Ray Parker Jr.

Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song for the 1984 film Ghostbusters and also sounds from the animated series The Real Ghostbusters. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-5 hit in 1982 with "The Other Woman". He also performed with his band, Raydio, and with Barry White in the Love Unlimited Orchestra.

Early life Ray Erskine Parker Jr. was born on May 1, 1954, in Detroit, Michigan,

Music career

Parker gained recognition during the late 1960s as a member of Bohannon's house band at the 20 Grand nightclub. Lee Ritenour, Rufus, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner (1975), Aretha Franklin (also 1975), Jaye P. Morgan (1976), Leon Haywood, Herbie Hancock, Deniece Williams, Spinners, the Temptations, and Gladys Knight & the Pips.

Parker's first bona fide hit as a writer was "You Got the Love", co-written with Chaka Khan and recorded by Rufus. The single hit No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 11 on the pop charts in December 1974. Parker has stated that he was the original songwriter of Leo Sayer's 1976 hit "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", but that when he submitted the tune as a demo, his accreditation as such was missed.

In 1977, Parker created the R&B group Raydio with Vincent Bonham, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael. Other hits from this period included "I Still Can't Get Over Loving You" (Pop No. 12) and "Jamie" (Pop No. 14).

Parker also played guitar, wrote songs or produced for Cheryl Lynn ("In the Night", "Shake It Up Tonight", 1981), Michael Henderson (1980), New Edition ("Mr. Telephone Man", 1984), Boz Scaggs (1977, 1980), Randy Hall (1984), Deniece Williams, and Diana Ross (1983). He performed guitar on several songs on La Toya Jackson's 1980 debut album. He also sang the theme tune on 1984’s television series Pryor's Place featuring Richard Pryor. In 1989, Run-D.M.C. performed a rap for the movie Ghostbusters II that contained elements of Parker's 1984 hit. 1989 also saw Parker work with actor Jack Wagner (General Hospital) on an album for MCA Records that was eventually shelved and never released. A single from the Wagner sessions, "Wish You Were Mine", featuring an intro rap by Parker, was released on a 1990 MCA promotional sampler CD.

In 2006, Parker released a new CD titled I'm Free. In 2014, he was invited by producer Gerry Gallagher to record with Latin rock musicians El Chicano, as well as Alphonse Mouzon, Brian Auger, Alex Ligertwood, Siedah Garrett, Walfredo Reyes Jr., Spencer Davis, Lenny Castro, Vikki Carr, Pete Escovedo, Peter Michael Escovedo, Jessy J, Marcos J. Reyes, Salvador Santana, and David Paich. In July 2016, Parker performed on the ABC network's television show Greatest Hits.

Parker is also the founder and owner of the Los Angeles–based recording facility Ameraycan Recording Studios. Parker received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.

In 2022, Parker competed in season eight of The Masked Singer as "Sir Bug a Boo". After being eliminated on "Fright Night" alongside the forfeiting of Linda Blair as "Scarecrow", he performed the Ghostbusters theme as an encore.

Ghostbusters theme song lawsuit In 1984, Huey Lewis sued Columbia Pictures and Parker, stating that the melody to the Ghostbusters theme song infringed on the copyright of the Huey Lewis and the News song "I Want a New Drug", which had been released on their album Sports the previous year. The three parties reached a settlement in 1995 which forbade them from revealing any information that was not included in a press release they jointly issued at the time. In March 2001, Parker filed a suit against Lewis for breaching the part of the settlement which prohibited either side from speaking about it publicly.

Music videos Parker was one of the first black artists to venture into the then-fledgling world of music videos. In 1978, Hollywood producer Thom Eubank produced several music videos of songs from Raydio's first, eponymous album on Arista Records. The single "Jack & Jill" was the first released to air on Wolfman Jack's Saturday night television show, The Midnight Special. The music videos were also transferred to film and projected in movie theaters all over Europe. He also made two different videos for his hit "The Other Woman". The first was Halloween-themed and centered around a haunted castle with dancing corpses and vampires. The second was more performance-oriented, with Parker performing the song against an outer space background with backup singers. Parker's "Ghostbusters" video, helmed by the film's director, Ivan Reitman, was one of the first movie-themed videos to find success on MTV.

Acting In addition to Uptown Saturday Night, Parker also made acting appearances on the sitcom Gimme a Break!, the CBS Saturday morning kids' show Pryor's Place (for which Parker appeared in the opening title sequence singing the theme song), two episodes of Berrenger's (1985), Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment (1986) (V) aka Terms of Enrollment (USA: short title), Disorderlies (1987), Enemy Territory (1987). He was also a production assistant for the film Fly by Night (1993). He made guest appearances on 21 Jump Street and Kids Incorporated. In early 2009, Parker appeared in a television advertisement for 118 118, a British directory enquiries provider. This featured Parker singing a 118-specific version of the Ghostbusters theme song.

On April 15, 2009, Parker's 118 theme song was made available as a downloadable ringtone from the 118 118 mobile website. In 2014, Parker appeared in the fifth episode of the first season of NBC's romantic comedy television series A to Z, singing the "Ghostbusters" theme song for a Halloween party. Parker was highlighted on TV One's series Unsung, in the fifth season.

Ray Parker Jr. has been married to Elaine Parker since June 12, 1994. They have four sons together.

Discography For Ray Parker Jr.'s releases with Raydio, see Raydio discography.

Solo studio albums Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications(sales thresholds) Record label US Pop USR&B USJazz USCon. Jazz AUS UK Pop 1982 The Other Woman 11 1 — — 27 — US: Gold Arista 1983 Woman Out of Control 45 18 — — — — — 1985 Sex and the Single Man 65 48 — — — — — 1987 After Dark 86 27 — — — 40 — Geffen 1991 I Love You Like You Are — 97 — — — — — MCA 2006 I'm Free — — 45 25 — — — Raydio Music "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Compilation albums Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications(sales thresholds) Record label US Pop NZ SWE SWI 1982 Greatest Hits 51 17 — — — — — — Arista 1984 Chartbusters 60 36 84 89 49 36 16 US: Gold 1990 The Best of Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio — — — — — — — — 1993 Greatest Hits — — — — — — — — 1998 The Best of Ray Parker Jr. — — — — — — — — BMG/Arista 1999 Ghostbusters: The Encore Collection — — — — — — — — BMG 2000 The Heritage Collection — — — — — — — — Arista 2011 S.O.U.L. — — — — — — — — Sony Music "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Solo singles Year Title Peak chart positions Album US AUS BEL CAN IRE NLD NZ 1987 Enemy Territory Will Jackson Supporting role in action film