The Inspiration for “Ghostbusters”? The Michigan Childhood Home of Ray Parker Jr.

WARNING: Under no circumstances should you enter this property. By doing so you risk bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property. 

The man who gave us the “Ghostbusters” theme grew up in a Detroit neighborhood. Born in Detroit in 1954, Ray Parker Jr.'s career began when he was just a teenager, performing backup for Gladys Knight and guitar for The Spinners. In 1973 when he was 19, he split and moved to Los Angeles and his career skyrocketed from then on.

The Michigan house where he grew up is located at 3780 Virginia Park Street: a 2,342 square foot house with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. At one time it was a nice house...but realtor photos from 2019 show a different story. Garbage and debris all through the house, peeling walls, crumbling steps, ripped rugs, holes in the walls, broken & missing tiles and other damages.

Instead of attempting to fix it up, the house went up for sale through the Detroit Land Bank Authority as a quick “own it now” and “fix it yourself” property for a paltry one thousand dollars.

According to Curbed Detroit, this is where a young Ray Parker Jr. lived. The article goes on to say the address matches a 1963 deed that shows it was purchased by Ray E. Parker Sr.

The gallery below shows how the property changed from 2009 to 2022.

Usually, former childhood homes of celebrities are somewhat better kept-up than this one. It's plain to see it deteriorated after Ray moved out and the other Parkers in later years – but it's still hard to fathom that the man who gained massive fame with the “Ghostbusters” theme among many other hit songs - and recorded with Aretha Franklin, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, and Tina Turner - once resided here.

The house is seemingly off the market for now, so someone may or may not have purchased the property.

I wonder if Ray has visited his old home in the past few years?
And if so, what was his reaction?

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