Today is the 49th birthday of former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek. The Cars, best known for such songs as "Just What I Needed," "Shake It Up" and "You Might Think," were one of the first bands to successfully mix guitar-pop with new-wave flourishes. Ocasek also has pursued a solo career and has been a prolific record producer.

Born Richard Otcasek in Baltimore, Ocasek began playing guitar at the age of 10. He didn't get into music professionally until he dropped out of college and hooked up with future Cars bassist Ben Orr in Cleveland. The two played together in a series of bands around the Midwest before settling in Cambridge, Mass., in the late '70s. The Cars were formed in 1976 and quickly became one of the preeminent bands of the Boston scene. Their self-titled debut was released in 1978 and was an instant hit. Yielding such hits as "Just What I Needed," "My Best Friend's Girl" and "Good Times Roll," the album was so successful that its follow-up, Candy-O, was delayed nearly a year. By the time Candy-O was released in 1979, the Cars had moved from clubs to arenas and hit the pop charts once again with "Let's Go" and "It's All I Can Do." The group altered its sound at the start of the '80s, experimenting with different rhythm patterns and electronic textures on 1980's Panorama. That album included the hit "Touch and Go."

In 1981, the Cars hit the top 10 for the first time with "Shake It Up," the title track off their album from that year. Ocasek also began his prolific producing career in 1981, standing behind the mixing boards for such artists as Romeo Void, Bebe Buell and Bad Brains, among others. The Cars came back strong with 1984's Heartbeat City and made excellent use of MTV to help launch the singles "You Might Think," "Magic," "Drive," "Hello Again" and "Tonight She Comes." The Cars started making Door to Door in 1987, but they were on their last legs by the time the album came out and officially broke up in 1988. Ocasek had released a series of solo projects while the Cars were still together, his most successful being 1986's This Side of Paradise, which yielded the hit single "Emotions in Motion." Late last year, Ocasek released Troublizing, an album that he co- produced with Smashing Pumpkins and featured such musicians as Hole's Melissa Auf Der Maur and former Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes.

Other birthdays: Chaka Khan, 45; Marti Pellow (Wet Wet Wet), 32; and Damon Albarn (Blur), 30.