Guitarist Dick Wagner dies at 71

Los Angeles: Guitarist Dick Wagner, who played for musicians like such as Alice Cooper and Lou Reed, has passed away aged 71 following a respiratory failure. Wagner died on Thursday July 30 at Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center, Arizona, reported Aceshowbiz.

"The late guitarist had undergone a coronary procedure. Then, he got much better and then worse again. It kind of went up and down a couple times. And then, the last five days, he was declining. It`s still a complete shock because I`m used to him turning around," Wagner`s manager said. Cooper, who co-wrote `Welcome to My Nightmare` and `Only Women Bleed` among others with Wagner, released a statement on Facebook after learning of the news. "Even though we know it`s inevitable, we never expect to suddenly lose close friends and collaborators," he said. Calling Wagner one of a kind and irreplaceable, Cooper added, "There was just a magic in the way we wrote together." Wagner was recruited by Cooper`s producer Bob Ezrin in the 1970s alongside guitarist Steve Hunter and they joined Reed`s tour. "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," Cooper added. Steve Hunter remembered his late collaborator on Twitter. He wrote, "Dick and I were lucky enough to play on some pretty cool records. The stuff we did together back in the Seventies was truly magical." Wagner also fronted his own Michigan-based bands, the Frost and the Bossmen. The late artist was said to be most proud of his song `Remember The Child`, which he wrote to address the issue of child abuse.