Ric Ocasek
Ric Ocasek (born
Richard Otcasek on
March 23,
1949, in
Baltimore,
Maryland) is the former
vocalist and frontman for
The Cars and a
producer for several other groups, including
Bad Brains and
Suicide.
The visually distinctive, very slender singer released his first solo album in
1982.
Beatitude is a somewhat more experimental variation of The Cars'
New Wave rock sound. A more
synthesizer-heavy follow up,
This Side Of Paradise, was released in
1986. A #15 hit single, "Emotion In Motion", accompanied the album.
The Cars split in 1988, and Ocasek disappeared from the public eye for a couple of years, resurfacing in
1990 with
Fireball Zone. One track, "Rockaway", enjoyed a brief stay on the charts, but his solo albums have seen disappointing sales, especially compared to his success with the Cars. He subsequently released other solo works throughout the decade, including
1993's
Quick Change World,
1996's
Getchertikitz (a collaboration with Suicide's
Alan Vega), and
1997's
Billy Corgan-produced
Troublizing (which Ocasek supported with a very brief tour, his first since leaving the Cars). In
2005, Ocasek released another album,
Nexterday, to little fanfare but positive reviews.
Producing
Ocasek has produced many records, both while working with The Cars and since then, such as
Bad Brains'
Rock for Light and
Guided By Voices'
Do the Collapse. His other production credits include
Weezer's Blue Album & Green Album (both multi-platinum),
Bebe Buell,
No Doubt,
The Killers,
punk-
poppers Nada Surf and
Irish folk-punk band
Black 47.
Beginning in the mid-
1990s, Ocasek began producing again for acts such as
Bad Religion,
Black 47,
Johnny Bravo,
D Generation,
The Wannadies, Guided By Voices,
Hole,
Possum Dixon,
Martin Rev,
Jonathan Richman, and both of Weezer's hit self-titled releases in
1994 and
2001. Ocasek produced the 2006 album by
The Pink Spiders entitled
Teenage Graffiti.
Ocasek has also written a book of
poetry, 1993's
Negative Theatre. It was at one time expected to be incorporated into an album and
multimedia incarnation of the same name, but these plans were dropped abruptly. Ocasek had a
cameo role in the
John Waters feature film
Hairspray, and had a bit part in the 1987 movie
Made in Heaven in which he played a grease monkey. He has made appearances on
The Colbert Report including one on
April 17,
2006, in which he placed
Todd Rundgren on
Stephen Colbert's "
On Notice" list, and another on
July 26,
2006 as part of a team to rescue
Stephen Jr., the bald eagle named after Colbert, at the
San Francisco Zoo.
Ocasek married
supermodel/
actress Paulina Porizkova in
1989, his third marriage, the first two ending in divorce. He has six sons, two from each of his three marriages. He met Porizkova while filming the
music video for The Cars' song "Drive" (directed by
Timothy Hutton), while he was still married to his second wife Suzanne. Porizkova was only 19 at the time of the 1984 meeting, and they have been together ever since.
Ocasek stated in a 2005 interview on Rockline that he hated touring, and it was unlikely that he would do so again. He also stated he would not be reuniting with
The Cars again, but gave the okay to his former fellow bandmates to do so with
Todd Rundgren replacing him on vocals. However, on April 17, 2006, Ocasek appeared on
The Colbert Report and volunteered to put 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.
On
April 18 2006, he was ranked number 50 in
The Boston Phoenix list of "The 100 unsexiest men in the world."
*
Official website
