Ghostbusters hitmaker Parker to appear live at premiere of biopic
Who You Gonna Call recounts musician's rise from hired gun to international fame
In 1972 Ray Parker, Jr. hung up on Stevie Wonder not once, not twice, but multiple times.
That could have wrecked the brash teenage musician's budding career, but as the documentary Who You Gonna Call? shows, it was only the beginning of something special. Best known as the writer and performer of the theme to Ghostbusters, Parker boasted an impressive career as a side musician long before topping the charts in 1984. That includes his early stint as a guitarist with Wonder, who had to call Parker multiple times before the 18-year-old would believe it was him.
The genesis of the documentary came about when director Fran Strine interviewed Parker for his 2016 documentary Hired Gun.
“He's just in the movie for a few minutes, and I really didn't talk to him that long,” says Strine about the pop-soul-funk icon. “But I brought Ray all over the country to promote that film, and on our flight to Australia, he told me his whole story. It was so fascinating and I knew that I needed to make this movie.”
That's not surprising. Hired Gun was about the musicians who play behind the scenes, many of whom are leagues better than the celebrity players celebrated in the media.
Strine knew Parker for the inescapable Ghostbusters theme, but what he didn't know was that Parker had also been a hired gun of immense stature. He was a teen prodigy snapped up by giants Marvin Gaye and Barry White to be a member of their bands.
With Who You Gonna Call?, Strine tells Parker's incredible story, from a young six-stringer in Detroit to worldwide fame as the musical face of a Hollywood franchise. There's something for everyone in this film: guitar nerds will gape at the inclusion of players like Steve Lukather from Toto and studio pro Jay Graydon, while Motown fans will enjoy appearances from Wonder and the Holland brothers, all singing Parker's praises as a guitarist. Strangely, we can thank the Lovin' Spoonful for Parker's obsession with the instrument.
“I was hooked when I heard them play Daydream,” Parker says. “It was all because I heard John Sebastian playing. Of course, there were other heroes like Robert White from Motown, who played on My Girl and all the other big hits from Motown.”
Parker's career is astonishing to watch when laid out on celluloid.
A stint at Detroit's 20 Grand Club developing his signature rhythm guitar style. He had live gigs with the Spinners and Gaye before he turned 18, then became a firstcall session player on such hits as Cheryl Lynn's Got to Be Real and You See the Trouble With Me by White, which Parker also co-wrote. Strine is also unflinching in showing the milieu Parker grew up in, a close and supportive community scarred by the Detroit riot of 1967.
The respect and admiration held for Parker is shown by the number of interviews Strine was able to line up for the film, including Wonder, who is notoriously hard to pin down.
“People said, `Hey man, why don't you call Stevie?'” Parker says. “I was like, `I did, but you don't ask him more than once. He won't do it for sure if you do that. So everyone, just leave him alone.' Sure enough, out of nowhere, I was in the Bahamas and I got a phone call. It was Stevie Wonder and he was ready to do it.”
Usually an autobiography, whether in book or film form, is something of a career summation. That's not true for Parker, who is still recording, still playing, still vital. Strine is the first to say they could have easily made a miniseries based on Parker's life, and Parker is quick to add that it could have all gone wrong early on.
“I gotta tell you, every night I say my prayers and I feel very, very blessed,” he says. “Very few of us really made it, and not having a day job or not having some other form of occupation is probably the best gift ever.”
Parker and Strine will attend the Who You Gonna Call? première Friday.