Iconic shock rocker Alice Cooper revealed on his Facebook page that legendary guitarist and former bandmate Dick Wagner passed away on Wednesday, July 30th, at the age of 71. Wagner had recently undergone heart surgery, and contracted a lung infection while hospitalized.

Wagner's vast musical credits include stints with such influential artists as KISS, Aerosmith, Peter Gabriel, Hall And Oates, Meat Loaf, Tim Curry, Nils Lofgren, and Lou Reed, among many others. Though he amassed an impressive resume during his career, Wagner is most well-known for his long-running collaborations with Alice Cooper and fellow guitarist Steve Hunter. Wagner's most famous recordings include Alice Cooper's renowned Billion Dollar Babies and Welcome To My Nightmare, and Lou Reed's seminal 1973 album Berlin and subsequent legendary live album Rock 'n' Roll Animal, all with partner Hunter.

[img2 c]Wagner onstage with Alice Cooper in 1975.[/img2]

Recently, Wagner made guest appearances on Alice Cooper's 2011 album Welcome 2 My Nightmare, playing guitar and sharing writing credit on several songs. He and Cooper had been in the process of writing material for the follow-up album.

Cooper made a statement on his Facebook page in memory of Wagner: "Even though we know it's inevitable, we never expect to suddenly lose close friends and collaborators. Dick Wagner and I shared as many laughs as we did hit records. 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. A lot of my radio success in my solo career had to do with my relationship with Dick Wagner. Not just on stage, but in the studio and writing. Some of my biggest singles were ballads what I wrote with Dick Wagner. Most of Welcome To My Nightmare was written with Dick. There was just a magic in the way we wrote together. 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 an enormous loss for me, Rock N Roll and to his family."

Source:	facebook.com
Band profile:	Alice Cooper