Subscribe for virtual tools, STEM-inspired play, "The Orr remained with the quintet until its final dissolution in 1988. "I think our voices are similar because we spent so many years together even before the Cars," Ocasek told Vanity Fair. Orr died Oct. 4, 2000, of pancreatic cancer at age 53. By ABC News October 5, 2000 -- Benjamin Orr, singer-bassist for new wave icons the Cars, died Tuesday night in his Atlanta home, after a five-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Ocasek rejected that idea outright. Followed by this song, Orr had released his next solo, 'Too Hot To Stop'. When I think of Ben and all that he meant to me, language is just inadequate, she said. We also link to other websites, but are not responsible for their content. The surviving members reunited for a final album, Move Like Benjamin Orr, singer and bassist with new wave hitmakers the Cars, succumbed to cancer at his home in Atlanta on Tuesday night. dropped out of Valley Forge High School to join the group, "The "This was strictly 'F*ck everything that happened before this," Ocasek told Rolling Stone at the time. The Cars reconvened to record a new album of original material, Move Like This, which generated a moderate hit single in "Sad Song." And yet, in the early 2010s, it happened. Now that Im older and have interacted with a lot of people, I can see what a rare thing that is. Easton and Hawkes (but not Robinson, who dropped out of the project early on) hit the road in 2006 and 2007 as the New Cars. Orr died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Atlanta on October 3, 2000, at the age of 53. [16] [17] He had made his final public appearance six days earlier, performing with Big People in Anchorage, Alaska; bandmates Jeff Carlisi, Derek St. Holmes and Rob Wilson were at Orr's bedside when he died. [18] About 25% of cases of pancreatic cancer can be traced to smoking (it is the biggest risk factor). Benjamin Orrs birthstone is Sapphire. Ocaseks dad was a systems analyst for NASA, The New York Times reported. Benjamin Orr, singer and bassist with new wave hitmakers the Cars, succumbed to cancer at his home in Atlanta on Tuesday night. He was 53. Benjamin Orr had his own solo album, which was released in 1986, and the name was 'The Lace'. Ric Ocasek allowed Hutton to direct a video for the song, and one of the first things he did was call a casting director. It feels quite strange to be up here without him. Ocasek later told Rolling Stone that while he and Orr were "the best of friends forever," by the end of the Cars' last tour in the late '80s, Orr had taken to traveling on his own bus, apart from the other band members and rarely exchanging words with Ocasek. Its now been revealed that Ocasek died from cardiovascular disease specifically hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, also called atherosclerosis, which is an accumulation of plaque in the arteries that can weaken the hearts muscle. He would have been elated to be here on this stage. "It never sounded good," he said in Frozen Fire: The Story of the Cars. His Russian and Czechoslovakian parents actively encouraged his musical endeavors. Kidadl is independent and to make our service free to you the reader we are supported by advertising. Ric Ocasek relocated with his family from Maryland to Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960s, and one night in 1965 he caught Benjamin Orr's band the Grasshoppers performing on the black-and-white musical showcase The Big 5 Show. [asked if his illness--pancreatic cancer--would keep him from performing] If I fall down one day and can't get up, you will know it's over. And because WBCN was a commercial radio station, Saroti kept logs of the songs she played, which get send to music industry trade publications. "Magic" and "Let's Go" made the Top 20. Wiki User. Born Benjamin Orzechowski in Cleveland in 1947, he first cut his teeth as a member of teenage ensemble the Grasshoppers, the house band for a regional American Bandstand-style TV program. variety show, "Upbeat"; the group also released two singles on the Benjamin Orr At Kidadl we pride ourselves on offering families original ideas to make the most of time spent together at home or out and about, wherever you are in the world. 8, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. 2011-09-08 04:27:11. The first speaker, Chris Kamburoff, had played with Orr in Mixed Emotions, a band that preceded the Cars by several years, and he led the audience through the Our Father prayer after saying, Benjamin will live on.. dropped out of Valley Forge High School to join the group, "The instruments in his teen years. I touched his cheek to rouse him. He became interested in music as a teenager, listening to Buddy Holly & the Crickets. It was there in the late 60s that he met Ric Ocasek, a musician and college dropout. Previously, he fronted the house band of the TV rock show Upbeat, and was leader of a local group, The Grasshoppers. CIA Director, Noam Chomsky Named in Epstein's Private Calendar: Report After a while, Orr and the rest of the band headed to New York City in search of stardom. The band split up in 1988, and bassist Benjamin Orr died of pancreatic cancer at age 53 in 2000. The final speaker was Orrs fianc, Julie Snider, who had organized the memorial. At the age of 53, Benjamin Orr died from pancreatic cancer in his Atlanta, Georgia, home on October 3, 2000. Kidadl provides inspiration to entertain and educate your children. Supposedly he died just one week after the end of a mini-tour. Benjamin Orr In the year of 1976, Benjamin Orr, Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes, and David Robinson formed a band in Boston and named it 'The Cars'. Cars Co-Founder Orr Dead at 53 (modern). Ex-Grasshoppers Dante Rossi and John Matuska also testified to the way Orr affected them. Orr is survived by his fiance, Julie Snider, and a 5-year-old son, Ben, from a previous marriage. This answer is: a half years in the Army. The Cars' rise to the top coincided with the early days of MTV, and the band was among the handful of acts that embraced the new medium. Their eponymous debut album was recorded in a fortnight and released that same year. The autopsy also noted pulmonary emphysema as a contributing factor, Daily Variety revealed. The memorial commenced with an introduction by Michael Stanley, who recalled the various occasions on which he had met Orr and described him as a cross between Elvis and Paul McCartney. Throughout the course of the evening, Stanley would introduce speakers with a certain levity (he made numerous jokes about their deteriorating eyesight) and continually expressed his admiration for Orr.