Ray Parker, Jr.

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Ray Parker, Jr. (2013)

Ray Erskine Parker, Jr. (born May 1, 1954 in Detroit ) is an American guitarist , composer and record producer . It owes its fame largely to the theme music for the film Ghostbusters .

Musical career

Early 1970s

Ray Parker Jr. was already 16 years old. worked as a studio musician in Detroit for recordings of Tamla-Motown . In the mid-1970s he was a sideman musician in Barry White's "Love Unlimited Orchestra". In 1976 he performed at the Newport Jazz Festival with Herbie Hancock's " Headhunters " (album VSOP ). In 1977 he founded the R&B band " Raydio ". Parker also wrote pieces for and worked with the bands Rufus , Chaka Khan , Stevie Wonder , Leon Haywood, The Temptations , The Spinners , Rhythm Heritage and Gladys Knight and the Pips .

Raydio

The Raydio group, founded in 1977, consisted - in addition to Parker - of Vincent Bohnam, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael. They landed their first big hit with Jack and Jill from their album Raydio (1978, Arista Records ). The song made it to number 8 on the US charts and received a gold record for it . Her next successful track, You Can't Change That from the album Rock On (1979) reached number 9 on the US charts.

The group renamed itself in 1980 to "Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio" and eventually released two more albums, Two Places at the Same Time (1980) and A Woman Needs Love (1981). In the 1980s, Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio still had two Top 40 hits ( Two Places at the Same Time and That Old Song ). Her last and greatest hit, A Woman Needs Love (1981), even reached number 1 on the R&B charts and number 4 on the pop charts for two weeks.

Solo work and Ghostbusters

After the group Raydio broke up in 1981, Ray Parker Jr. continued his solo career and released six top 40 hits, including the song Ghostbusters . The theme song to the hit film of the same name with Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd stayed at number one on the US charts for three weeks and earned Parker an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song , which Stevie Wonder did for I Just Called to Say I Love You received. The instrumental version of the song received a Pop Grammy for this .

Nils Landgren Funk Unit

After 2005, Ray Parker Jr. worked with the Swedish jazz trombonist Nils Landgren and initially played as a studio guitarist on an album by Landgren and Joe Sample entitled Creole Love Call , which reached first place on the jazz charts in Germany and, due to its sales, with the German Jazz Award was awarded.

In 2007 Ray Parker Jr. was a guitarist and singer in Landgren's band, the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. They recorded the album License to Funk together , which was released in 2007. In autumn 2007 Ray Parker Jr. was on tour in Germany with the Nils Landgren Funk Unit.

Movie

Ray Parker, Jr. made a brief cameo appearance as a guitarist in the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night . In 1987 he played the lead role of elevator technician Will in the action film Terror Night - Hochhaus in Angst ( Enemy Territory ).

Personal

He has been married since 1994 and has four sons. In 2014 Parker received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his musical contributions .

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US R&B R&B
1978 Raydio - - - - US27
gold
gold

(23 weeks)US
R&B8 (24 weeks)
R&B
as Raydio
1979 Rock on - - - - US45
gold
gold

(30 weeks)US
R&B4 (32 weeks)
R&B
as Raydio
1980 Two Places at the Same Time - - - - US33
gold
gold

(21 weeks)US
R&B6 (26 weeks)
R&B
as Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio
1981 A Woman Needs Love - - - - US13
gold
gold

(26 weeks)US
R&B1 (29 weeks)
R&B
as Ray Parker Jr. & Raydio
1982 The Other Woman - - - - US11
gold
gold

(27 weeks)US
R&B1 (28 weeks)
R&B
1983 Woman out of control - - - - US45 (23 weeks)
US
R&B18 (24 weeks)
R&B
1985 Sex and the Single Man - - - - US65 (13 weeks)
US
R&B48 (12 weeks)
R&B
1987 After Dark - - - UK40 (7 weeks)
UK
US86 (9 weeks)
US
R&B27 (24 weeks)
R&B
1991 I love you like you are - - - - - R&B97 (3 weeks)
R&B
Co-Producers: Father MC, Gary Taylor
2017 Unbreakable DE91 (1 week)
DE
- - - - -
Nils Landgren Funk Unit with Ray Parker Jr.

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More studio albums

  • 2006: I'm Free!

swell

  1. Ray Parker Jr. , http://www.radioswissjazz.ch/
  2. Andrew Barker: Ray Parker Jr. Receives Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame . In: Variety . March 7, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  3. Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
  4. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
  5. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .

Web links