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When you hear the name , chances are your mind goes to the Ghostbusters theme song, not Motown. But the writer and singer of that No. 1 hit from 1984 got his start in his hometown of Detroit.

When Parker was attending Cass Technical High School and then Northwestern High School (class of 1971), his father, Ray Parker Sr., hoped his son would follow in his footsteps at Ford Motor Co. But all Parker Jr. wanted to do was be a musician; it had been his dream since age 6.

As a young teen, he was a supporting musician at iconic nightclubs like the Latin Quarter and the 20 Grand for acts like The Spinners, The Temptations, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. Work as a session musician followed, and he laid guitar for acts like Motown songwriter-producers Holland-Dozier-Holland; Marvin Gaye; and Stevie Wonder, who would invite Parker to be part of his band for their 1972 tour with The Rolling Stones.

In 1977, he formed his own group, Raydio, and released hits like “A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do),” “You Can’t Change That,” and “Jack and Jill.”

During his career, he’s contributed to a staggering number of timeless songs. To name just a few: His guitar parts can be heard on Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” and Bill Withers’s “Lovely Day,” and he penned New Edition’s “Mr. Telephone Man.” Additionally, Parker has long maintained he wrote Leo Sayer’s Grammy-winning No. 1 hit “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” but didn’t receive a songwriting credit and, thus, has never seen a cent for it.

When it came time to record “Ghostbusters” in 1984, Parker turned to another Detroiter to accompany him: jazz musician Dorothy Ashby. The two first met when Parker was a teenage session guitarist. “At Motown, all sessions … if they were going to use a harp player on the record, she was the one,” Parker told ����vlog��׿�� Detroit over Zoom in early April, during a press run for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. “I thought, ‘If I’m gonna get a harp, I need to get Dorothy Ashby.’” Her part, however, can be heard only on an extended version of the track.

“Musicians from Detroit, they’re some of the best in the world,” Parker says. “They have a seriousness about their music and an extra talent that most of the people in the world just don’t have.”

Want to read more about Detroit’s music history? Click here for our A-Z guide to Detroit’s music scene.��

This story originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of ����vlog��׿��. To read more, pick up a copy of ����vlog��׿�� Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our will be available on Jan. 6.��