Ric Ocasek, lead singer of the Cars, dead at 75

I don't know whatever happened to it, but for a while, Ric Ocasek had a studio in the Back Bay or Fenway. He was extremely generous with helping young musicians out.

I worked at a cafe on Newbury Street for a while that he & Paulina Porizkova used to visit sometimes. She was funny & had a wicked sweet tooth, which I could relate to. Anyway, they tipped well & were extremely nice, and I think I got a hickey to every one of his songs in junior high, so I'll always have a soft spot for him.

Went to Fessenden with his kid. Mostly used to enjoy when Ric’s wife used to come to our wrestling meets but I also very much enjoyed the “Cahhs.” RIP. Bless-

I was shocked that he was the same age as Keith and Mick. RIP 80's icon.

From Facebook....

I had loved his songs and sound since my older sister started buying Cars records in the early 80s. years later, as i saw him walking into the knitting factory, i approached him and gave him a demo tape. i'd sat near mitch easter on a subway train a few weeks before and had been too shy to approach him and had vowed to never let that happen again. ric was very gracious, and asked me if my phone number was on the cassette. two weeks later coming home late from a weekend i found my roommate with a huge grin on his face, saying i should listen to the answering machine. i called ric back and he invited me to his house in gramercy park. i biked up from sullivan street. i sat with paulina at the kitchen table while he made us coffee. she said "he likes your phrasing." it felt like the first time someone outside the band and our circle of friends had seen something in me. we went down to his basement studio and he asked me about our demo tape, saying we could release it as an album but that if we ever wanted to record it again, he would want to produce it and would charge very little money. i said we had a new drummer and we wanted to make it again. he asked if we had a record deal. i said we didn't. he said to keep in touch and call anytime. back outside i saw that i had missed the pole and had locked my bike to nothing, surely because i was in such a dreamstate. my bike still being there added to the new york fairytale feeling. a few months later we were at electric lady, recording our debut. ric lent me books of poetry and let me use his guitars and amplifiers. as we recorded the songs, we always chose the second or third take. he always chose the first and would have me sing a couple of scratch vocals on it. when we were done with guitars, i asked him if it was time to sing. he said "you're done, you did it already." i think he sensed that the "real thing" would have made me nervous and he wasn't going to let me blow it. the record company wanted to visit during the recording and he wouldn't let them. he showed us so much kindness and generosity, as he did to everyone he worked with.