I thoroughly enjoyed this and I believe its the best Unsung of the season. I learned so much about somebody who I always looked at as a footnote in Stevie and Chaka's careers. I'm not a fan of his solo material, his voice just sucks. But the depth of his musicianship on other artists' careers is fascinating!!! I'll be checking out more of his producer discography.

He's also so easy on the eyes

Love the harmony work in this song,,,

MusickMan said:

SPYZFAN1 said:

MusickMan I remember that song..(ouch!) I think he had another one just as bad called "I'm A Dog" (?)

"I'm A Dog" was horrible, so bad that I will listen to "Girls Are More Fun" over that song. It was obvious Ray Parker Jr. was listening to a lot of Prince songs when he wrote "I'm A Dog:"

[Edited 2/14/12 16:43pm]

Even before that in 1983 with this one that sounds like it was influenced by the "1999" album....

Wow vainandy..that's a far cry from "Jack And Jill"! Definetly has the "1999" vibe all over it.

I'm sure everyone knows Ray was a huge fan of P. I remember he was at both the "P.R." movie premiere and "U.T.C.M".

I really dug his "Unsung" episode. I might even say it was the best of this season....but I know Shelia is right around the corner. So we'll see;)

Ray's hit from After Dark.

my fav RPJ production..

I like Mr. Telephone Man the most

but something about this collaboration

puts it at #1

third would be that "I Feel Like Dancing"

song he never got credit for

rhythmically it has the same hump as "Honey I'm Rich"

from that first Raydio album

His friends kept saying, you can't sing His bandmate told him if he sang on For Those Who Like To Groove he was leaving the band. That was so funny to me. Ray admitted that he couldn't sing, but his playing and songwriting was top notch.

Identity said:

Ray's hit from After Dark.

He was very handsome. No wonder why the ladies loved him.

MadamGoodnight said:

Identity said:

Ray's hit from After Dark.

He was very handsome. No wonder why the ladies loved him.

I'd definately lay him down and spread his legs.

MadamGoodnight said:

His friends kept saying, you can't sing His bandmate told him if he sang on For Those Who Like To Groove he was leaving the band. That was so funny to me. Ray admitted that he couldn't sing, but his playing and songwriting was top notch.

Arnell Carmicheal definitely had the better voice but Ray Parker was the

Maurice White of the band. He was the commander of the ship.

MadamGoodnight said:

His friends kept saying, you can't sing His bandmate told him if he sang on For Those Who Like To Groove he was leaving the band. That was so funny to me. Ray admitted that he couldn't sing, but his playing and songwriting was top notch.

yeah, but Ray maded up for it, by recording this tune, with the similar groove..

He was known for doing stuff like that

vainandy said:

MadamGoodnight said:

He was very handsome. No wonder why the ladies loved him.

I'd definately lay him down and spread his legs.

@ Vainandy!

HuMpThAnG said:

MadamGoodnight said:

His friends kept saying, you can't sing His bandmate told him if he sang on For Those Who Like To Groove he was leaving the band. That was so funny to me. Ray admitted that he couldn't sing, but his playing and songwriting was top notch.

yeah, but Ray maded up for it, by recording this tune, with the similar groove..

He was known for doing stuff like that

Identity said:

Ray's hit from After Dark.

One of his best songs.Unlike some of the "poppier" stuff that he had done a few years earlier,this song found him back in a soulful R&B setting.It was a nice comeback.

afro75 said:

I thought this was quite an enjoyable episode (even though I don't see him as Unsung). Ray seems content, has a great family life, and didn't go flat-broke in the music biz.

That was refreshing to see: an Old School artist who didn't go broke,get on drugs,and ruin his life.

SoulAlive said:

afro75 said:

I thought this was quite an enjoyable episode (even though I don't see him as Unsung). Ray seems content, has a great family life, and didn't go flat-broke in the music biz.

That was refreshing to see: an Old School artist who didn't go broke,get on drugs, and ruin his life.

Because he hasn't aged that well. How old is he? He looks older than Prince now...

[Edited 2/23/12 9:52am]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

SoulAlive said:

That was refreshing to see: an Old School artist who didn't go broke,get on drugs,and ruin his life.

Don't know about the drug part. Because he hasn't aged that well. How old is he? He looks older than Prince now...

I thought he aged well.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

SoulAlive said:

That was refreshing to see: an Old School artist who didn't go broke,get on drugs,and ruin his life.

Don't know about the drug part. Because he hasn't aged that well. How old is he? He looks older than Prince now...

Ray Parker Jr. is older than Prince. He will be 58 May 1.

SoulAlive said:

afro75 said:

I thought this was quite an enjoyable episode (even though I don't see him as Unsung). Ray seems content, has a great family life, and didn't go flat-broke in the music biz.

That was refreshing to see: an Old School artist who didn't go broke,get on drugs,and ruin his life.

Don't know about that. He hasn't aged well at all. He looks way older than Prince by a decade....

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

SoulAlive said:

That was refreshing to see: an Old School artist who didn't go broke,get on drugs,and ruin his life.

Don't know about the drug part. Because he hasn't aged that well. How old is he? He looks older than Prince now...

Really? Ray's looks great 4 his age in my book.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

SoulAlive said:

That was refreshing to see: an Old School artist who didn't go broke,get on drugs,and ruin his life.

Don't know about that. He hasn't aged well at all. He looks way older than Prince by a decade....

In all fairness to Ray Parker Jr., Prince is probably not the best measuring stick given that he has aged incredibly well. Not to mention Prince is younger. Also, Parker dealt with the stress of dealing with his parents' health care.

EDIT: Inadvertent information was added about Ray Parker Jr.'s marriage.

[Edited 2/23/12 7:24am]

Ugly divorce? I think he's still married to Elaine.

Identity said:

Ugly divorce? I think he's still married to Elaine.

Scratch that. I inadvertently added that to my comments from another conversation.

MusickMan said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Don't know about that. He hasn't aged well at all. He looks way older than Prince by a decade....

In all fairness to Ray Parker Jr., Prince is probably not the best measuring stick given that he has aged incredibly well. Not to mention Prince is younger. Also, Parker dealt with the stress of dealing with his parents' health care and (from what I understood in other stories) a pretty ugly divorce.

[Edited 2/23/12 6:53am]

Prince lost two parents in 6 month span,A tragic death of his first child Greggory , a unexpected divorce from his SECOND wife. & a bad break up from his record label that he was with for over three decades. That is way more stressful.He still looks like he is in his 30's. Plus thousands of ungrateful fans that hate on him daily.. Ray doesn't look bad. But just hasn't aged well to me...

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

MusickMan said:

In all fairness to Ray Parker Jr., Prince is probably not the best measuring stick given that he has aged incredibly well. Not to mention Prince is younger. Also, Parker dealt with the stress of dealing with his parents' health care.

Prince lost two parents in 6 month span,A tragic death of his first child Greggory , a unexpected divorce from his SECOND wife. & a bad break up from his record label that he was with for over three decades. That is way more stressful.He still looks like he is in his 30's. Plus thousands of ungrateful fans that hate on him daily.. Ray doesn't look bad. But just hasn't aged well to me...

Very few people have aged as well as Prince, including people younger than him. That doesn't mean Ray Parker Jr.'s appearance is the result of hard living, drugs, etc. It's like using LeBron James as the example of a typical basketball player and criticizing another player for not being as good as LeBron.

Ray looks way older than 57. He hasn't exactly aged with grace, but you have to include the role of genetics as well.

Ray was a successful artist inthe 80's.Plus he wasn't a bad looking dude...I'm sure he was given a lot of opportunities...

[Edited 2/23/12 9:57am]

Identity said:

Ray looks way older than 57. He hasn't exactly aged with grace, but you have to include the role of genetics as well.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Ray was a successful artist in the drug 80's. I'm sure he was part of the drug scene....Coke was everywhere.Plus he wasn't a bad looking dude...I'm sure he was given a lot...

Here is a clip of Ray Parker Jr. at the Cops 4 Causes benefit in New York City a couple of months ago. I have to say I disagree about his appearance -- keep in mind, the guy is nearly 60 years old and he's very recognizable from his '80s days. I've seen people in their 40s who are practically unrecognizable from their late 20s and 30s, and people in their 40s and 50s who look older than Parker.

Parker looks like the same guy, only a generation older. You have to keep in mind some of your reference points about Parker are pictures of how he looked 25 to 30-plus years ago. I really don't see the logic of comparing how he looks to someone like Prince, who has aged uncommonly well (not to mention Parker is older than Prince). The one thing you can say about Parker is that he apparently didn't do like a lot of celebrities in his age group and got plastic surgery to try to make himself look younger, which also may be distorting some people's perception of Parker's appearance.

And as for the speculation about drugs, this is something that is being invented out of thin air. It wasn't that long ago that I had to address speculative comments about O'Bryan and his relationship with Don Cornelius and now here we go with more unfounded speculation on another '80s artist. It really is disrespectful to the artist and this is how misinformation spreads.

[Edited 2/23/12 9:29am]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Ray was a successful artist in the drug 80's. I'm sure he was part of the drug scene....Coke was everywhere.Plus he wasn't a bad looking dude...I'm sure he was given a lot...

So what. That does NOT mean he was taking part.

Graycap23 said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

Ray was a successful artist in the drug 80's. I'm sure he was part of the drug scene....Coke was everywhere.Plus he wasn't a bad looking dude...I'm sure he was given a lot...

So what. That does NOT mean he was taking part.

Thank U

Prince was a successful artist in the drug 80's...

And coke was everywhere.....

Now you mugs don't want to believe that huh?