Career​ and Life 

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Ray Erskine Parker Jr. is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 movie Ghostbusters. He also performed with his band, Raydio, and with Barry White.  

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Parker was born to Venolia Parker and Ray Parker Sr. He has two siblings, his brother Opelton and his sister Barbara.[citation needed] Parker attended Angel Elementary School where his music teacher, Afred T Kirby, inspired him to be a musician at age 6 playing the clarinet. Parker attended Cass Tech High School in the 10th grade.

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Parker is a 1971 graduate of Detroit's Northwestern High School. He was raised in the Dexter-Grand Boulevard neighborhood on its West Side. Parker attended college at Lawrence Institute of Technology.

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Parker's father died of cancer on March 12, 1992, at age 82; his mother died of Alzheimer's on December 18, 1993, at age 83. At age 40, in 1994, he married his wife, Elaine. They have four sons: Ray III (Little Ray), Redmond, Gibson, and Jericho. In 2014,

Parker received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to music.

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On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Ray Parker Jr. among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

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