Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member and recording artist Ric Ocasek, best known as lead vocalist, songwriter and rhythm guitarist of the band The Cars, has signed with SESAC Performing Rights, a U.S.-based music rights organization that administers public performance, mechanical and other rights through its subsidiary businesses.
During his time as a member and primary songwriter of The Cars, Ocasek penned enduring hits such as “Drive,” “Shake It Up,” “Good Times Roll,” “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Just What I Needed.”
“As a multi-faceted artist, Ric continues to inspire with his creative influence and subtle bravado,” says John Josephson, Chairman and CEO, SESAC. “His remarkable career as songwriter and musician has made a significant impact on American music, and SESAC is proud to welcome Ric to our affiliate family.”
Ric Ocasek’s music still captures audiences today as his iconic songs are continuously used in popular films and television shows such as Dead to Me, Stranger Things, Arrested Development and many more. The Cars’ “Moving In Stereo” (co-written by Ocasek and Greg Hawkes) was used in the classic film Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Ocasek has influenced bands over the decades from Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, who covered “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” as a b-side to their hit “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” to The Killers. Longtime fan Brandon Flowers of The Killers inducted The Cars into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
Ocasek has developed his career as a producer, working with a number of prominent acts, and producing seminal releases by such pioneering bands as Suicide and Bad Brains, as well as pop sensations like Weezer and No Doubt.
In 2010, Ocasek reunited with the surviving original members of The Cars, and in 2011 the band issued Move Like This.
Most recently, the rock star has taken his visual art exhibition titled Ric Ocasek: Abstract Reality on the road with Wentworth Galleries, who have a network of art galleries in the United States.
