Ray Parker-Junior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

On the heels of the newly announced Ghostbusters toon series in the works at Netfilx comes word of an animated feature based on the 38-year-old IP.

Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson have teamed up to perform the original Ghostbusters theme on Jimmy Fallon – watch their cover below.In celebration of sequel Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and its world premiere on Thursday (March 14), the trio joined Jimmy Fallon to perform the franchise’s theme tune. They were accompanied by The Roots, who played the theme on various classroom instruments.Parker Jr.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The Jazz Foundation of America has set performers and honorees for its annual “A Great Night in Harlem” benefit, with multiple Grammy winner Jon Batiste among the talent coming to the Apollo Theater and legendary songwriter Mike Stoller among those being honored for a lifetime of work. The concert portions of the March 30 event will be overseen, as always, by drumming great Steve Jordan as the night’s musical director. Batiste will be joined in the performance lineup by a cast that includes Bettye LaVette, Monty Alexander, Ray Parker Jr., Kenny Barron and Robert Cray. Stoller has come back into the pop consciousness in a big way in the past year due to the number of Leiber and Stoller songs featured on the “Elvis” film soundtrack, with the writing due that included Jerry Leiber having been responsible for such career milestones as “Hound Dog” (originally recorded by R&B artist Big Mama Thornton), “Jailhouse Rock,” “Trouble” and many others. (Read Variety‘s 2022 interview with Stoller here.)

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRay Parker Jr., the R&B star and singer-songwriter best known for the theme from “Ghostbusters,” gets the documentary treatment in “Who You Gonna Call?,” from Sony Pictures Entertainment, which premieres on June 7 — watch the trailer below.As the documentary shows, there’s much more to Parker’s career than that theme song: He had many R&B hits under his own name and as leader of the group Raydio, and in his mid-teens became an in-demand session guitarist, particularly with Motown acts, like Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations and especially Stevie Wonder, even touring with his band when they were the opening act on the Rolling Stones’ legendary 1972 U.S. tour. He later worked with Herbie Hancock, Barry White, Boz Scaggs and many others.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of May 1-7:May 1: Singer Judy Collins is 83. Actor Stephen Macht (“Suits,” ″General Hospital”) is 80. Singer Rita Coolidge is 77.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRay Parker Jr. had enjoyed a successful career in music when he received a call from his friend Gary LeMel about doing music for a weird film called “Ghostbusters.” Originally a session guitarist in his native Detroit, he recorded and toured with artists like Barry White, Bohannon, the Spinners and Marvin Gaye, and performed on Stevie Wonder’s classic “Talking Book” album and was the guitarist in Wonder’s band on a 1972 tour opening for the Rolling Stones.

Jasmin Lawrence (daughter of comedian Martin Lawrence and stepdaughter to NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith), model and DJ Myles O'Neal (son of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal), entrepreneur Redmond Parker (son of GRAMMY Award-winning musician and actor Ray Parker Jr.), musician Ebie (daughter of hip-hop legend and pioneer rapper Eazy-E) and prop master Harry James Thornton (son of actor Billy Bob Thornton).E! fans will recall a similar show that aired in 2005,.

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife" — the direct cinematic follow-up to the 1984 classic — is haunted, of course. But not in a good way.Director and co-writer Jason Reitman's sequel leans so hard into his dad's original that it sometimes seems like a checklist of the megahit's touchstones, from the Ecto-1 tricked-out Cadillac, to Stay-Puft marshmallows, appearances from the surviving Ghostbusters and even the same Ray Parker Jr.

Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has picked up worldwide rights for Fran Strine music documentary Who You Gonna Call? about the life of Grammy-Award-winning musician, and Ghostbusters' theme tune writer, Ray Parker Jr. SPT unveiled the deal shortly after the film's premiere at the Zurich International Film Festival on Saturday.

Denise Petski Senior Managing EditorSony Pictures Television has acquired global distribution rights to the documentary Who You Gonna Call? chronicling the life of Grammy-winner Ray Parker Jr., who penned the smash hit song “Ghostbusters”.

Also Read: 'Ghostbusters' Writer Katie Dippold to Pen New 'Haunted Mansion' MoviePhoto by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesParker has written and performed on hundreds of top 25 hits even before the “Ghostbusters” theme, having produced and performed with Barry White, New Edition, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Gladys Knight, Patti Labelle, The Temptations, The Carpenters and The Supremes.“Who You Gonna Call?” is produced by Ola Strøm and Fran Strine.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Television has swooped for global distribution rights to documentary “Who You Gonna Call?” that chronicles the life of Grammy-winning musician Ray Parker Jr.

Jeremy Helligar Ray Parker Jr. is best known for writing, producing and performing the 1984 Grammy-winning No.

“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” — also joined the laid-back Zoom call, along with Gad’s fellow super-fan Kumail Nanjiani, theme song writer-performer Ray Parker Jr. and several actors who contributed smaller roles in the blockbuster supernatural comedy.The crew recalled some of their favorite moments from the shoot.

By Amanda N'Duka