Ray Parker Jr.
Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born on
May 1,
1954 in
Detroit) is an
American guitarist,
songwriter, producer and recording artist best known for writing the theme song to the
motion picture Ghostbusters.
In the mid-1970s he was a sideman in
Barry White's "Love Unlimited Orchestra", before creating
Raydio, an
R&B group, in
1977, with Vincent Bohnam, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael. Parker also wrote songs and did session work for
Rufus and
Chaka Khan,
Stevie Wonder,
Leon Haywood,
Temptations,
The Spinners,
Rhythm Heritage, and
Gladys Knight and the Pips.
The group scored their first big hit, with
Arista Records, "Jack and Jill" off of their self-titled album in
1978. The song was # 8 on the
Billboard Hot 100 charts, earning a
Gold record in the process.
Their successful follow-up hit, "You Can't Change That" was released in
1979, off of the
Rock On album. The song was a Top 10 hit, making it up to # 9 on the Billboard charts during the same year it was released.
In 1980, the group became known as Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio, and the group released two more albums:
Two Places at the Same Time in
1980 and
A Woman Needs Love in
1981.
During the eighties Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio had two Top 40 hits ("Two Places at the Same Time" - # 40 in 1980 and "That Old Song" - # 21 in 1981) and their last and biggest hit "A Woman Needs Love," released in 1981, went to # 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts, and # 1 for two weeks in 1981.
Raydio broke up in 1981, while Ray Parker Jr. continued with his solo career, scoring six Top 40 hits, including the hit single "The Other Woman" (Pop # 4) in 1982 and "Ghostbusters" in 1984.
"
Ghostbusters" was a title track of the
Gold-selling soundtrack of the hit movie
Ghostbusters, starring
Bill Murray and
Dan Aykroyd. The single was at #1 for three weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and at #1 for two weeks on its Black Singles chart.
He also made an acting appearance on the 1980s sitcom
Gimme a Break starring
Nell Carter.
Parker was accused of plagiarising the melody from
Huey Lewis & the News song "I Want A New Drug" for his
1984 #1 hit theme to Ghostbusters, released only six months after Lewis' hit reached #6 in the
Billboard Hot 100.
The
producers of Ghostbusters had approached Lewis to use his song in the film, but their request was turned down, which led them to ask Parker to write a song similar to "I Want A New Drug" as the theme. This ended with Lewis suing Parker, and the pair
settled out of
court in
1995.
They returned to court once again in
2001, the tables turned this time as Parker now sued Lewis for breaching a
confidentiality agreement forming part of their original out of court settlement which prohibited either side from speaking about it publicly. Lewis had revealed in a
VH1 Behind The Music special that Parker had paid a financial settlement as part of the original agreement.
Ray Parker Jr. also wrote and produced hits for
New Edition ("Mr. Telephone Man"),
Randy Hall,
Cheryl Lynn ("Shake It Up Tonight"),
Deniece Williams ("I Found Love") and
Diana Ross.
Raydio (
1977)
Rock On (
1979)
Two Places at the Same Time (
1980)
A Woman Needs Love (
1981)
The Other Woman (
1982)
Woman Out of Control (
1983)
Ghostbusters (Soundtrack) (
1984)
Sex and The Single Man (
1985)
After Dark (
1987)
I Love You Like You Are (
1991)
I'm Free (
2006)
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SoulTracks.com profile of Ray Parker Jr.
