I think the journalist (I'm a recovering journalist myself) is suffering from a a mortality complex (she should read some Heigel if that isn't immediately a familiar term). When women fib all the time (including my mother in law who is "5" years younger) about their age, everybody indulges them. It's cute, it's harmless. I think it's endearing and I always play along. To write a story like, basically accusing him of being unethical, and about somebody whose understated genius the author clearly can't even fathom (one of the most underrated stars ever, up there with his friend Debbie Harry) is... I was going to say sad, but that's being horribly misused a lot lately (oh, that's so SAD!). I'll let the readers of my rant insert their own appropriate adjective. I get choked up thinking about the passing of this genius as well as my neighbor David Bowie, so I'm deferring on my assessment of this journalist to you my fellow readers.
Why exactly is this important?
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As a Cars fan, I found this article to be another enjoyable way to remember Ric and his band. Thank you NYT.
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Some of us in the genealogy world have been plugging away at discovering his family and we think we have nailed who his parents and grandparents are. Ric was good at being private about his family (which is definitely not a bad thing in this day and age, when we have to know every detail a la those Kardashian people.
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What’s impressive is that his music career started in the mid 60# but he didn’t become successful until the late 70s. It’s a good example on how hard work applied to something you love can eventually pay off (or not!)
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Ric Ocasek always had an aura of mystery around him. He'd probably laugh at all of this talk about his real birthdate. I don't care. I'm just sad he's gone.
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His friend Alan Vega, from the band Suicide lived almost his entire professional career having convinced people that he was ten years younger than he actually was. They started to reach success as musicians in the late 1970s. I wonder if one of them got the idea to do this from the other?
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I think most folks are of the opinion - Who Cares ?
I graduated HS at 17, yet had a Liquor card that said I was much older. It usually worked.
Now, being much much older, I can still shave of at least a decade anytime I want. In conversations with total strangers who have asked how old I was, they have been surprised when I told them my true age. Just lucky I guess.
@Dheep'
In that case, most folks were under no obligation to read or comment on this article, which is clearly identified as an offering of Times Insider, which is explicitly identified as "explain[ing] who we are and what we do, and deliver[ing] behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together." Even if you don't care, you should be glad that there are people (I think they're called competent journalists) who do care.
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Of all the things to discuss about his life, this seems the least important.
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@Metrognome It was really strange, in the immediate aftermath of the announcement of Ocasek’s death, to see many articles say he was 75 and many other articles say he was 70. I even saw one headline that hedged its bets by saying “Ric Ocasek died in his 70s”. As such I greatly appreciate this “sausage-making” article to help shed light on why this odd discrepancy between news sources existed and how one goes about seeking out the truth, which after all is what journalism is all about!
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I graduated high school in 1963 also, and am now 74. But age at which one started school depended on month as well as year. Because of this, my brother (born in October) was 3 years behind me (born in March). And, at least in my day, one could skip a grade or be held back. I agree with Ira Leviton; find the birth certificate.
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@Larry Raffalovich Public record.
Ocasik was born in Baltimore - there doesn't seem to be any doubt about that. So couldn't the Times have sent a reporter to the Maryland Department of Health to check the birth indices for those years, or gotten somebody from a local Baltimore newspaper to do that? Primary information is the best of all.
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@Ira Leviton Not just anybody can get a copy of another person's birth certificate. In Maryland, you have to be the individual named in the certificate, that person's parents or surviving spouse, a court-appointed guardian of the named person, or a representative of the individual, the parents or the guardian with a notarized letter from the individual, parent or guardian giving permission. Why do you think it was so difficult to get a copy of President Obama's birth certificate?
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@Tony Fitts Please re-read at my comment. I did not say to get a copy of the birth certificate. I said to check the birth indices. There's a big difference. The birth indices, which as far as I know are public information for Baltimore County, have at least the name, date, and certificate number - in other words, they tell which birth certificates are available to those who have a right to them and with the proper identification.
He certainly looked 75! On that note, why do artists never really exercise? Is because it isn’t cool where drugging, smoking and drinking is?
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@Beth Ditto That's the old days. Now many are in amazing shape. Springsteen looks like a body builder. Adam Levine is ripped from Yoga. Anthony Kleidis, Dave Navarro, John Bon Jovi, Sting, and many others workout like fiends- mostly running and Yoga to keep the "Rock and Roll" body, generally really thin. Perfect examples of that are Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop, who you might assume are typical unhealthy rock stars by their appearance, but are also both workout enthusiasts- practically every day.
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@Beth Ditto Check out Mick Jagger's workout routine sometime.
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Have you seen Ringo?
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I used to see two different birth years listed for the late writer Tom Wolfe: 1930 and 1931.
Wikipedia now says 1930.
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I am relieved that a conclusion was reached
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When I was a kid Jack Benny’s claim of being eternally 39 struck me as odd...Thirty nine seemed elderly...Yet, years ago, as a middle-aged online dater I trimmed a decade off my own age only to find that women on OKCUPID were doing much the same thing...All’s fair in love ...and rock n roll...
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@By Far This Was Transformation
Jack Benny had his 39, and I have decided that I will perpetually be in Isle of Wight territory. (Hint: June 18, 2006.)
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This article seem dreadfully insensitive - what if he was 70 or 75? The point is he was legendary - and his legacy is huge.
He's passed. Let's mourn and remember what he gave the world - wonderful music.
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She's sixty eight, but she says she's fifty four
I ain't gonna work for Maggie's ma no more
I think Bob Dylan pretty much summed it up.
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Mr. Ocasek probably did what I did, add 5 years to his age when he was 16 so he could function as an adult.
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@Tom Levings Back in those days you were an adult at 16.
I also saw a mention that his first child was born in 1964, so if he was born in 1949 he would have been a father at the age of 15. Does that seem likely, since he was still in high school and running track in 1962? Also, he was in show business, dropped the T from his last name and dyed his hair, so it's pretty likely that he wanted fans to think he was a bit younger and cooler. No harm in that. His music was more than worth a little hedging on the facts.
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I don't care when he was born. Ric Ocasek was a pioneer and musical genius. He reminds me of Brian Wilson, who also hated touring and was more comfortable in the studio.
IMO, Ric and Ben Orr are up there with Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Henley/Frey and other great singer-songwriter duos. Maybe you had to live through that period, but I consider The Cars and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers to be the greatest American rock bands.
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@Mark McIntyre I loved the Cars...Howard Stern did a tribute to his "lookalike," Rick Ocasek, yesterday, and they did have a half dozen incredible hits. BUT to compare any other songwriters to Lennon/McCartney is simply ridiculous. They are orders of magnitude beyond any other songwriters in their volume of output.
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@Phil
Timing is everything... when the Beatles hit they didn't have near the competition that the Cars had when they hit... the market was diluted compared to the 1960s market the Beatles were afforded.
And I don't just mean artists... I mean media in general. When the Beatles hit most markets had one radio station. By the time the Cars were playing on the radio, markets had multiple stations playing multiple genres.
It's apples and oranges. The Beatles absolutely pioneered modern hit making... but the Cars were no slouch in their own time.
Enjoyed Ric and the Cars immensely while in college in the early 80s. RIP Ric!
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I saw Mr. Ocasek on Governors Island a few years ago at Fete Paradiso with his family. He was easily recognizable in his black jacket, white shirt and black sunglasses in August. At the time, he didn't look a day over 40.
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When the 1950 census is released in 2022, that should answer the question of his age. I think Loretta Lynn's claimed age was disproven when the 1940 Census was released in 2012. Genealogists are already counting down to the 1950 Census release.
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I live in the Cleveland area, and he was always talked of as a native Clevelander. The year he graduated, and Maple Heights High School were always mentioned. Not a mystery in this city that host The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, never.
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I am turning 65. I graduated from high school in 1973, thirty miles south of Maple Heights. Ocasek graduated in 1963. Therefore, Ric was 75.
Also, I remember seeing Ric and Benjamin Orr perform with the Grasshoppers on the "Upbeat" show produced by WEWS in Cleveland in 1965. The Cars did not make it big until the late '70s. By that time, Ocasek was a tad old to be a progressive rocker. Hence, the harmless prevarication about year of birth.
There was a lot of arcane stuff on that Cleveland show: Ocasek, Orr, the Music Explosion out of Mansfield, Ohio; the Lemon Pipers from Oxford, Ohio; not to mention Jeff Kutash and Upbeat Dancers.
It was Cleveland's version of 'Shindig' and 'Hullabaloo.'"
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