Ric Ocasek

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Ric Ocasek (2009)

Ric Ocasek (* 23. March 1944 in Baltimore as Richard Otcasek ; † 15. September 2019 in New York ) was an American musician and record producer . He became known as the singer of the band The Cars , which he co-founded , for which he also wrote most of the songs.

Life

Ric Ocasek was born and raised in Baltimore. His family later settled in Cleveland .

In 1965 he met Benjamin Orr there. After both playing in different bands, they moved to Boston in the 1970s . In 1976 they founded the band The Cars . With the singles Good Times Roll , My Best Friend's Girl and Just What I Needed from the self-titled debut album, the band celebrated their first successes. In particular, the album Heartbeat City , released in 1984, was commercially successful , from which the singles You Might Think , Magic , Hello Again and the Ballade Drive - the latter was by far the largest single success for the group in Germany - were extracted. In 1988 the group disbanded.

In parallel to working with the band, Ocasek began a solo career in 1982. His greatest success was with his first two albums Beatitude and This Side of Paradise, as well as the 1986 single Emotion in Motion . After he had already been responsible for the Cars as a producer, he continued to work in this role for other artists. He produced the blue and green albums by Weezer as well as albums by No Doubt , Le Tigre , Suicide , Bad Religion , Nada Surf and the Bad Brains .

In 2010 there was a brief, one-year reunion of the Cars, in 2011 the album Move Like This was released . In 2018 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , after which the band performed together again.

Ric Ocasek had been married to Paulina Porizkova since 1989 , whom he met in 1984 while shooting the music video for the single Drive . Both have two sons. In 2017 the couple separated. Ocasek's two first marriages resulted in a total of four other sons, including the musician Christopher Otcasek and the actor Eron Otcasek .

Ocasek was found dead in his Manhattan apartment by Porizkova on September 15, 2019 . The musician, who last suffered from cardiovascular disease , died of natural causes.

Discography

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US
1982 Beatitude US28 (16 weeks)
US
1986 This Side of Paradise US31 (23 weeks)
US

further solo albums

  • Fireball Zone (1991)
  • Quick Change World (1993)
  • Troublizing (1997)
  • Nexterday (2005)

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
US US
1983 Something to Grab For
Beatitude 		US47 (9 weeks)
US
1986 Emotion in Motion
This Side of Paradise 		US15 (19 weeks)
US
1987 True to You
This Side of Paradise 		US75 (8 weeks)
US

more solo singles

  • Jimmy Jimmy (1983)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ric Ocasek Obituary , nbcnewyork.com, accessed September 19, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c "The Cars" singer Ric Ocasek is dead. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved September 16, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Cars , rockhall.com, accessed September 16, 2019.
  4. ↑ Singer Ric Ocasek & Paulina Porizkova: Divorce after 28 years. Retrieved May 3, 2018 .
  5. ↑ At the age of 75: Cars singer Ric Ocasek died . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed September 16, 2019]).
  6. ↑ David Browne: Paulina Porizkova Remembers Ric Ocasek's 'Incredible Gentleness'. In: rollingstone.com. Retrieved October 21, 2019 .
  7. ↑ n-tv NEWS: What Ric Ocasek died of. Retrieved September 18, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b Ric Ocasek in the US charts Billboard Hot 100 (singles) and Billboard 200 (albums)
personal data
SURNAME Ocasek, Ric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Otcasek, Richard (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician and record producer
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Baltimore , United States
DATE OF DEATH before September 15, 2019
Place of death New York City , United States