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band's 1990 eponymous first live album. "Just as I Am", written by Wagner with Rob Hegel, was a Top 20 hit for Air Supply. At the behest of producer Bob Ezrin, Wagner flew to Toronto and recorded guitar on seven tracks of the Air Supply studio album that included this song. Another power ballad, "I Might As Well Be on Mars", again with Alice Cooper, was featured on Cooper's twelfth solo studio album Hey Stoopid (1991).
With Ezrin as Producer, Wagner in 1989 collaborated with Tim Curry on several tracks for Curry's first solo album FEARLESS, which also featured the music of Michael Kamen. Notable was Wagner's solo writing credit for Curry's song S.O.S. and the tracks demonstrate songwriting craft that extended beyond Wagner's rock resume, often as heartfelt if not as impactful as "Only Women Bleed" or "Remember the Child."
"Remember the Child" is one of the songs Wagner was most proud of, written to address the issue of child abuse. Written from the point of view of a child, the lyrics and song melody deliver a powerful and poignant message to adults that a child will forever remember the love or abuse of their childhood. New York Times best selling author John Bradshaw selected "Remember the Child" as the theme song for his award-winning PBS television special, "Homecoming: Reclaiming and Healing Your Inner Child". Bradshaw invited Wagner to join him on his nationwide tour to perform the song as a cathartic and healing piece of music to the thousands who attended Bradshaw's lectures and seminars. Embraced by psychiatrists and psychologists in their practices, the song has been used as a tool to evoke emotion from patients who are unable to express feelings. In 1996, Wagner was invited by Leo Najar, conductor of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra to perform a two and a half hour concert of his songs with the symphony. Wagner entitled the concert, The Remember the Child Concert, raising funds for child abuse agencies in central Michigan through his Remember the Child Foundation.