It Turns Out the “Ghostbusters” Guy Has a Lot More Songs
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.”
>>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.”
Ask the Beatles and the Stones and others about stolen royalties/ownership.
It isn’t always about race.
The industry rewards the suits. Always has and it still is in the era of billions of dollars of revenue from streaming and a few million to the artists and songwriters.
Speaking of Leo Sayer, I always thought that the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” sounded like Sayer’s “I Love You More Than I Can Say”
But the rate at which black people were cheated by the music industry is pretty epic.
It Turns Out the “Ghostbusters” Guy Has a Lot More Songs
The rate at which white people were (and are) cheated by the music industry is pretty epic, too. There is zero chance they would hold off on screwing an artist just because he/she was white.
“He was also a session guitarist when he as a teenager, and payed on hits like Wants Ads by Honey Cone.”
Yep, he played bass on a friend’s demo session in L.A. decades ago.
This happened all the time and all along the way. I played for an artist in the late ‘70’s early 80’s. He got cheated out of a No. 1 hit ranking and learned about it because a connection had access to the actual sales figures, as opposed to the report the public saw. He was signed with WB at the time and went to the president with the evidence.
The president just said, “Relax. You’ll get your No. 1’s when it’s your turn.” He did get 8 eventually.
I know a songwriter who wrote with a new pop star on her first album about 20 years ago. He co-wrote 5 tunes, album was huge hit. She paid him for each of the 5 but shorted him on them all because there was no written contract. Sounds like Parker made the same mistake. He’s still writing and a multimillionaire but he lost about half of that deal.
You got it right.
Hunter S. Thompson famously said: “The music business is a shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and whores run free and good men die like dogs.
There’s also a negative side...”
You can’t Change That was a nice track. Ray is now into the Smooth Jazz scene and seems to be doing quite well.
“You make me feel like Manson, gonna stab the night away.”
True but there was an alignment of forces to screw the black people. Especially in the 50s and 60s. There was a lot of “hey that’s a great songs, here’s 10 buck, now we’re gonna have a white guy perform it and watch it go platinum.” Part of it was unwillingness to even try to market black artists, even after it had been proven their music would sell. Pat Boone’s whole career was built on that.
Isolating the tracks of “Every Breath You Take” - Rick Beato
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VKucZreGwI
A few “ghost vocal tracks” that are buried deep in the mix
Starts around 9:00
Every bomb you make
Every job you take
Every Irish wake
I’ll be watching you
Every wall you build
Everyone you killed
Every grave you filled
All the blood you spilled
I’ll be watching you
I have no doubt whatsoever that you are right. The money guys are the devil.
I don’t get how that is a disco song. Yes, it’s about dancing, but it doesn’t sound disco, and no four on the floor drummming.
I will say this. Pat Boone had many hits on the Soul/black music charts. The Beatles, for example, had none.
We pick on Pat Boone because he is the symbol of all this. Nobody is more lily white than him. And he was exactly the guy they wanted to market instead of black people. Hey he probably played fairer than most. I don’t remember him being on the wrong side of any of the myriad lawsuits. But he is the poster boy for white people doing black music. Cause he’s so white.
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