Benjamin Orr - Career

Career

Benjamin Orr was born Benjamin Orzechowski in Lakewood, Ohio, to parents of Russian, Czechoslovak, and German descent, who 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 dropped out of Valley Forge High School to join a local band the Grasshoppers as lead singer and guitarist in 1964. The Grasshoppers were the house band on the syndicated TV show Upbeat produced by WEWS-TV in Cleveland. 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 dissolved in 1966 when two of the band members were drafted into the U.S. Army, after which Orzechowski joined the band Mixed Emotions. Later Orzechowski was drafted as well, although he received a deferment after approximately a year and a half in the Army.

Around 1970, Orr moved to Columbus, Ohio where he met Ric Ocasek and formed a musical partnership that would continue through to the end of his life. Along with lead guitarist Jas Goodkind, the two formed a folk band called Milkwood. In 1973, the group released one album, How's the Weather?, which failed to chart. By the mid 1970s, Orr was working in a Boston night club band, Cap'n Swing, whose members included future Cars leader Ric Ocasek and guitarist Elliot Easton. After the group broke up in 1975, the three of them along with keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson formed the Cars in 1976.

As a key member of the Cars, Orr would occasionally sing lead vocal on some of the band's songs. Orr sang lead vocal on the Cars' first Billboard Top 40 hit "Just What I Needed," on their first top 15 hit "Let's Go," and on their biggest hit "Drive," where he also had a part as the storyteller in the accompanying music video. The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

After several top hits and multi-platinum record albums with the Cars, he released his only solo project The Lace in 1986. He co-wrote the music and lyrics with his long-time girlfriend, Diane Grey Page, and the album had one Top 40 hit, "Stay the Night". A second single "Too Hot to Stop" was also released, but did not chart in the Billboard Hot 100. The album cover for The Lace featured Orr on the front and Page on the back. The video for "Stay the Night" reached number one on both MTV and VH1, and Orr won an ASCAP award for the song.

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. 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, "The Voices of Classic Rock" with Mickey Thomas (singer) and John Cafferty, and "Big People", which was a cover band with Jeff Carlisi (of .38 Special), Derek St. Holmes (of Ted Nugent), and Liberty DeVitto (of Billy Joel). Also in the late 1990s, Orr was helping to promote an unknown local band in New England, and even performed a few Cars songs with the band, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.