Ric Ocasek
Richard Theodore Otcasek[1] (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek (/oʊˈkæsɪk/ oh-CASS-ik[2]), was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was the primary vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the American new wave 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.
Ric Ocasek
Richard Theodore Otcasek
March 23, 1944
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
September 15, 2019 (aged 75)
New York City, U.S.
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- record producer
- Vocals
- guitar
- keyboards
1963–2019
-
Constance Campbell(m. 1963; div. 1971)
-
Suzanne Otcasek(m. 1971; div. 1988)
Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack,[3] Suicide,[4] Bad Brains,[5] Weezer,[6] Nada Surf,[7] Guided by Voices[8] and No Doubt.[9] In 2018, Ocasek was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.[10]
Early life[edit]
Ocasek was born in Baltimore on March 23, 1944.[a][12] His paternal side was of Czech descent,[13][14][15] and he grew up Catholic.[16] When he was 16 years old, his father moved the family back to the Otcasek hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, where his father worked as a systems analyst with NASA at the Lewis Research Center.[17] He graduated from Maple Heights High School in 1963.[18][19] Ocasek briefly attended Antioch College and Bowling Green State University, but dropped out to pursue a career in music.[20][21]
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.[22] 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.[23]
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.[24]
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".[33]
Ocasek had a cameo role as a beatnik painter in the John Waters film Hairspray (1988),[34] and had a small part in the movie Made in Heaven (1987)[35] 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.[36][37]
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.[38]
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.[39]
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.[12][40][41]
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.[42] During filming of the music video for the Cars' song "Drive" in 1984, Ocasek met 19-year-old Czech-born[43] supermodel[44] Paulina Porizkova, while he was still married to Suzanne. Ocasek and Suzanne divorced in 1988. He and Porizkova were married on August 23, 1989[45] on Saint-Barthélemy island. In May 2018, Porizkova announced she and Ocasek had separated a year earlier.[46]
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 on the soundtrack to the film Pretty Woman (1990).[47] His other children include Adam (b. 1970),[47] Eron (b. 1973),[47] Derek (b. 1981),[42][47][48] Jonathan Raven (b. 1993),[49] and Oliver (b. 1998).[50]