R.I.P.: Ric Ocasek, Songwriter, Lead Singer For The Cars

Rick Ocasek

Ric Ocasek, the songwriter and lead singer for the Cars, was found dead on Sunday afternoon at his townhouse in Manhattan, according to the New York Police Department.

He was 75, according to The NYTimes.

In a string of multimillion-selling albums from 1978 to 1988, Ocasek and the Cars merged a vision of dangerous and romantic night life and the concision of new wave with the sonic depth and ingenuity of radio-friendly rock. The Cars managed to please both punk-rock fans and a far broader pop audience, reaching into rock history while devising new, lush extensions of it.

The Cars grew out of a friendship forged in the late 1960s in Ohio between Mr. Ocasek — born Richard Theodore Otcasek — and Benjamin Orr, who died in 2000.

They worked together in multiple bands before moving to Boston and forming the Cars in the late 1970s with Elliot Easton on guitar, Greg Hawkes on keyboards and David Robinson on drums. It was the beginning of the punk era, but the Cars made their first albums with Queen’s producer, Roy Thomas Baker, creating songs that were terse and moody but impeccably polished.



Fox News reports his estranged wife, supermodel Paulina Porizkova, found him unresponsive Sunday afternoon at his home in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood adding that he apparently died of natural causes. Police said there was no sign of foul play.

The Cars' self-titled 1978 debut album was a smash hit, boosted by singles including "Just What I Needed." The album helped lead the way for new wave's influence on rock music throughout the following decade.

The band's 1981 single "Shake It Up" hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while 1984's "Drive" hit #3.

"I liked songwriters, I was always attracted to people like Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Gene Vincent in the '50s, and when the '60s came, of course I loved The Beatles, but I also loved the Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart, and Frank Zappa," Ocasek told The Vinyl District earlier this year. "I certainly always loved a good pop song. I always liked great songs, and it didn’t matter if it was from the Carpenters or Lou Reed. As long as they were done well and they weren’t corny or fake."

The band broke up in the late-'80s, as Ocasek embarked on a solo career. His 1986 single "Emotion in Motion" was Ocasek's only song to crack the Top 40 without The Cars behind him.



Ocasek and Porizkova were married for 28 years before their breakup last year. They were said to have met while The Cars recorded the music video for "Drive."