Happy 68th Birthday to the eternally cool Ric Ocasek of the Cars! He was born in Baltimore on March 23, 1949. Later he relocated with his family to Ohio, where he met Benjamin Orr.  They formed a short lived folk band called Milkwood in the early 70’s. When that project ended, Ric and Ben continued making music together. They eventually formed a new wave band after moving to Boston, called Cap’n Swing. They later changed the name to the Cars. Ric Ocasek played rhythm guitar, shared lead vocal duties with Ben Orr and wrote nearly all of the songs in the Cars catalog. He is also married to model Paulina Porizkova, whom he met at the video shoot for the song Drive in 1984. They got hitched in 1989 and are still together today...a true victory in the world of rock!

Children's Defense Fund's Beat The Odds Gala
Monica Schipper/Getty Images
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We count two shows from the Cars at the Civic Center in Portland concert history. The first one happened on Halloween night in 1979 and was a sold-out show. The second and last-ever Maine performance  was on November 20, 1987.

Here’s Ric on lead vocals with My Best Friend’s Girl live from 1978.

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