Members Of GUNS N' ROSES, KISS, TWISTED SISTER React To RIC OCASEK's Death

Members of GUNS N' ROSES, KISS, TWISTED SISTER, WEEZER, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SACRED REICH, TESTAMENT, SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS and DANKO JONES are among the rock musicians who reacted on social media to the passing of Ric Ocasek, the guitarist and leader of THE CARS, who was found dead in his Manhattan apartment yesterday (September 15) at age 75.

According to Rolling Stone: "At approximately 3 p.m. ET, police officers responded to a 911 call at Ocasek's home [on] 19th Street. Officers discovered Ocasek unconscious and unresponsive. He was later pronounced dead at the scene, though no cause of death has been revealed."

Ocasek is survived by six sons, two from each of his three marriages. At the time of his death, he was estranged from his third wife, supermodel Paulina Porizkova, whom he married after the two met while shooting the video for 1984's "Drive". The couple last year announced their separation.

Ocasek, who was born Richard Theodore Otcasek in Cleveland, and THE CARS had 13 Top 40 singles, including "Just What I Needed", "Best Friend's Girl", "Let's Go", "Shake It Up", "You Might Think" and the ballad "Drive". The band split in 1988 and reunited in 2011 for its first album in 24 years, titled "Move Like This". They were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2018.

"THE CARS were the ultimate New Wave dream machine: a hook-savvy super-charged quintet that fused 60s pop, 70s glam and avant-rock minimalism into a decade of dashboard-radio nirvana," the band's biography reads on the Hall Of Fame web site.

In a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Ocasek looked back at the history of THE CARS, saying: "It's kind of weird because it's like a lifetime. It is a lifetime. I had three families during that time. They are like lives that go by and millions of people and things and artists and writers and business people and fans... It's a lot of stuff. It's been a pretty eventful life, I can say."

Image courtesy of Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame