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Ray Parker Jr.

American musician (born 1954)
Person human Q381022
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Summary

Ray Parker Jr. was born on May 1, 1954[1], in Detroit[2]. Ray Parker Jr. has worked as a songwriter[3], guitarist[4], record producer[5], bandleader[6], and composer[7]. Ray Parker Jr. ranks in the top 0.58% of human entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (6,625 views/month, #5,850 of 1,000,298).[8]

Key Facts

  • Country of citizenship: United States[9]
  • Occupation: singer[10], musician[11]
  • Field of work: music[12], guitar performance[13]
  • Educated at: Northwestern High School[14]
  • Award received: star on Hollywood Walk of Fame[15]
  • Member of: Ray Parker Jr. with State of the Rhythm[16], Raydio[17]
  • Sex or gender: male[18]
  • Genre: rhythm and blues[19], jazz-funk[20]
  • Record label: Arista Records[21]
  • Discography: Ray Parker Jr. discography[22]
  • Commons category: Ray Parker, Jr.[23]
  • Voice type: baritone[24]
  • Family name: Parker[25]
  • Given name: Ray[26], Erskine[27]
  • Official website: http://www.rayparkerjr.com[28]
  • Topic's main category: Category:Ray Parker Jr.[29]
  • Instrument: guitar[30], voice[31]
  • Nominated for: Academy Award for Best Original Song[32]
  • Languages spoken, written or signed: English[33]
  • Birth name: Ray Erskine Parker[34]
  • Name in native language: Ray Parker Jr.[35]
  • Start of work period: 1963[36]

Product Details

The following facts are restated verbatim from public-domain and CC0 open-data sources — every line is independently verifiable against the named source's catalog.

MusicBrainz — CC0 open music encyclopedia

  • Type: Person[37]

  • Country: US[38]

  • Began / founded: 1954-05-01[39]

  • Genre(s): contemporary r&b, pop, pop soul[40]

  • Community tags: 2008 universal fire victim, contemporary r&b, pop, pop and chart, pop soul, ray parker jr, session[41]

  • MusicBrainz ID: af9c073c-f230-4527-8fcd-2338fe1e129e[42]

Why It Matters

Ray Parker Jr. has Wikipedia articles in 21 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[43] Ray Parker Jr. is known by 40 alternative names across languages and contexts.[44]

FAQs

Where was Ray Parker Jr. born?

Ray Parker Jr. was born in Detroit[2].

What did Ray Parker Jr. do for work?

Ray Parker Jr. worked as a songwriter[3], guitarist[4], record producer[5], bandleader[6], and composer[7].

Where did Ray Parker Jr. go to school?

Ray Parker Jr. was educated at Northwestern High School[14].

What awards did Ray Parker Jr. receive?

Honors received include star on Hollywood Walk of Fame[15].

Related Entities

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Arista Records music United States

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  2. [18] ↑ . BnF authorities. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  3. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [14] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  5. [12] ↑ . Czech National Authority Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  6. [13] ↑ . Czech National Authority Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  7. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [6] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  11. [7] ↑ . Czech National Authority Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  12. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [11] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  14. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [20] ↑ . Montreux Jazz Festival Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  16. [15] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  17. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [17] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  23. [1] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  24. [25] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [29] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  29. [30] ↑ . Montreux Jazz Festival Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  30. [31] ↑ . Montreux Jazz Festival Database. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  31. [32] ↑ . oscars.org. oscars.org. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  32. [33] ↑ . CONOR.SI. wikidata.org.
  33. [34] ↑ . Kinorium. Retrieved . en.kinorium.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  34. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Product details (FDA / USDA / NHTSA public-domain catalog data)

  1. [37] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  2. [38] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  3. [39] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  4. [40] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  5. [41] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.
  6. [42] ↑ . MusicBrainz (MetaBrainz Foundation). musicbrainz.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [8] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [43] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [44] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Ray Parker Jr.. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/ray-parker-jr
MLA “Ray Parker Jr..” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 17 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/ray-parker-jr.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_ray-parker-jr_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Ray Parker Jr.}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/ray-parker-jr}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-17}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Ray Parker Jr. — https://4ort.xyz/entity/ray-parker-jr (retrieved 2026-10-17)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 15d ago · ならちゃん · 2026-10-03 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Wikipedia languages → ['ar', 'arz', 'azb', 'cs', 'da', 'de', 'en', 'es', 'eu', 'fa', 'fi', 'fr', 'hu',
    Allcinema person id → 44436
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ Allcinema person id: 44436, Matched to [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/entry/321995949|レイ・パーカー・Ｊｒ (#321995949)]] in [[:toollabs:mix-n-match/#/catalog/8395|Allcinema person]] #mi"
  2. 6w ago · MsMorale · 2026-09-01 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Sinemalar person id → 826064
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Sinemalar person id: 826064, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/270112|batch #270112]]"
  3. 9w ago · Yirba · 2026-08-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14750 → EF44-807D-0D90-F275-02B4
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/46379|batch #46379]]: HAND ID (2)"
  4. 12w ago · Kirilloparma · 2026-07-25 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14470 → People/Ray_Parker_Jr
    "/* wbsetclaim-create:1||1 */ P14470: People/Ray_Parker_Jr, Adding missing [[P:P14470|P14470]] and [[P:P9675|P9675]] qualifier based on [[P:P5247|P5247]]"
  5. 21w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-05-20 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Genius artist id → Ray-parker, Ray-parker-jr
    Given name → Ray, Erskine
    Field of work → music, guitar performance
    Instance of → human
    + 35 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/32085|batch #32085]]: import P21 and P106 from GND (27)"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.