RIC OCASEK
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ric Ocasek was an artist, writer and musician, perhaps best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter and rhythm guitarist of iconic post-punk and power-pop band The Cars. Born Richard Otcasek in Baltimore on March 23, 1949, Ocasek was a gifted songwriter and musician throughout his career—both as a solo artist and as a member of various groups. In addition, he developed his career as an influential record producer, working with an array of prominent acts and producing seminal releases by such pioneering bands as Suicide and Bad Brains, and pop sensations Weezer and No Doubt.
During his time as a member of The Cars, Ocasek penned enduring hits such as “Drive,” “Shake It Up,” “Good Times Roll,” “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Just What I Needed”. The Cars’ 1978 eponymous debut certified 6x Platinum, and from there, the band racked up 13 Billboard Top 40 singles (four of them Top Ten hits), across a string of six studio albums that sold more than 17 million records in the U.S. alone.
Ric Ocasek’s music still captures audiences today as his iconic songs are continuously used in popular films and television shows such as “Dead to Me,” “Stranger Things,” “Arrested Development” and many more. The use of The Cars’ “Moving In Stereo” (co-written by Ocasek and Greg Hawkes) in the classic film Fast Times At Ridgemont High has become a popular culture reference in its own right. Ocasek has influenced bands over the decades from Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, who covered “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” as a b-side to their hit “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” to The Killers. Longtime fan Brandon Flowers of The Killers inducted The Cars into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, saying, “They achieved greatness and left a comet trail behind them, writing and recording songs that have transcended into classics…Forty years later they still sound like a new band to me.”
Ocasek continued to harness his unending talent for compelling and poetic songwriting with several successful solo albums, including Beatitude (1982), Fireball Zone (1990), Troublizing (1997) and Nexterday (2005).
In 2010, Ocasek reunited with the surviving original members of The Cars, and in 2011 the band issued Move Like This, a studio album that proved to be a success for the epic group’s multi-generational fan base.
Ric Ocasek’s artistic works include 2012’s Lyrics & Prose, a book of poetry, lyrics and drawings, and, in 2017, a series of fine art gallery shows of his paintings and prints.