PROFILE

Originally from Fulton,
Maryland, Greg Hawkes
attended Atholton High
School where his first band was called The Ardvarks.
He attended Berklee College of Music, majoring in composition and flute. The first album he performed on was “Milkwood” with future Cars bandmates Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr in 1973 (on sax). Then, again with Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr in Richard and The Rabbits in 1975 (keyboards); and with Martin Mull and his Fabulous Furniture in 1976 (flute, saxophones and clarinet).

1977 marked a new beginning for Greg. He was a founding member of The Cars with Ric and Ben, and with the other original band-members, Dave Robinson and Elliot Easton. The Cars were a dominant presence on the charts between 1977-1987, releasing six multi-platinum albums (“The Cars,” “Candy-o,” “Panorama,” “Shake It Up,” “Heartbeat City,” “Door to Door”) that spawned over a dozen top-twenty hits, and led to sold-out tours worldwide.

Beginning in the early 1980’s, Greg started recording (mainly keyboards) on most of Ric Ocasek’s solo albums, including “Beatitude,” and “This Side of Paradise” (with Chris Hughes). Since 1982, Greg has been recording his own solo albums and singles, including “Niagara Falls” in 1982 (Greg plans to re-release the album again soon – for the first time on CD), and “Jet Lag” and “Backseat Waltz” in 1983. In 1986, Greg composed and performed the soundtrack for the feature film “Anna.” In 1989, Greg worked with the Boston-based band Tribe, producing and recording “Daddy’s Home.”

In 1989, Chris Hughes asked Greg to come to England to record a new Paul McCartney song. He was featured on “Motor of Love” from the “Flowers in the Dirt” album, recorded at Paul’s own recording studio in a vintage windmill just south of London. Greg remembers “It was just great sitting in the control room watching Paul sing the tracks. I remember Chris suggested one of the songs needed a bridge. Paul sat down and wrote wrote one on the spot. Cool.”

In the 1990’s, Greg performed and recorded with bands like Letters to Cleo, Manufacture, and Propaganda.

During 2006–2007, Greg helped found The New Cars, a hybrid reformation of The Cars, featuring original guitarist Elliot Easton, new singer/guitarist Todd Rundgren, Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, bassist Atom Ellis, and former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince. The band toured and recorded “It’s Alive!” a live album with three studio tracks.

In 2007-2008 he divided his time between touring with The Turtles (starring Flo and Eddie), performing in the Ukulele Noir concert series around Boston and the East Coast, working as a session musician, and recording and producing his “UKEsymphonic” works.