Ric Ocasek, the singer of cars, dies at 75

© 2018 Jeff Kravitz
The Cars' Ric Ocasek performs at the 33rd Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Public Auditorium on April 14, 2018 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic)

Ric Ocasek, leader of the group The Cars, in the late 1970s and 1980s, was found dead in his home in New York on Sunday. He was 75 years old.

The NYPD confirmed that he had been found dead after receiving a call from an unconscious man at his home. Emergency services declared him dead on the scene.

Cars and Ocasek were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

With a mix of new wave and rock, the Cars recorded 13 singles among the top 40, including "Just What I Needed", "Good Times Roll" and "You're everything I've got tonight". After the Cars Break In 1988, he produced numerous albums for bands such as Bad Brains, Weezer, Guided by Voices, Bad Religion and Nada Surf. He released seven solo albums, but none had the impact of Cars' original material.

© Time & Life Pictures
Ric Ocasek

Ocasek grew up in Baltimore but moved to Cleveland at the age of 16. He briefly attended the university but gave up to pursue music lessons. In 1965, he met the future bassist / singer of Cars, Benjamin Orr. The two formed a succession of groups and operated in Ohio and Michigan before settling in Boston in the early 1970s. There, they formed a folk-rock band called Milkwood who released an album on Paramount Records which has not been a commercial success; the duo also played as an acoustic duet at the time.

They eventually joined the future Cars group guitarist, Elliot Easton, in a band called Cap & # 39; n Swing, which aired on WBCN, the Boston rock band, but was relaunched as The Cars at the end of 1976, bringing in the keyboard Greg Hawkes and former drummer Jonathan Richman & drummer Modern Lovers. David Robinson.

The following year, a demo of nine songs, including their future hit "Just What I Needed", aired on Boston stations and the band signed with Elektra.

Their first self-titled album, released in June 1978, featured an unusual but appealing mix of styles that captured both the pop-rock sensibility of the time and the nascent sound of the new wave, which was gradually introduced to the States. -United.

In a review this summer, New York Times critic Robert Palmer succinctly described their sound as a combination of "punk minimalism, labyrinthine synthesizer and rock art guitar textures, the rockabilly revival of the 1950s and the melodious power pop melody ".

© 2018 Taylor Hill
Paulina Porzikova and Ric Ocasek at the first annual Art Students League of NY [STartUP] Gala at the Art Students League on May 11, 2018 in New York. (Photo of Taylor Hill / Getty Images for New York Art Students League)

Ocasek is separated from the Czech model Pauline Porizkova in 2018 after 28 years of marriage.

He is survived by six sons, two from each of his three marriages.

Associated slideshow: stars lost in 2019 (via photo services)