The Cars Lead Singer Ric Ocasek Dead at 75
Ric Ocasek , lead singer of The Cars was found dead in his townhouse in NYC this morning. Ocasek was 75.
There's no official cause of death, but sources say it was natural causes. There's some confusion over his age the NYPD said he was 75, while public records list his age as 70.
The Cars became hugely popular in the late '70s and early '80s, and their hits included "Just What I Needed", "My Best Friend's Girl", "Good Times Roll", "Let's Go", "Shake It Up", "You Might Think", and of course "Drive".
They put out six albums between 1976 and 1988, when they broke up. Bassist Benjamin Orr died of pancreatic cancer in 2000. The surviving members got back together briefly in 2010, and put out one last album, "Move Like This".
In April of 2018, the Cars were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and they reunited once more to perform at the ceremony. That was their final performance with Ric.
Outside of the Cars, Ric produced a lot of albums, including ones by Weezer, No Doubt, Nada Surf, Bad Religion, Bad Brains, Hole, and Guided By Voices.
He also put out a series of solo albums. They were mostly well-received by critics, but didn't make much of a splash commercially.
Ocasek is the second rocker the music world has lost in less than a week with the recent passing of Eddie Money from Cancer.