Ric Ocasek, The Cars frontman whose deadpan vocal delivery and lanky, sunglassed look defined a rock era with chart-topping hits like B次元官网网址淛ust What I Needed,B次元官网网址� was discovered dead Sunday afternoon in his Manhattan apartment.
The New York Police Department said that officers found the 75-year-old Ocasek at about 4 p.m. after responding to a 911 call. They said there were no signs of foul play and that the medical examiner was to determine a cause of death.
The death comes a year after The Cars were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, followed by an announcement by model Paulina Porizkova on social media that she and Ocasek had separated after 28 years of marriage. The pair first met while filming the music video for B次元官网网址淒rive,B次元官网网址� another Cars hit.
Ocasek, who sang, played guitar and wrote most of the bandB次元官网网址檚 songs, and Benjamin Orr, who played bass and also sang, were ex-hippie buddies who formed The Cars in Boston in 1976. They were a decade older than many of their modern-rock compatriots but became one of the most essential American bands of the late 1970s and 1980s with their fusion of new wave, 1960s pop and 1970s glam.
OcasekB次元官网网址檚 minimalist, half-spoken deadpan vocals set made the bandB次元官网网址檚 sound, and his long, lanky appearance formed their lasting image.
The first three songs on their 1978 self-titled first album were all hit singles and remain widely known classics and oldies radio airplay: B次元官网网址淕ood Times Roll,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址滿y Best FriendB次元官网网址檚 GirlB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淛ust What I Needed.B次元官网网址�
They had 10 other singles in the Billboard top 40, and of their six studio albums, four were in BillboardB次元官网网址檚 top 10.
The bandB次元官网网址檚 commercial peak came with 1984B次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淗eartbeat City,B次元官网网址� which featured the hit singles B次元官网网址淵ou Might ThinkB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淢agic,B次元官网网址� sung by Ocasek, and the atypical ballad B次元官网网址淒rive,B次元官网网址� sung by Orr.
They were always an MTV favourite, and the whimsical, partly animated video for B次元官网网址淵ou Might ThinkB次元官网网址� along with the mournful video for B次元官网网址淒riveB次元官网网址� brought them near-constant airplay on the channel in the mid-1980s.
The band broke up in 1988, but their influence would be deeply felt in the 1990s and beyond. Kurt Cobain and Nirvana covered B次元官网网址淢y Best FriendB次元官网网址檚 GirlB次元官网网址� at their last live show in 1994, and Ocasek produced albums for younger bands including Weezer, No Doubt and Bad Religion.
The Cars were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 after being nominated twice before. During the ceremony, Ocasek paid tribute to Orr, who died in 2000 of pancreatic cancer.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 quite strange to be here without him,B次元官网网址� Ocasek said.
In announcing the separation last year, Porizkova said that their family is B次元官网网址渁 well-built car.B次元官网网址� But she says that B次元官网网址渁s a bicycle, my husband and I no longer pedal in unison.B次元官网网址� Ocasek had six sons, two from each of his three marriages.
He grew up in Baltimore, and his family moved to Cleveland when he was a teenager. After graduating high school he had stints at Antioch College and Bowling Green State University in the mid-1960s before dropping out to pursue music.
Ocasek met Orr in 1965 and they formed their own first band called ID Nirvana in 1968. In the 1970s they relocated to Boston and formed bands including the folk-rock Milkwood and also played as an acoustic duo before finding their calling when they created The Cars.
Tom Hays And Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press
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