Early life and education
Parker was born and raised in Detroit, the son of Ray Parker Sr. and Venolia Parker. He attended Angel Elementary School, where a music teacher named Alfred T. Kirby first encouraged him to pursue music, starting him on the clarinet at age six. He attended Cass Technical High School through the tenth grade before graduating from Northwestern High School in 1971, and went on to study at the Lawrence Institute of Technology.1
Career
Session musician
Parker turned professional while still a teenager, working as a studio guitarist in Detroit's soul scene. He cut sessions for the Holland-Dozier-Holland labels Hot Wax and Invictus, whose roster included Freda Payne, Honey Cone, Chairmen of the Board, and Laura Lee, and he played on Honey Cone's number one single "Want Ads."1
His national break came in 1972, when, at 18, he was tapped by Stevie Wonder. Parker played on Wonder's landmark album "Talking Book" (the track "Maybe Your Baby") and served as a guitarist on the tour Wonder undertook opening for the Rolling Stones. The following year he joined Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra as a sideman. Through the mid-1970s he became a sought-after session and songwriting collaborator, co-writing Rufus and Chaka Khan's "You Got the Love" (1974), which reached number one on the R&B chart, and contributing guitar to recordings by artists including Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, and Herbie Hancock.1
Raydio
In 1977 Parker formed the funk and R&B group Raydio with Vincent Bonham, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael. The group broke through in 1978 with "Jack and Jill," which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and went gold. They followed with "You Can't Change That" (1979), a million-selling single that peaked at number nine. Their biggest record, "A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)" (1981), reached number four on the Hot 100 and spent two weeks at number one on the R&B chart. Raydio disbanded in 1981 as Parker moved toward a solo billing.2
Solo career
As a solo artist Parker scored a string of Top 40 hits in the early 1980s. "The Other Woman" (1982) climbed to number four on the pop chart, and he charted again with "I Still Can't Get Over Loving You" and "Jamie." His commercial peak arrived with the "Ghostbusters" theme in 1984. Across his career he placed multiple singles in the Billboard Top 401 and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.3
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters (1984)
Parker wrote and performed "Ghostbusters," the title theme for the 1984 film. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and reached number one on the Black Singles chart, becoming inseparable from the franchise thanks to its call-and-response hook ("Who you gonna call?"). It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, losing to Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You," and Parker took home a Grammy Award the same year.1 The track anchors the film's soundtrack and has remained a fixture of the series across sequels and revivals.
The "I Want a New Drug" lawsuit
The theme's success was shadowed by a copyright dispute. In 1984 Huey Lewis sued Columbia Pictures and Parker, alleging that the melody of "Ghostbusters" infringed upon "I Want a New Drug," a single from Huey Lewis and the News' 1983 album "Sports." The parties settled out of court in 1995 for an undisclosed sum, with a confidentiality clause barring them from discussing the case publicly.4 The matter resurfaced in 2001, when Parker sued Lewis for breaching that confidentiality agreement after Lewis discussed the settlement, including the fact that Parker had paid him, in a VH1 "Behind the Music" special.4
The Real Ghostbusters
Parker's music also carried into the franchise's animated branch, with his work associated with The Real Ghostbusters era of merchandising and media that grew out of the film's success.
Personal life
Parker has been married to Elaine Parker since 1994, and the couple have four sons.1 He has continued to perform and record into his later career.
Among Ghostbusters fans, Parker is woven into the lore as much through the theme song as through small in-universe nods, which collectors and comic readers enjoy spotting:
- In the Ghost Busted manga (chapter one, page 26), Peter Venkman notices a photo of Ray Parker Jr. on a wall of celebrities but does not recognize him.5
- On page nine of IDW's Ghostbusters issue #12, Parker can be glimpsed at the far right of a room wearing a No-Ghost logo shirt in a photo.6
- On page 14 of Ghostbusters: Year One issue #3 (panel four), an item tossed in the air from an explosion is "Chartbusters," a 1984 Ray Parker Jr. compilation album.7
GBFans.com does not claim any direct affiliation with Parker; these are documented references for fans tracking the franchise's many cameos and easter eggs.
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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"Ray Parker Jr.," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Parker_Jr. (birth, family, schooling, session work, solo discography and chart positions, Ghostbusters theme chart performance, Academy Award nomination, Grammy, and personal life).
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"Raydio," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raydio (group formation, membership, and singles "Jack and Jill," "You Can't Change That," and "A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)").
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"Ray Parker Jr.," Hollywood Walk of Fame, accessed 2026-06-13, https://walkoffame.com/ray-parker-jr/ (2014 star induction).
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Spook Central, "Ray Parker Jr.: 'Ghostbusters'" (sclib), accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.spookcentral.cc/sclib/ray-parker-jr-ghostbusters.htm. Quotes the 1995 out-of-court settlement ("an undisclosed sum and an agreement that neither party discuss the case publicly") and the 2001 suit Parker filed after Lewis discussed the case on VH1's "Behind the Music."
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Ghost Busted manga (Tokyopop, 2009), ch. 1, p. 26.
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Ghostbusters Issue #12 (IDW Publishing, 2012), p. 9.
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Ghostbusters: Year One Issue #3 (IDW Publishing, 2020), p. 14, panel 4.
