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

thumb|Parker in 1984

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).

thumb|right|Parker at the [[Montreux Jazz Festival 2009, Montreux, Switzerland]]

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 1980s sitcom Gimme a Break, 1984 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.<!--Original version, not a copyvio-->

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. is married. He 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

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Title

! colspan="6"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications<br /><small>(sales thresholds)</small>

! rowspan="2"| Record label

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! width="35"| US Pop<br />

! width="35"| US<br />R&B<br />

! width="35"| US<br />Jazz<br />

! width="35"| US<br />Con. Jazz<br />

! width="35"| AUS<br />

! width="35"| UK Pop<br />

|-

|| 1982

| style="text-align:left;"| The Other Woman

| 11

| 1

| —

| —

| 27

| —

| align=left|

  • US: Gold

| rowspan="3"| Arista

|-

|| 1983

| style="text-align:left;"| Woman Out of Control

| 45

| 18

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|-

|| 1985

| style="text-align:left;"| Sex and the Single Man

| 65

| 48

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|-

|| 1987

| style="text-align:left;"| After Dark

| 86

| 27

| —

| —

| —

| 40

| —

|| Geffen

|-

|| 1991

| style="text-align:left;"| I Love You Like You Are

| —

| 97

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| MCA

|-

|| 2006

| style="text-align:left;"| I'm Free

| —

| —

| 45

| 25

| —

| —

| —

|| Raydio Music

|-

| colspan="12" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

|}

Compilation albums

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Title

! colspan="7"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Certifications<br /><small>(sales thresholds)</small>

! rowspan="2"| Record label

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! width="35"| US Pop<br />

! width="35"| NZ<br />

! width="35"| SWE<br />

! width="35"| SWI<br />

|-

|| 1982

| style="text-align:left;"| Greatest Hits

| 51

| 17

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| rowspan="4"| Arista

|-

|| 1984

| style="text-align:left;"| Chartbusters

| 60

| 36

| 84

| 89

| 49

| 36

| 16

| align=left|

  • US: Gold

|-

|| 1990

| style="text-align:left;"| The Best of Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|-

|| 1993

| style="text-align:left;"| Greatest Hits

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|-

|| 1998

| style="text-align:left;"| The Best of Ray Parker Jr.

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| BMG/Arista

|-

|| 1999

| style="text-align:left;"| Ghostbusters: The Encore Collection

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| BMG

|-

|| 2000

| style="text-align:left;"| The Heritage Collection

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| Arista

|-

|| 2011

| style="text-align:left;"| S.O.U.L.

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

| —

|| Sony Music

|-

| colspan="12" style="text-align:center; font-size:9pt;"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

|}

Solo singles

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Title

! colspan="10"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2"| Album

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! width="35"| US<br />

! width="35"| AUS<br />

! width="35"| BEL<br />

! width="35"| CAN<br />

! width="35"| IRE<br />

! width="35"| NLD<br />

! width="35"| NZ<br />

|-

| 1987 || Enemy Territory || Will Jackson || Supporting role in action film ||

|}

References

  • SoulTracks.com profile of Ray Parker Jr.
  • Ray Parker Jr. Live interview on Soul Patrol.net Radio August 2006
  • Ray Parker Jr 2012 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com
  • Ray Parker Jr. Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (2015)