Ray Parker Jr.
Ray Parker Jr. | |
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Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Instrument(s) |
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Years active | 1963–present |
Labels | |
Formerly of | |
Website | rayparkerjr |
Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954)[1] is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song for the 1984 film 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.[2][3]
Early life
Ray Erskine Parker Jr. was born in
Parker is a 1971 graduate of Detroit's
Music career
Early work
Parker gained recognition during the late 1960s as a member of
In 1972, Parker was a guest guitarist on
Parker also wrote songs and did session work for the Carpenters, Bill Cosby, Rufus and Chaka Khan, the Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Deniece Williams, Bill Withers, Michael Henderson, Jean-Luc Ponty, Leon Haywood, the Temptations, Boz Scaggs, David Foster, Rhythm Heritage, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Herbie Hancock, Tina Turner, and Diana Ross.[citation needed]
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. In 1976, he featured as rhythm guitarist on Lucio Battisti's album Io tu noi tutti, translated as "Me you and all of us".[citation needed] 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.[5]
1977–1981: Raydio
In 1977, Parker created the
In 1980, the group became known as Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio.[1] The group released two more albums: Two Places at the Same Time in 1980 and A Woman Needs Love in 1981, both Gold albums. In 1981, Parker produced the hard funk single "Sweat (Till You Get Wet)" by Brick. During the 1980s, Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio had two Top 40 hits: "Two Places at the Same Time" (No. 30 in 1980) and "That Old Song" (No. 21 in 1981). Their last and biggest hit, "A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)", released in 1981,[1] went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to No. 1 on the R&B Chart for two weeks that year.
Solo years
Raydio broke up in 1981. Parker continued with his solo career, scoring eight Top 40 hits, including the hit single "
Parker also wrote and produced hits for
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.[8]
Parker is also the founder and owner of the Los Angeles–based recording facility Ameraycan Recording Studios.[9][10] Parker received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.[11]
In 2022, Parker competed in
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.[12]
Music videos
Parker was one of the first black artists to venture into the then-fledgling world of
Acting
In addition to Uptown Saturday Night, Parker also made acting appearances on the 1980s sitcom
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
Discography
For Ray Parker Jr.'s releases with Raydio, see
Solo studio albums
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | sales thresholds )
|
Record label | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Pop [14] |
US R&B [15] |
AUS [18] |
UK Pop [19] | ||||||||
1982 | The Other Woman | 11 | 1 | — | — | 27 | — |
|
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 | sales thresholds )
|
Record label | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [21] |
US R&B [21] |
AUS [18] |
CAN [22] |
NZ
[23] |
SWE [24] |
SWI
[25] | |||||
1982 | Greatest Hits | 51 | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Arista | |
1984 | Chartbusters | 60 | 36 | 84 | 89 | 49 | 36 | 16 |
| ||
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 [21] |
AUS [18][26] |
BEL
[27] |
CAN [22] |
GER
[28] |
IRE [29] |
NLD
[30] |
NZ
[23] |
SWI
[25] |
UK
[19] | ||||||||
1982 | "The Other Woman" | 4 | 1 | — | 7 | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | The Other Woman | |||||
"Let Me Go" | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"It's Our Own Affair" | 106 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Bad Boy" | 35 | 37 | — | 22 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Greatest Hits | ||||||
1983 | "The People Next Door" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"I Still Can't Get Over Loving You" | 12 | 89 | — | 26 | — | — | — | 48 | — | — | Woman Out of Control | ||||||
1984 | "Woman Out of Control" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"In the Heat of the Night" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"Ghostbusters" | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Ghostbusters / Chartbusters | ||||||
"Jamie" | 14 | — | — | 43 | — | — | — | 16 | — | — | Chartbusters | ||||||
1985 | "I've Been Diggin' You" | — | — | 38 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
"Girls Are More Fun" | 34 | — | — | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | 46 | Sex and the Single Man | ||||||
"One Sided Love Affair" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
1986 | "One Sunny Day" / "Dueling Bikes from Quicksilver" (with Helen Terry) | 96 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Quicksilver | |||||
1987 | "I Don't Think That Man Should Sleep Alone" | 68 | — | — | — | — | 18 | 47 | — | — | 13 | After Dark | |||||
"Over You" (with Natalie Cole) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 65 | |||||||
"The Past" (with Natalie Cole) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
1990 | "All I'm Missing Is You" (credited as Glenn Medeiros featuring Ray Parker Jr.) | 32 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Glenn Medeiros | |||||
1991 | "She Needs to Get Some" | — | 145 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | I Love You Like You Are | |||||
"Girl I Saw You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
References
- ^ ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ Kawashima, Dale (December 18, 2016). "Special Interview with Ray Parker Jr., Renowned Artist/Writer/Producer of "Ghostbusters" And Many Other Classic Hit Songs". Songwriter Universe. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
- ^ Alloway, Meredith. "Past and Present Combine at the Tribeca Film Fest's Salute to Clive Davis". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
- ^ American Top 40, February 18, 1978
- ^ Helligar, Jeremy (August 11, 2020). "How Ray Parker Jr. Got Cheated Out of a Grammy for a No. 1 Hit". Variety. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
- ^ Blair Jackson (September 1, 2006). "Classic Tracks: Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters"". Mixonline.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
- ^ "Revisiting Run-D.M.C.'s hip-hop version of the Ghostbusters theme". Avclub.com. July 9, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ "Greatest Hits (TV Series 2016– )". IMDb.com. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ Jackson, Blair (September 2006). "Classic Tracks: Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters"". mixonline.com. Mix Online. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
- ISBN 0-472-11501-4. Retrieved November 30, 2014.
- ^ Performer Ray Parker Jr Honored with Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- ^ Vanhorn, Teri (March 23, 2001). "Ray Parker Jr. Suing Huey Lewis Over 'Ghostbusters' Comment". MTV.
- YouTube
- ^ "Ray Parker Jr.: Billboard 200". billboard.com. Billboard.
- ^ "Ray Parker Jr.: Billboard Top Soul Albums". billboard.com. Billboard.
- ^ "Ray Parker Jr.: Billboard Top Jazz Albums". billboard.com. Billboard.
- ^ "Ray Parker Jr.: Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums". billboard.com. Billboard.
- ^ ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ a b "Ray Parker Jr". officialcharts.com. Official Charts Company. August 25, 1984.
- ^ a b "US Certifications > Ray Parker Jr". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- ^ a b c "US Charts > Ray Parker Jr". Billboard. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- ^ a b "CAN Charts > Ray Parker Jr". RPM. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- ^ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- ^ "SWE Charts > Ray Parker Jr". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- ^ Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- ^ "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing August 19, 1991". Retrieved August 19, 2022.
- VRT Top 30. Archived from the originalon April 9, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- Media Control Charts. Retrieved December 24, 2012.[dead link]
- ^ "IRE Charts Search > Ray Parker Jr". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
- MegaCharts. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
External links
- Ray Parker Jr. at AllMusic
- Ray Parker Jr. at IMDb
- Ray Parker Jr. in the Hollywood Walk of Fame Directory
- SoulTracks.com profile of Ray Parker Jr.
- Ray Parker Jr. Live interview on Soul Patrol.net Radio Archived November 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine August 2006
- Ray Parker Jr 2012 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com Archived October 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- Ray Parker Jr. Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (2015)