Ray Parker Jr.

Lewis had revealed in a VH1 Behind The Music special that Parker had paid a financial settlement as part of the original agreement. He was named the Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1977, and he won an American Music Award for Best Pop Male Vocalist in 1981. They returned to court once again in 2001, the tables turned this time as Parker now sued Lewis for breaching a confidentiality agreement forming part of their original out of court settlement which prohibited either side from speaking about it publicly. During his career, Rabbitt scored 26 #1 hits on the country charts, and had 8 Top-40 songs. This ended with Lewis suing Parker, and the pair settled out of court in 1995. Rabbitt himself died of lung cancer on May 7, 1998 at the age of only 56. The producers of Ghostbusters had approached Lewis to use his song in the film, but their request was turned down, which led them to ask Parker to write a song similar to "I Want A New Drug" as the theme. After his son died, Rabbit became active in raising money for organizations that aid sick children.

Parker was accused of plagiarising the melody from Huey Lewis & the News song "I Want A New Drug" for his 1984 #1 hit theme to Ghostbusters, released only 6 months after Lewis' hit reached #6 in the Billboard Hot 100. He recorded very little during the 1990s, in part because of the illness and subsequent death of his young son. In the mid-1970s he was a sideman in Barry White's "Love Unlimited Orchestra", before creating "The Raydio", an Acid Jazz and R&B group, in 1977, with Vincent Bohnam, Jerry Knight, and Arnell Carmichael. During the late 80's, Rabbitt was one of many pop-influenced country stars who lost ground on the charts to more traditional-sounding artists. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. is a 1980s recording artist most well known for writing the theme song to the motion picture Ghostbusters. He was also well-known for writing and recording the theme song for the Clint Eastwood movie "Every Which Way But Loose.". He scored some of his biggest hits with tunes such as "I Love a Rainy Night" (1980), "You Don't Love Me Anymore (1978), and "Step by Step" (1980).

His early pieces were strongly C&W, such as "Two Dollars in the Jukebox." Later, his music began to be influenced by R&B and pop. In 1975, he signed on with Elektra Records, who had recently created a country music division. He came to the attention of recording companies when he penned Elvis Presley's hit song "Kentucky Rain". He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1968, hoping to earn a living as a songwriter and performer.

He was born in Brooklyn New York, and raised in New Jersey. Eddie Rabbitt (November 27, 1941-May 7, 1998) was a country music singer and songwriter who reached the peak of his popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s.