The Cars - Music Artist Band Bio

Biography

In a recording career that started in 1977 the Cars' output was a meagre six albums. Each one, however, sold over a million copies and reached high chart positions in the USA. Formerly known as Cap'n Swing, the stable line-up comprised Ric Ocasek (Born Richard Otcasek, 23 March 1949, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; guitar, vocals), Benjamin Orr (Born Benjamin Orzechowski, 9 August 1947, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, d. 3 October 2000, USA; bass, vocals), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), Elliot Easton (Born Elliot Shapiro, 18 December 1953, Brooklyn, New York, USA; guitar) and David Robinson (drums). Their catchy pop/rock songs were hard to categorize and when they arrived with "Just What I Needed", they were embraced by the new wave art-rock fraternity in the USA. They were an instant success in Britain, notching up a number of hits, and debuting with a Top 3 single, the irresistible "My Best Friend's Girl". The Cars never deviated from writing catchy, well-crafted songs, each containing at least one memorable and instantly hummable riff, which enabled them to gain acceptance on the lucrative AOR market.

In 1984 they enjoyed worldwide success with "Drive,' and a year later the same song was opportunistically but tastefully used to pull at people's consciences during the Live Aid concert. A film accompanying the song, showing the appalling famine in Ethiopia, will forever remain in peoples" minds; as the lyric "Who's gonna plug their ears when you scream" was played, it was replaced by a heart-rending scream from a small child. This memorable yet tragic segment left few dry eyes in the world, and predictably the song became a hit once more. The band broke up at the end of the 80s in favour of solo work, and Ocasek became busy as a record producer, notably with Weezer in 1994. Elliot Easton produced Middlescence for Amy Rigby in 1998, and toured with Creedence Clearwater Revisited. Orr formed Big People, but in October 2000 succumbed to cancer of the pancreas.

Discography:
The Cars (Elektra 1978)****, Candy-O (Elektra 1979)***, Panorama (Elektra 1980)**, Shake It Up (Elektra 1981)***, Heartbeat City (Elektra 1984)****, Door To Door (Elektra 1987)*.

Solo: Elliot Easton Change No Change (Elektra 1985)**. Greg Hawkes Niagara Falls (Passport 1983)**. Benjamin Orr The Lace (Elektra 1986)**.

Compilations:
The Cars Greatest Hits (Elektra 1985)***, Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology (Elektra/Rhino 1995)****, Complete Greatest Hits (Rhino 2002)****.

Videography:
Heartbeat City (Warner Music Video 1984), The Cars Live (Vestron Music Video 1988).

Bibliography:
The Cars, Philip Kamin.



Source: Encyclopedia of Popular Music