Richard Theodore Otcasek[1] (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek (/oʊˈkæsɪk/ oh-CASS-ik[2]), was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

In addition to his work with the Cars, Ocasek recorded seven solo albums, and his song "Emotion in Motion" was a top 20 hit in the United States in 1986.

Ocasek also worked as a record producer for artists such as Motion City Soundtrack,[3] Suicide,[4] Bad Brains,[5] Weezer,[6] Nada Surf,[7] Guided by Voices[8] and No Doubt.

[18][19] Ocasek briefly attended Antioch College and Bowling Green State University, but dropped out to pursue a career in music.

Cap'n Swing soon came to the attention of WBCN disc jockey Maxanne Sartori, who began playing songs from their demo tape on her show.

After Cap'n Swing was rejected by several record labels, Ocasek got rid of the bass player and drummer and decided to form a band that better fit his style of writing.

After splitting writing duty with Orr in the 1970s, Ocasek became the principal songwriter of the band, and wrote nearly all of the Cars' material, sharing credit on only a few songs with bandmate Greg Hawkes as co-writer.

[25] Not long after the album's release and its supporting tour, however, the Cars resumed their hiatus, and reunited once again in April 2018 for a performance at the ceremony of their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[26] During his time with the Cars, Ocasek developed a reputation as a producer, and took this role for many up-and-coming bands of differing genres including Bad Brains' Rock for Light and Guided by Voices' Do the Collapse.

Ocasek released his first solo album in January 1983, Beatitude, which features a more minimal and sparse interpretation of the Cars' new wave rock sound.

One track, "Rockaway", enjoyed a brief stay on the charts, but his solo albums realized disappointing sales, especially compared to his success with the Cars.

He subsequently released other solo works during the decade, including 1993's Quick Change World, 1996's Getchertiktz (a collaboration with Suicide's Alan Vega and Canadian poet Gillian McCain comprising only Beat poetry set to music, sound effects, etc.

For many years Ocasek had a hobby of making drawings, photo collages, and mixed-media art works which, in 2009, were shown at a gallery in Columbus, Ohio, as an exhibition called "Teahead Scraps".

[33] Ocasek had a cameo role as a beatnik painter in the John Waters film Hairspray (1988),[34] and had a small part in the movie Made in Heaven (1987)[35] in which he played a mechanic.

[42] During filming of the music video for the Cars' song "Drive" in 1984, Ocasek met 19-year-old Czech-born[43] supermodel[44] Paulina Porizkova, while he was still married to Suzanne.

1964), is a singer who formed the rock group Glamour Camp, which released one album in 1989, and appeared as a solo artist on the soundtrack to the film Pretty Woman (1990).

[50] Ocasek was found dead on September 15, 2019, by his estranged wife, Paulina Porizkova, at his New York City townhouse, which they still shared[51] following their separation in 2017.

[55] Porizkova and Ocasek were still in the process of their divorce at the time of his death, but he had disinherited her in a new will, alleging that before his recent surgery she had abandoned him.

Porizkova would not tell Vanity Fair the precise terms of the settlement, but said that the estate was not worth $5 million as was widely reported soon after Ocasek's death.

According to The New York Times, Ocasek never corrected his age and birth year in later interviews or press releases, but a preponderance of other government records and his self-acknowledged 1963 high school graduation date indicate that he was born in 1944.