The Cars

In late 2004, The Cars hit song "Just What I Needed" was played in Circuit City television ads. Coles became a journalist for the Times Literary Supplement and Catholic Herald. In the late 1990s, rumors circulated of a Cars reunion, but Orr's death of pancreatic cancer on October 3, 2000 put an end to them. They split in 1988 and Somerville began a solo career. The Cars announced the group's break-up in February 1988 (1988 in music). In 1987 they released an album called Red which featured a cover version of Gloria Gaynor's hit Never Can Say Goodbye, which the Communards took to Number 4. After the resulting period of superstardom, the Cars released their last album Door to Door in 1987, but it failed to approach the success of their previous albums. Later that year The Communards had another Top 10 hit with the single So Cold the Night.

The bands hits dominated the charts for over nine years; their most successful albums were 1978's The Cars, which featured one of the most popular New Wave songs of all time in "Just What I Needed," and 1984's Heartbeat City, which included four Top 20 singles: "Magic," "Drive," "Heartbeat City," and "You Might Think," which also won the MTV Video of the Year Award (see 1984 in music). It featured Sarah-Jane Morris as a co-vocalist. While Elliot Easton could do the occasional guitar solo, The Cars' sound was defined much more by Greg Hawkes' synthesizers and the huge harmonies of Easton, Robinson, and Hawkes behind Orr's and Ocasek's lead vocals. The following year they had their biggest hit with an energetic cover version of Thelma Houston's soul classic Don't Leave Me This Way which spent four weeks at number one and became the UK's biggest selling single of 1986. The Cars successfully bridged the gap between the guitar-oriented rock of the 1970s and the synth-oriented pop of the early 1980s. The band had their first UK Top 20 hit in 1985 with the piano-based single You Are My World. The nucleus of the group was composed of guitarists Ocasek and Orr. Jimmy was renowned for his falsetto (high pitched) singing style, and the fact that he was openly gay.

The band's members were Ric Ocasek (born Richard Otcasek), the band's principal songwriter, rhythm guitarist, and part-time lead singer; Benjamin Orr (born Benjamin Orzechowski), bassist and part-time lead singer; Elliot Easton, lead guitar and backing vocals; David Robinson, drums and backing vocals; and Greg Hawkes, keyboards, saxophone, guitar, and backing vocals. Though mainly a pianist, Coles played a number of instruments and had been seen previously performiong the clarinet solos on the Bronski Beat hit It Ain't Necessarily So. They hailed from Boston, Massachusetts and were signed to Elektra Records in 1977 (1977 in music). They formed in 1985 after singer Jimmy Somerville left his earlier band Bronski Beat to team up with classically-trained musician Richard Coles. The Cars were an American New Wave band, one of the most popular to emerge out of the early punk scene in the late 1970s. The Communards were a British pop duo of the 1980s. Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology (Rhino Records, 1995). Communars 08.jpg.

Door to Door (Elektra, 1987). For the French political activists, see communards.. Greatest Hits (Elektra, 1985). This article is about the pop group The Communards. Heartbeat City (Elektra, 1984). Shake It Up (Elektra, 1981).