Ric Ocasek

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Ric Ocasek
Ocasek in 2009
Ocasek in 2009
Background information
Birth nameRichard Theodore Otcasek
Born(1944-03-23)March 23, 1944
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
OriginCleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedSeptember 15, 2019(2019-09-15) (aged 75)
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer-songwriter
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active1963–2019
Labels
Associated actsThe Cars
Websitericocasek.com

Richard Theodore Otcasek[1] (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He was the primary co-lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the rock band the Cars. In addition to his work with the Cars, Ocasek recorded seven solo albums, and his song "Emotion in Motion" was a top 20 hit in the United States in 1986. Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack, Suicide, Bad Brains, Weezer, Nada Surf, Guided by Voices, and No Doubt. In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.[2]

Early life[edit]

Ocasek was born on March 23, 1944,[a][3][4][5] and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland.[6] When he was 16 years old, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where his father worked as a systems analyst with NASA at the Lewis Research Center.[7] He graduated from Maple Heights High School in 1963.[8][9] Ocasek briefly attended Antioch College and Bowling Green State University, but dropped out to pursue a career in music.[10][11]

Ocasek met future Cars bassist Benjamin Orr in Cleveland in 1965 after Ocasek saw Orr performing with his band the Grasshoppers on the Big 5 Show, a local musical variety program.[12] He reconnected with Orr a few years later in Columbus, Ohio, and the two began performing in and booking bands together. They formed a band called ID Nirvana in 1968 and performed in and around Ohio State University.[13]

Career[edit]

Early career[edit]

After performing in various bands in Columbus and Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ocasek and Orr relocated to Boston in the early 1970s. There they formed a Crosby, Stills and Nash-style folk rock band called Milkwood. They released one album, How's the Weather, on Paramount Records in early 1973 but it failed to chart. Future Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes played on Milkwood's album. After Milkwood, Ocasek formed the group Richard and the Rabbits, which included Orr and Hawkes. Ocasek and Orr also performed as an acoustic duo during this period. Some of the songs they played became the early Cars songs. Later, Ocasek and Orr teamed up with guitarist Elliot Easton in the band Cap'n Swing. Cap'n Swing soon came to the attention of WBCN disc jockey Maxanne Sartori, who began playing songs from their demo tape on her show. After Cap'n Swing was rejected by several record labels, Ocasek got rid of the bass player and drummer and decided to form a band that better fit his style of writing. Orr took over on bass and David Robinson, best known for his career with the Modern Lovers, became the drummer. Hawkes returned to play keyboards and the band became "the Cars" in late 1976.[14]

The Cars[edit]

Main article: The Cars

Ocasek was a founding member of the Cars, recording numerous hit songs from 1978 to 1988. He played rhythm guitar and sang lead vocals for a majority of songs (bassist Benjamin Orr was lead vocalist on the remaining tracks). Ocasek was the oldest member of the band. After splitting writing duty with Orr in the 1970s, Ocasek became the principal songwriter of the band, and wrote nearly all of the Cars' material, sharing credit on only a few songs with bandmate Greg Hawkes as co-writer. In 2010, Ocasek reunited with the surviving original members of the Cars to record their first album in 24 years. The album, entitled Move Like This, was released on May 10, 2011.[15]

Production[edit]

During his time with the Cars, Ocasek developed a reputation as a producer, and took this role for many up-and-coming bands of differing genres including Bad Brains' Rock for Light and Guided by Voices' Do the Collapse. His other production credits include Weezer's Blue Album and Green Album (both multi-platinum), Suicide,[15] Romeo Void, Hole,[15] Bebe Buell,[16] No Doubt,[15] Nada Surf, Irish folk-punk band Black 47, Bad Religion, Johnny Bravo, D Generation, the Wannadies, Possum Dixon, Martin Rev, Jonathan Richman, and the 2006 album by the Pink Spiders titled Teenage Graffiti. He also produced a portion of the third Motion City Soundtrack album, Even If It Kills Me. In 2014, Ocasek produced Everything Will Be Alright in the End, the ninth studio album by Weezer and his third collaboration with the band, and For All My Sisters, the sixth album by the Cribs.[17]

Solo career[edit]

Ocasek released his first solo album in 1982. Beatitude is a somewhat more experimental variation of the Cars' new wave rock sound. On some tracks Ocasek played all of the instruments.[18] Greg Hawkes also played on the album.[19] A more synthesizer-heavy follow-up, This Side of Paradise, was released in 1986; this featured Hawkes, Elliot Easton and Ben Orr.[18] A No. 15 hit single, "Emotion in Motion", accompanied the album.[20]

The Cars disbanded in 1988, and Ocasek disappeared from the public eye for a couple of years. He resurfaced in 1990 with his own album, Fireball Zone. One track, "Rockaway", enjoyed a brief stay on the charts, but his solo albums realized disappointing sales, especially compared to his success with the Cars. He subsequently released other solo works during the decade, including 1993's Quick Change World, 1996's Getchertiktz (a collaboration with Suicide's Alan Vega and Canadian poet Gillian McCain comprising only Beat poetry set to music, sound effects, etc.), and 1997's Billy Corgan-produced Troublizing (which Ocasek supported with a very brief tour, his first since leaving the Cars). In 2005 Ocasek released another album, Nexterday, to little fanfare, but it received positive reviews.[21]

Recordings by Ocasek were reportedly among thousands of tapes destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[22]

In other media[edit]

Ocasek wrote a book of poetry in 1993 titled Negative Theatre. It was at one time expected to be incorporated into an album and multimedia incarnation of the same name, but those plans were dropped abruptly. For many years Ocasek had a hobby of making drawings, photo collages, and mixed-media art works which, in 2009, were shown at a gallery in Columbus, Ohio, as an exhibition called "Teahead Scraps".[23]

Ocasek had a cameo role as a beatnik painter in the John Waters film Hairspray (1988),[24] and had a small part in the movie Made in Heaven (1987)[25] in which he played a mechanic.

Ocasek stated in a 2005 interview in Rockline that he hated touring and was unlikely to do so again. He also stated he would not be reuniting with the Cars again, but gave the okay to his former bandmates to do so, with Todd Rundgren replacing him on vocals, using the name the New Cars.[26][27]

On April 17, 2006, Ocasek appeared on The Colbert Report and volunteered to put Todd Rundgren "on notice". He appeared again on the July 26, 2006, episode to cheers from the audience as he volunteered to lead a commando mission to "rescue" Stephen Jr., the baby eagle at the San Francisco Zoo named after Stephen Colbert. He also appeared again on April 18, 2007, in order to support his wife during her appearance on the show, after remarks that she found Colbert "extremely attractive". He has been mentioned many times in other episodes as well. The Cars, with Ocasek, appeared on The Colbert Report on August 9, 2011, to promote their new album, Move Like This.[28]

In 2012, Ocasek released Lyrics and Prose, a complete collection of lyrics from his solo and Cars' albums. The book also contains prose and poetry never set to music, as well as previously unpublished photographs and artwork.[29]

Personal life[edit]

Ocasek and Cars co-founder Benjamin Orr were close friends who became estranged when the band broke up. The two reconciled prior to Orr's death in 2000. Their friendship was commemorated in the song "Silver", which Ocasek wrote in memory of Orr.[5][30][31]

Ocasek was married three times. His first wife Constance divorced him in Ohio in 1971. In the same year he married Suzanne Otcasek, who uses the original spelling of Ocasek's name. They were married for 17 years.[32] During filming of the music video for the Cars' song "Drive" in 1984, Ocasek met 18-year-old Czech-born[33] supermodel[34] Paulina Porizkova, while he was still married to Suzanne. Ocasek and Suzanne divorced in 1988. He and Porizkova were married on August 23, 1989[35] on Saint-Barthélemy island. In May 2018, Porizkova announced she and Ocasek had separated a year earlier.[36]

Ocasek had six sons, two from each of his three marriages. His eldest son, Christopher (b. 1964), is a singer who formed the rock group Glamour Camp which released one album in 1989, and appeared as a solo artist in the film Pretty Woman (1990).[37] His other children include Adam (b. 1970), Eron (b. 1973),[37] Derek (b. 1981),[32][37][38] Jonathan Raven (b. 1993),[39] and Oliver (b. 1999).[40]

Death[edit]

Ocasek was found dead on September 15, 2019, by his estranged wife, Paulina Porizkova, at his New York City townhouse, which they still shared[41] following their separation the previous May.[36] He had been recovering from surgery.[41][42][43] The Chief Medical Examiner office reported that Ocasek died from natural causes. He suffered from both hypertensive heart and coronary artery disease.[44]

Porizkova and Ocasek were still in the process of their divorce, but he had disinherited her in a new will, alleging that before his recent surgery she had abandoned him. He also disinherited two of his six sons (Chris and Adam), which required a probate judge to rule on the veracity of the abandonment claims before the remaining estate could be divided.[45]

Discography[edit]

Solo albums[edit]

Spoken word albums[edit]

  • Getchertiktz with Alan Vega and Gillian McCain (1996)

With the Cars[edit]

Main article: The Cars discography

Solo singles[edit]

Title Release Peak chart positions Album
US
[20] 		US Rock
[48] 		US AC
[49] 		US Dance
[50] 		AUS
[47] 		CAN NZ
[51]
"Something to Grab For" 1983 47 5 — — — — — Beatitude
"Jimmy Jimmy" — 25 — 60 — — —
"Connect Up to Me" — — — 37 — — —
"Emotion in Motion" 1986 15 1 8 — 8 18 35 This Side of Paradise
"True to You" 75 9 — — 100 — —
"Rockaway" 1991 — 11 — — — 46 — Fireball Zone
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Guest appearances[edit]


Title

 Release Album
"Steal the Night" 1983 The King of Comedy
"I Still Want You" 1987 Made In Heaven
"Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" 1991 Simply Mad About the Mouse
"Crash" 1994 Speed

Production credits[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Following Ocasek's death, there was some confusion about his date of birth. He had claimed to be five years younger than he actually was.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Ric Ocasek, rock star and The Cars frontman, has died". CBS News.
  2. ^ "The Cars". Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on March 21, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  3. ^ Gwee, Karen (September 16, 2019). "Tributes paid to The Cars' Ric Ocasek". NME. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  4. ^ Coleman, Nancy (September 17, 2019). "Was Ric Ocasek Actually 75?". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2019. With most — but not all — evidence pointing to 1944, declaring Mr. Ocasek's age with absolute certainty can be tricky, especially when the best person to verify with is no longer with us. But on Monday, The Times felt certain enough to make a definitive change to Mr. Ocasek's obituary. The story no longer alludes to any conundrum: He was 75.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Browne, David (October 18, 2019). "The Mystery of Ric Ocasek: 'He Tried for Happiness, But Underneath Was a Lot of Pain'". Rolling Stone.
  6. ^ Fricke, David (March 21, 1982). "Workaholic Ric Ocasek Freaks Out at Vacationtime". Omaha World-Herald. Nebraska. p. E8.
  7. ^ Cartwright, Garth (September 16, 2019). "Ric Ocasek obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  8. ^ Pareles, Jon (January 25, 1979). "Power Steering". Rolling Stone. New York: Straight Arrow Publishers Inc. Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  9. ^ Greene, Andy (December 13, 2017). "The Cars' Ric Ocasek on the Hall of Fame: 'It's a Good Cap to the Bottle'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 23, 2018. That was in Cleveland, Ohio, since I used to live there.... I graduated from [Maple Heights] [sic] High School in 1963.
  10. ^ Pond, Steve (July 19, 1984). "Drive, he said". Rolling Stone. New York.
  11. ^ Ladd, Susan (July 13, 1984). "Leader of the Cars Knows How to Crank Out Video Hits". Greensboro News & Record. North Carolina. p. B1.
  12. ^ Scott, Jane (November 14, 1986). "In the Driver's Seat". The Plain Dealer. p. Friday 42.
  13. ^ Scott, Jane (August 7, 1984). "Cars Are Roaring Back". The Plain Dealer. p. 5C.
  14. ^ Milano, Brett. Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology. Rhino.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Spitz, Marc (May 5, 2011). "Q&A: Ric Ocasek of the Cars". Vanity Fair.
  16. ^ "Covers Girl - Bebe Buell". bebebuell.org. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  17. ^ "The Cribs reveal Ric Ocasek of The Cars will produce their new album". NME.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Van Matre, Lynn (October 24, 1986). "Cars' Front Man Taking Stardom At His Own Speed". South Florida Sun Sentinel.
  19. ^ "Cars". Trouser Press.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "Ric Ocasek Chart History > Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  21. ^ "Nexterday - Ric Ocasek - Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  22. ^ Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  23. ^ Whiteman, Doug (March 29, 2009). "The Cars' Ocasek shakes up career with art debut". Associated Press.
  24. ^ "Hairspray (1988) - Cast, Credits & Awards". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. 2012. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012.
  25. ^ "Made in Heaven (1987) Acting Credits". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. 2012. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
  26. ^ Sokol, Tony. "Ric Ocasek, Lead Singer for the Cars, Dies at NYC Home". Den of Geek. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  27. ^ DeLuca, Dan. "Remembering Ric Ocasek and Eddie Money: Two 'perfect' rockers whose work withstood the ages". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  28. ^ Hart, Josh. "Video: The Cars Perform on the Colbert Report". Guitar World. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  29. ^ "Ric Ocasek on Lyrics and Prose". The Leonard Lopate Show. WNYC. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  30. ^ Taylor, Luke. "The Cars' co-founder and frontman Ric Ocasek has died". KCMP. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  31. ^ Fricke, David. "Ric Ocasek Rocks CBGB". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  32. ^ Jump up to: a b Goldstein, Toby (1985). Frozen Fire: The Story of the Cars. Chicago: Contemporary Books. p. 14. ISBN 0-8092-5257-0.
  33. ^ Chamoff, Lisa. "Supermodel Paulina Porizkova, Musician Ric Ocasek List Gramercy Townhouse For $15.25M". Forbes. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
  34. ^ "Ric Ocasek of The Cars: His life in pictures". USA Today. September 15, 2019.
  35. ^ Smith, Laura C. (August 18, 1995). "Ric Ocasek gets married". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  36. ^ Jump up to: a b Haas, Mariah (May 3, 2018). "The Cars' Ric Ocasek and Wife Paulina Porizkova Announce Split After 28 Years of Marriage". People. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b c Carey, Stacey (September 16, 2019). "The Cars Rocker Ric Ocasek Leaves Behind Six Children From Three Previous Wives". inquisitr.com. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  38. ^ Fricke, David (June 9, 2011). "The Return of the Cars". Rolling Stone. pp. 50–53.
  39. ^ Brozan, Nadine (November 17, 1993). "Chronicle". The New York Times. p. B4. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  40. ^ Lovece, Frank. "Ric Ocasek, Paulina Porizkova split after 28 years of marriage". Newsday. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  41. ^ Jump up to: a b Pareles, Jon. "Ric Ocasek, New Wave Rock Visionary and the Cars Co-Founder, Dies at 75". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  42. ^ "Ric Ocasek, Lead Singer of The Cars, Dead in New York at 75". NBC New York. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  43. ^ Serota, Maggie (September 16, 2019). "Ric Ocasek Was Recovering From Surgery When He Suddenly Died". Spin. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  44. ^ "Cause of death determined for the Cars singer Ric Ocasek". PIX 11 New York. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  45. ^ Mayoras, Danielle and Andy. "An Estate Fight May Be Coming Over Ric Ocasek's Estate". Forbes. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  46. ^ Jump up to: a b "Ric Ocasek Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
  47. ^ Jump up to: a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 221. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  48. ^ "Ric Ocasek Chart History > Mainstream Rock Songs". Billboard. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  49. ^ "Ric Ocasek Chart History > Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  50. ^ "Ric Ocasek Chart History > Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  51. ^ "charts.org.nz > Ric Ocasek in New Zealand Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  52. ^ "Suicide: Alan Vega/Martin Rev – Suicide". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  53. ^ "Benefactor – Romeo Void | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  54. ^ "Rock for Light – Bad Brains | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  55. ^ "Saturn Strip – Alan Vega | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  56. ^ "Heartbeat City – The Cars | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  57. ^ "Rattlesnakes – Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Lloyd Cole | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  58. ^ "Door to Door – The Cars | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  59. ^ "A Way of Life – Suicide | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  60. ^ "Why Be Blue? – Suicide | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
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  66. ^ "High/Low – Nada Surf | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  67. ^ "No Lunch – D Generation | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  68. ^ "I'm So Confused – Jonathan Richman | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  69. ^ "New Sheets – Possum Dixon | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  70. ^ "Do the Collapse – Guided by Voices | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  71. ^ "Yeah – The Wannadies | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  72. ^ "Weezer [Green Album] – Weezer | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  73. ^ "No Doubt Feels 'Rock Steady'". Billboard. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  74. ^ "This Island – Le Tigre | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  75. ^ "Talk to La Bomb – Brazilian Girls | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  76. ^ "Teenage Graffiti – The Pink Spiders | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  77. ^ "Even If It Kills Me – Motion City Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  78. ^ "Let It Beat – Shwayze | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  79. ^ "Everything Will Be Alright in the End – Weezer | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
  80. ^ "For All My Sisters – The Cribs | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 16, 2019.

External links[edit]

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