CLOSER TO HOME

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter lives in perfect harmony in a stunning home

Grammy-winner Ray Parker Jr. welcomes Closer to his musical California mansion.

If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? “Ghostbusters” singer Ray Parker Jr. made sure his kids could call him, even from inside the elevator of his two-story Calabasas, Calif., home. “My son got stuck in there once for two hours. My wife and I started hearing voices from the walls — it was like Poltergeist!” Ray, 63, tells Closer. “That’s why I ended up having a phone installed.”

For Ray, it’s family — including his wife Elaine, 53, and their kids Jericho, 17, and Gibson, 19 — that makes his seven-bedroom, seven-bath home truly spectacular. “Having my kids grow up here, every corner of this house has a special memory of something that happened,” says the singer, whose sons

from a previous relationship, Redmond, 29, and Ray, 30, also lived there.

While the 7,800-square-foot home has an open, modern design, there are vintage touches — including a jukebox, velvet wallpaper and an old-fashioned typewriter — that give the space an eclectic feel.

“Most of the decorating is done by me,”

Ray says. “I tend to stick to one kind of style: comfortable.”

His favorite room to spend time in is the 2,200-square-foot recording studio he built on the 1.25-acre property. After three years of work, the finishing touches are almost done. “I’ve built commercial studios in Hollywood. This is probably my fifth or sixth,” he says. “I consider this one a godsend in that it’s the most time I’ve spent with Jericho and Gibson, because they have to call me for help — like how to make the headphones work!”

When his sons aren’t recording music or playing video games in the family room, they also take full advantage of the outdoor pool, and tennis and basketball courts.

(Nashville-area student Gibson plays college tennis while Redmond, who visits frequently, played college basketball). “I’m not a sporting guy, so I don’t know where they got it from!” he says with a laugh.

When Ray’s not working — he’s a producer and composer for the new comedy series Beauty and the Baller (which premiered

July 22 at 10 p.m. ET on BET Centric), and appears in the DVD music documentary Hired Gun — he finds projects at home to keep him busy. “The sun is so bright in here that we need new curtains,” he says. “And we need to start hanging new pictures. It’s something you never finish.”

Thanks to his family, “This house ended up becoming very personal to me, and my kids are always asking that I never sell it,” Ray says. “I don’t think that I ever could.”

— Reporting by Steve Gidlow

“My wife had it right when she said the kids would probably like the studio.” — Ray with Jericho (center) and Gibson

Ray’s 1984 theme from Ghostbusters won him a Grammy award and an Oscar nomination!

The dining room’s French doors open out to the backyard, so it’s a great room for big parties.

Ray says he’s “not allowed” to use the kitchen to cook because “the first house I bought, I burned down. I tried cooking chicken and it didn’t go well.”

Elaine “had little round doormats made for the studio that say, ‘Who you gonna call?’ ” Ray reveals.

There are around 135 guitars in the house. “Once you get married, you can’t have more girls, but you can have guitars!”