Ric Ocasek, frontman for the new wave group the Cars, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 23, 1949. Ocasek spent the first 16 years of his life in Baltimore before his father, a computer analyst for NASA, was transferred to Cleveland, Ohio. After dropping out of Bowling Greene State University, Ocasek met his collaborator Benjamin Orr at a party in Columbus, Ohio. The pair moved first to New York City, then to Woodstock, New York and finally Boston in pursuit of a music career. The pair performed together in a variety of different groups ranging from folk to jazz to rock before officially forming the Cars in 1976. The Cars began touring throughout the northeast behind a demo tape that found its way on to Boston’s WBCN radio station. The demo featured the band’s signature track “Just What I Needed,” which quickly became one of the station’s most requested tracks. Fueled by the song’s success, the band was signed to Elektra Records and their debut album peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200 chart.