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Gone at 70 Or 75

Ric Ocasek, the frontman of The Cars, a noted producer and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was found dead at his home in Manhattan on Sunday. He was 75 (though some sources say he was 70). Police found Ocasek unconscious at his townhouse after receiving a call at about 4 p.m. local time. He was pronounced dead at the scene. During their run from 1976 through 1988, The Cars scored 13 top 40 hits, including “Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Good Times Roll.” They were key act in bringing New Wave to the mainstream with their hits on radio and accompanying videos on MTV. Ocasek also became a celebrity of sorts when he started dating, and later married, model Paulina Porizkova. The two met while making the video for The Cars’ 1984 hit “Drive” and married in 1989. They had two sons before separating in 2017. He also had four sons, a pair each, from two previous marriages.

Following the band’s breakup, Ocasek went on to produce several artists, including Weezer’s breakthrough self-titled “Blue” album as well as their “Green” album. Both were multi-platinum hits. Cars bassist, co-lead vocalist Benjamin Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2005, yet the surviving members of the band reunited in 2018 to be inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Scott Shriner of Weezer filled in for Orr on bass.

Ric Ocasek remembers Ben Orr during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech:

“When the band first started, Ben was supposed to be the lead singer and I was supposed to be good looking guy in the band. But after a couple of gigs I kind of got demoted to the songwriter, so I went with that one. But obviously it’s hard not to notice that Benjamin Orr is not here. He would have been elated to be here on this stage in his hometown. It feels quite strange to be up here without him because we miss him and love him dearly.”

Ric Ocasek says he didn’t mind The Cars being disliked by the rock press.

“In those days, there was maybe only a couple of fan magazines. There was Creem, Rolling Stone, obviously there wasn’t any Internet. Some of the press liked us, and some of them didn’t. I always thought that a lot of ’em were critical of us having a sort of cold show. But that was my intent — I was very against prodding the audience to react. I felt that the music spoke for itself and the set spoke for itself. We weren’t really a dance band — we weren’t, you know, we weren’t into acrobatics.”

Ric Ocasek of The Cars talks about his musical influences, as well as those of co-founders Ben Orr, Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton.

“Different people in the band had different inspirations. Ben and I probably had six or eight bands before The Cars. Some of which only lasted a year. Some… six months, you know how you go through that process. People like Greg and Elliot, they were influenced by The Beach Boys and The Beatles and Greg was sort of influenced by Kraftwerk and some of the Euro, German techno bands. And I was a fan of The Velvet Underground and Buddy Holly, and most songwriter people since I wrote the songs.”

Photo Credit: Donna Ward/PR Photos

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