Ray Erskine Parker Jr. is a 1980s recording artist most well known for writing the theme song to the motion picture Ghostbusters.
In the mid-1970s he was a sideman in Barry White's "Love Unlimited Orchestra", before creating "The Raydio", an Acid Jazz and R&B group, in 1977, with Vincent Bohnam, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael.
Controversy
Parker was accused of plagiarising the melody from Huey Lewis & the News song "I Want A New Drug" for his 1984 #1 hit theme to Ghostbusters, released only 6 months after Lewis' hit reached #6 in the Billboard Hot 100.
The producers of Ghostbusters had approached Lewis to use his song in the film, but their request was turned down, which led them to ask Parker to write a song similar to "I Want A New Drug" as the theme. This ended with Lewis suing Parker, and the pair settled out of court in 1995.
They returned to court once again in 2001, the tables turned this time as Parker now sued Lewis for breaching a confidentiality agreement forming part of their original out of court settlement which prohibited either side from speaking about it publicly. Lewis had revealed in a VH1 Behind The Music special that Parker had paid a financial settlement as part of the original agreement.
