October 3, 2000 – Benjamin Orr/Orzechowski (53) -The Cars- was born September 8, 1947 in Lakewood, Ohio. He learned to play many instruments including the guitar, drums, bass, and keyboards ( a veritable one man rock band). In his early days he was known as “Bennie Eleven-Letters” – an American take on his last name being too difficult to pronounce – and dropped out of High School to play in local bands such as Mixed Emotions and The Grasshoppers as lead singer and guitarist. The latter was 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. Orzechowski then played in the band Mixed Emotions. 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. 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 mid-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 breakup of the Cars in 1988). In the late 1960s, they formed the bands ID Nirvana and Leatherwood, performing in and around Ohio State University. After moving to Boston, Mass, along with lead guitarist Jas Goodkind, they formed a folk trio called Milkwood. The group released one album, “How’s the Weather?” in 1972. By the mid 1970s he was working in a Boston night club band, Cap’n Swing, whose members included future Cars founder Ric Ocasek and guitarist Elliot Easton.
After that “almost famous”group broke up in 1975, and remaining in Boston, the duo Ocasek and Orr then formed another band, Richard and the Rabbits, featuring keyboardist Greg Hawkes.

Frustrated by the lack of label interest, Orr and Ocasek switched things up in a big way in 1976, assembling a band they thought was better for Ocasek’s style of songwriting. Orr went to bass, Dave Robinson replaced Robichaud on drums and Hawkes came in on keyboards, and they became The Cars, as suggested by Robinson. The band played their first live show on New Year’s Eve 1976 and spent most of 1977 gigging in and around Boston and the Northeast. When DJ Maxanne Sartori of WBCN started putting some of their demo tracks in her regular broadcast line up, record labels became interested and the band chose to go with Elektra’s offer.
In 1978, the Cars self-titled debut album reached nr. 18 on the Billboard 200 chart and three singles reached the top 40 – including “Just What I needed”, sung by Orr, which became #4 in Billboard’s records of the year. Their next album Candy-O went to #3 in the Billboard 200 and successive singles hit high on the Hot 100. As the streak continued over the next 10 years, the band revisited the Top 40 a dozen more times with radio hits “Let’s Go” and “Shake It Up” along with iconic videos like “Magic” and “You Might Think,” which won MTV’s first-ever “Video Of The Year” award in 1984.
The five original members – Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Greg Hawkes, Elliot Easton and David Robinson – recorded six studio albums together – all of them with Elektra Records – which sold more than 23 million albums in the U.S. alone.
By 1986 the band members started going solo and Orr recorded his only solo album “The Lace” in 1986 and except for the single “Stay the Night” having a #24 peak in the Hot 100, nothing much happened. He cowrote the music and lyrics with his long-time girlfriend Diane Grey Page, who also sang backing vocals and appeared on the album’s back cover. Ben then continued to work with The Cars for one more album before their breakup in 1988, after which he recorded tracks with guitarist John Kalishes.
In 1994 he formed his own band Orr, and in 1998, after moving from Vermont to Talanta , he joined Big People, a band of seasoned rock veterans including Pat Travers (Pat Travers Band), Jeff Carlisi (38 Special), Derek St.Holmes (Ted Nugent) and Liberty DeVitto (Billy Joel’s Band). Also from 1998-2000 he joined Voices of Classic Rock which included Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship and John Cafferty of the Beaver Brown Band.
In April 2000 Orr was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer. He decided to keep on playing that summer with the words: “If I fall down one day and can’t get up, you’ll know it’s over.”
He died October 3, 2000 at the age of 53.
Orr was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars in 2018.