Posted on 09/10/2020 1:16:34 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Ray Parker Jr. is best known for writing, producing and performing the 1984 Grammy-winning No. 1 hit “Ghostbusters,” but by the time he turned “Who you gonna call?” and “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost” into national catchphrases, he had already logged more than a decade in the business. He was still a teenager when Stevie Wonder invited him to join his band, and before breaking out as a solo star in the ‘80s, he logged credits as a songwriter (Rufus featuring Chaka Khan’s 1974 hit “You Got the Love”) and as a performer on a string of hits for the band Raydio.
For all of his early success, though, there were dues to pay, including one that still hurts to this day. It started with a song he’d written and recorded called “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” that he presented to a label suit in 1976. “He said, ‘Hey, if you cut that with Leo Sayer, I’ll give you part of the song,’” Parker, 66, recalls. “Well, I never got my part of the song.”
Sayer ended up recording it, and it went to No. 1 in 1977, with Sayer and Vini Poncia credited as its songwriters. Compounding the insult, “Dancing” went on to win a Grammy for best R&B song. “It kind of hurts when you see somebody on TV collecting a Grammy for [your] song, and here’s my mother in Detroit, and I haven’t bought her a house yet,” he says, calling it “one of the lowest points of my life.” “Every time I hear the song on the radio, the first thing that comes to mind is, ‘I don’t have a Grammy for that and my name isn’t on it, and nobody recognizes me for writing that song.’”
Does Parker think racism may have been a factor — a white industry insider deciding to pull one over on a young Black kid from the streets of Detroit? “I imagine it could be racial as to they decided, ‘Ah, forget him. We’re just gonna do it. We’re not going to pay him royalties. He’s young, he’s new, and I’m the bigger guy in the business and who’s gonna listen to him versus me, so I’ll just do what I want to do.’ So I was just kind of kicked to the curb.”
Parker doesn’t blame Sayer for the behind-the-scenes machinations, insisting it was a higher up’s decision not to put his name on the record. “It’s not Leo’s fault,” he insists. “He tried to cut six of seven more of my songs just because he felt so bad.”
Parker retaliated by reclaiming a song called “Jack and Jill,” which got Raydio signed to Arista Records by Clive Davis before becoming Parker’s first hit as a performer in 1978. The global success of “Ghostbusters” was the ultimate last laugh, and although he ended up getting sued by Huey Lewis over that song’s resemblance to Huey Lewis and the News’ earlier hit “I Want a New Drug” (the case was settled out of court), Parker remains fiercely protective and appreciative of his signature song.
“I have four sons, and they’re all different ages, and I was each one of their heroes growing up because I sang that song,” he says. “I wanted to make music to make people happy, to make them have a good time. And that song exemplifies that more than anything I’ve ever done. It’s hard to beat that song.”
I worked for Ray back in the day put a few sound systems in his budding car collection Spent many an afternoon chating with him amazing talent thanks for posting very humble guy
He stole the song! It’s identical to Want a New Drug by Huey Lewis!
I always thought he seemed like a nice guy.
Dude could write songs.
Nice to hear. I guess when you put in sound systems for someone who has that background, they have to be really good.
He stole the song! It’s identical to Want a New Drug by Huey Lewis!
There is a great music business phrase, though: Change a word, get a third.
As for Leo Sayer, is it me or is he like a twin brother of Richard Simmons?
I worked for Rogers Sound labs in so cal and yeah we put in mostly home speaker components from thier line with hand would cross overs and filters it was a cool time to be in that field that was still into cassettes the new tech moving from 4 and 8 track
You didn’t read the article.
It wasn’t “Ghostbusters”.
It was “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”.
Everything is now brought under the umbrella of racism, even if it isn’t. People cheat other people. They lie and steal. It doesn’t become racism when a black is the victim.
he did suggest taking the midrange speakers and put them out of phase with the woffer ant tweeter. seemed to calm down the midrange bulge
I heard Stevie Wonder called him to hire him for sessions, and a tour, but Parker hung up the first time, because he didn't really think it could be him.
This is FR, we don’t need to read the article.
There is a long history of the wrong people being credited for writing a song in the music business.
Some of the Grammy awards have been controversial. For example, the Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley” won the award for best country-western song and a few years later, Petula Clark’s “Downtown” was dubbed the best rock and roll recording. While “Tom Dooley” may qualify as country-western, “Downtown,” a down-tempo bolero, is most certainly not rock and roll.
Label suits (and unions) have screwed more musicians and ruined more music than you will ever know. One of the reasons I hate the music business, even though we have been in it for 50 years.
Ray Parker sounds like a very talented songwriter who never hired a competent manager or agent. I recall most of his big songs.
Singer Janis Ian had a somewhat similar fate.
She was only 14 when she wrote and performed her biggest hit
Society’s Child. Her record label, Atlantic refused to release it for years, since it had to do with interracial romance. A good Agent or Manager may have prevented that refusal from happening.
Does Parker think racism may have been a factor — a white industry insider deciding to pull one over on a young Black kid from the streets of Detroit?
Biggest laugh line I’ve come across this year, well, this decade, well, this CENTURY.
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