Famous people's places / Oak Park

Oak Park High School

Oak Park's public high school since 1954, where producer Don Was fronted his first rock band and writer Bob Black studied.

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Oak Park High School opened in 1954 in Oak Park, the inner-ring suburb just north of Eight Mile Road that boomed after World War II and was home to a large Jewish community in the 1950s and 1960s. Its graduates from those decades make a surprising list. Don Was, born Don Fagenson in Detroit in 1952, sang and played guitar in a rock band called the Saturns as a teenager, graduated from Oak Park and later formed Was (Not Was) with his school friend David Weiss. He went on to produce records for the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt and in 2012 became president of Blue Note Records. Anarchist writer Bob Black, author of the essay The Abolition of Work, studied here from 1965 to 1969. Doug Fieger, who sang My Sharona with The Knack, economist Jeffrey Sachs, Nobel economics laureate Paul Milgrom and Shakespears Sister singer Marcella Detroit are also alumni. The Knights, in red, black and white, won the state Class B basketball title in 1984.

Opened in 1954 in the Oak Park School District
Don Was fronted the Saturns here before Was (Not Was)
Bob Black studied here from 1965 to 1969
Alumni include Doug Fieger, Jeffrey Sachs and Paul Milgrom
State Class B basketball champions in 1984

Famous Detroiters

Famous people tied to this place 6

Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.

Jeffrey Sachs born 1954 · economist, public policy analyst
Studied here
The suburban high school he graduated from before leaving for Harvard.
Paul Milgrom born 1948 · economist
Studied here
His suburban high school; he grew up in Oak Park after the family left Detroit.
Bob Black born 1951 · anarchist writer
Studied here
The suburban public high school he attended until 1969.
Royce da 5'9" born 1977 · rapper, songwriter
Studied here
Public high school in the suburb of Oak Park, where he grew up after moving from Detroit.
Don Was born 1952 · bassist, record producer, label executive
Studied here
Suburban high school where he fronted the rock band the Saturns.
Doug Fieger 1952–2010 · singer, guitarist, songwriter
Studied here
Public high school in the northern suburb of Oak Park, which he attended.