Ric Ocasek, a co-founder and lead singer of the brand new wave band The Cars, was discovered useless in New York City on Sunday, authorities stated. Ocasek was 75.

The New York Police Department stated his physique was present in a Manhattan townhouse on Sunday afternoon. Ocasek, who was unconscious and unresponsive, was pronounced useless on the scene, authorities stated.

Ocasek’s reason behind demise wasn’t instantly clear, however police stated no criminality was suspected.

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Ocasek co-founded The Cars in Boston in 1976 with bassist and singer Benjamin Orr. The band’s sound merged basic guitar-oriented rock with synthesizer-driven pop sounds of the late 1970s and early 80s.

The band recorded greater than a dozen Top 40 anthems, together with “My Best Friend’s Girl,” “Good Times Roll,” and “Just What I Needed.”

The Cars had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame final 12 months.

The Cars broke up within the late 1980s, however Ocasek would go on to change into a famous producer, working with influential punk and rock bands like Bad Brains, Weezer and Bad Religion.

Ocasek cut up along with his spouse, Paulina Porizkov, final 12 months in what the Czech-born supermodel known as a peaceable separation.

On Sunday, followers and musicians mourned Ocasek’s demise, recalling the Cars’ sound as seminal — and Ocasek as an “architect of modern guitar pop,” as one observer put it.