Ric Ocasek

Baltimore-born Richard Otcasek, later Ric Ocasek, fronted The Cars, formed in Boston in 1976 with bassist and vocalist Benjamin Orr, lead guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and drummer David Robinson. He wrote “Just What I Needed,” “Good Times Roll,” and “My Best Friend’s Girl,” all on the band’s self-titled debut, which Roy Thomas Baker produced and which arrived in 1978; “My Best Friend’s Girl” reached number 3 in the UK, the band’s highest-charting UK single. Across six studio albums the band placed 13 singles in the Billboard Top 40, four of them in the Top Ten. Candy-O (1979) peaked at number 3 on the Billboard album chart and was eventually certified quadruple platinum, and its single “Let’s Go” became the band’s first Top 15 hit. Heartbeat City (1984), produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange, sold four million copies, the band’s fifth consecutive platinum album, and carried “Drive,” “Magic,” and “You Might Think,” a Top 10 hit. After Door to Door (1987) the band went on hiatus; Ocasek reunited with the surviving original members in 2010, and in 2011 they released Move Like This . His first solo album, Beatitude , came out in 1982, and he released six more, the last in 2005. As a producer he also worked with Bad Religion and Nada Surf, and Weezer’s frontman chose him to produce the band’s debut because of “Just What I Needed.” The Cars received six Grammy nominations before his death on September 15, 2019, among them Best New Artist in 1979 and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “Drive.” Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020) places The Cars at number 353, and “Just What I Needed” appears at 369 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (2021). In 2012 he published Lyrics & Prose , a book of poetry, lyrics, and drawings, and in 2017 he held a series of fine art gallery shows of his paintings and prints. Heartbeat City was remastered in 2016 for an expanded edition with rare and unreleased bonus tracks. In September 2024 his estate teamed with Primary Wave Music on his publishing catalog, covering all of his songs from The Cars and all of his solo songs, and in June 2025 Primary Wave added the band’s artist royalties in a partnership with The Cars. His official website, a media gallery, presents his music, productions, videos, photographs, artwork, and poetry, and “Moving In Stereo,” which he wrote with Greg Hawkes, was used in Fast Times at Ridgemont High .