Born and raised in Detroit, Parker also performed with his band, Raydio, and with Barry White in the Love Unlimited Orchestra.

Parker was also employed as a studio musician as a teenager for the emergent Holland-Dozier-Holland's Invictus/Hot Wax stable, and his "choppy" style was especially prominent on "Want Ads", a number one single for Honey Cone.

In 1972, Parker was a guest guitarist on Stevie Wonder's soul song "Maybe Your Baby", from Wonder's album Talking Book, an association which prompted a permanent move to Los Angeles.

Parker appeared briefly in the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night as a guitar player in the church picnic scene.

Ray Parker also played guitar for Rhythm Heritage, Wah Wah Watson,[7] Lee Ritenour, Rufus, Chaka Khan, Jaye P. Morgan (1976),[8] Aretha Franklin (1975), Leon Haywood, Herbie Hancock, Deniece Williams, Spinners, the Temptations, and Gladys Knight & the Pips.

[9] Parker's first bona fide hit as a writer was "You Got the Love", co-written with Chaka Khan and recorded by Rufus.

Parker has stated that he was the original songwriter of Leo Sayer's 1976 hit "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", but that when he submitted the tune as a demo, his accreditation as such was missed.

Parker also played guitar, wrote songs or produced for Cheryl Lynn ("In the Night", "Shake It Up Tonight", 1981),[12] Michael Henderson (1980), New Edition ("Mr. Telephone Man", 1984), Boz Scaggs (1980), Randy Hall (1984), Deniece Williams, and Diana Ross (1983).

[13] 1989 also saw Parker work with actor Jack Wagner (General Hospital) on an album for MCA Records that was eventually shelved and never released.

A single from the Wagner sessions, "Wish You Were Mine", featuring an intro rap by Parker, was released on a 1990 MCA promotional sampler CD.

In 2014, he was invited by producer Gerry Gallagher to record with Latin rock musicians El Chicano, as well as Alphonse Mouzon, Brian Auger, Alex Ligertwood, Siedah Garrett, Walfredo Reyes Jr., Spencer Davis, Lenny Castro, Vikki Carr, Pete Escovedo, Peter Michael Escovedo, Jessy J, Marcos J. Reyes, Salvador Santana, and David Paich.

After being eliminated on "Fright Night" alongside the forfeiting of Linda Blair as "Scarecrow", he performed the Ghostbusters theme as an encore.

The three parties reached a settlement in 1995 which forbade them from revealing any information that was not included in a press release they jointly issued at the time.

In March 2001, Parker filed a suit against Lewis for breaching the part of the settlement which prohibited either side from speaking about it publicly.

In addition to Uptown Saturday Night, Parker also made acting appearances on the 1980s sitcom Gimme a Break, 1984 CBS Saturday morning kids' show Pryor's Place (for which Parker appeared in the opening title sequence singing the theme song), two episodes of Berrenger's (1985), Charlie Barnett's Terms of Enrollment (1986) (V) aka Terms of Enrollment (USA: short title), Disorderlies (1987), Enemy Territory (1987).

In 2014, Parker appeared in the fifth episode of the first season of NBC's romantic comedy television series A to Z, singing the "Ghostbusters" theme song for a Halloween party.