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Benjamin Orr | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Benjamin Orzechowski |
Born | September 8, 1947 Lakewood, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | October 3, 2000 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | (aged 53)
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Years active | 1965–2000 |
Labels | Elektra |
Formerly of | The Cars · Voices of Classic Rock |
Benjamin Orr (born Benjamin Orzechowski, September 8, 1947 – October 3, 2000) was an American musician best known as the bassist, co-lead vocalist, and co-founder of the new wave band the Cars. He sang lead vocals on several of their best-known songs, including "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go", "Moving in Stereo", and "Drive". He also had a moderate solo hit with "Stay the Night".
Orr was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars in 2018.
Benjamin Orzechowski was born in Lakewood, Ohio to immigrant parents. His mother, Elizabeth (née Alžbeta Benová), was Carpatho-Rusyn, born in present day Kojšov, Slovakia, and his father, Charles Orzechowski, was born in present day Ukraine. Both were devout Byzantine Rite Catholics and Ben's mother would not allow him to drive his first car until the local clergy had blessed it. His family actively supported his musical endeavors. He became proficient in several instruments including the guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and drums.
Known locally as "Benny 11 Letters", he grew up in Lakewood, Ohio, and Parma, Ohio and attended Valley Forge High School before joining local band the Grasshoppers in 1964.
Formed in Cleveland, Ohio, the Grasshoppers were a instrumental-based foursome. Their featured band members were Louis Pratile (lead guitar), Jerry Zadar (bass guitar), and Sid Turner (drummer). They were joined by the then-seventeen-year-old Orzechowski, who became their lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and sometimes doubled as a drummer.
In 1965, the Grasshoppers released two singles on the Sunburst label: "Mod Socks" and "Pink Champagne (and Red Roses)", the latter written by Orzechowski.
The Grasshoppers (and later the Mixed Emotions) were also the house band on the Big 5 Show, more commonly known as Upbeat, a musical variety television show produced by WEWS-TV in Cleveland.
The Grasshoppers dissolved in 1966, when two of the band members were drafted into the U.S. Army. Orzechowski then played in the band Mixed Emotions, which featured Joe Kurelic (drummer), Chris Kamburoff (rhythm guitar), David Gardina (bass guitar), and Jimmy Vince with Orzechowski (lead guitar) as lead vocalists. The band recorded three unreleased tracks "Forever You Have My Heart", "I'll Do My Cryin' In The Rain", and "I Can't Help It".
He later joined another band, the Colours. But eventually, Orzechowski was drafted as well, although he received a deferment after approximately a year and a half in the Army.
Orr first met Ric Ocasek in Cleveland in the 1960s, after Ocasek saw Orr performing with the Grasshoppers on the Big 5 Show. A few years later, Orr moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he and Ocasek formed a musical partnership that would continue in various incarnations (until the break up of the Cars in 1988).
In the early 1970s, after moving to Boston, Massachusetts, the two musicians formed the folk trio Milkwood with guitarist Jim Goodkind. The group was named after a Dylan Thomas poem called "Under Milkwood". In 1972, the group released one album, How's the Weather? under Paramount Records which failed to chart. From the list of songs on the album, Orr wrote "Lincoln Park".
Remaining in Boston, Ocasek and Orr then formed another band, Richard and the Rabbits, featuring keyboardist Greg Hawkes, followed by another band, Cap'n Swing, which included guitarist Elliot Easton. After the group broke up in 1976, the four of them and drummer David Robinson formed the Cars.
As a member of the Cars, Orr sang lead vocal on some of the band's best-known songs, including their first hit in the top 40, "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go", and "Drive", their highest charting single in the United States.
Orr continued to work with the Cars for one more album, Door to Door, and tour before the group disbanded in 1988, after which he and the other members pursued solo work.
Orr released his only solo album, The Lace, in 1986. He co-wrote the music and lyrics with his longtime girlfriend Diane Grey Page, who also sang backing vocals and appeared on the album's back cover. The album featured a top 40 Pop hit, "Stay the Night". The song was also a top 10 album rock hit. An accompanying music video for the song was in heavy rotation on MTV.
A second single, "Too Hot to Stop", was also released, but did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, though it reached No. 25 on the album rock chart.
Sometime in the mid-1990s, Orr recorded tracks with guitarist John Kalishes for an unreleased follow up to The Lace.
From 1998 until his death in 2000, he performed with his own band ORR and two side bands, Voices of Classic Rock with Mickey Thomas and John Cafferty, and cover band Big People, with Pat Travers (of the Pat Travers Band), Jeff Carlisi (of 38 Special), Derek St. Holmes (of Ted Nugent), and Liberty DeVitto (of Billy Joel).
Orr was married twice and had one son.
In April 2000, Orr was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and hospitalized. However, he continued to perform with the band Big People throughout that summer at music festivals and state fairs. He reunited with the Cars one last time in Atlanta, for an interview that was included in the Rhino Records concert video The Cars Live.
Orr died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Atlanta on October 3, 2000, at the age of 53. He had made his final public appearance less than six weeks earlier on August 25, performing with Big People in Anchorage, Alaska; bandmates Jeff Carlisi, Derek St. Holmes and Rob Wilson were at Orr's bedside when he died.
Ric Ocasek wrote and recorded the song "Silver" as a musical tribute to Orr. It appeared on Ocasek's 2005 solo album, Nexterday. The Cars reunited ten years after Orr's death and released their seventh studio album, Move Like This, in May 2011. Orr was given special thanks in the liner notes: "Ben, your spirit was with us on this one."
Title | Release | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||
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US | US Rock | US AC | AUS | CAN | |||
"Stay the Night" | 1986 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 66 | 31 | The Lace |
"Too Hot to Stop" | 1987 | — | 25 | — | — | — | |
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart. |
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