Raydio is an American

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

and R&B

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

formed in 1977 by Ray Parker Jr., with Vincent Bonham,

Jerry Knight Jerry Ernest Knight (April 17, 1952 — December 29, 1996) was an American R&B vocalist and bassist who reached prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during which he was part of several groups and had a brief solo career. Career A Los ...

, and Arnell Carmichael.

Career

1970s and Raydio

After securing a record deal, the group scored their first big

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

in early 1978 with "

Jack and Jill "Jack and Jill" (sometimes "Jack and Gill", particularly in earlier versions) is a traditional English nursery rhyme. The Roud Folk Song Index classifies the commonest tune and its variations as number 10266, although it has been set to severa ...

", which was taken from their self-titled debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

. The song peaked at #8 on the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

, and reached #11 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, earning a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

in the process. "Is This a Love Thing" peaked at #27 in the UK in August 1978. Their next successful follow-up hit, "

You Can't Change That "You Can't Change That" is a song by Raydio from their second studio album '' Rock On''. Released as a single in 1979, it reached #9 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and #3 on the soul chart. Critical reception Robert Hilburn of the '' Los ...

" was released in 1979, and lifted from their ''Rock On'' album. The single reached #9 on the ''Billboard'' chart that year. In September 1979, they participated in an anti-nuclear concert at Madison Square Garden. Their performance of "

" at this show appears on the ''No Nukes'' album.

The 1980s and "Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio"

By late 1980, by which point Knight had left to pursue a solo career, the group had become known as Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio, and they released two more albums: ''Two Places at the Same Time'' (1980), and ''A Woman Needs Love'' (1981). These spawned another two

top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

single hits ("Two Places at the Same Time" - #30 in 1980; and "

That Old Song "That Old Song" is a 1981 song recorded by American R&B vocalist and songwriter Ray Parker Jr., along with his group, Raydio. It was the third of four single releases from their 1981 album, '' A Woman Needs Love'', the last Parker recorded with Ra ...

" - #21 in 1981). Their last, and biggest hit, "

A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do) "A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do)" is a 1981 song recorded by American R&B vocalist and songwriter Ray Parker Jr., along with his group, Raydio. It led their 1981 album, ''A Woman Needs Love'', the last Parker recorded with Raydio. Backgrou ...

," was also released in 1981, and peaked at #4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. After acknowledging the band had come to a crossroads and with Parker wanting to go solo, they quietly broke up in 1981.

Solo careers

Parker then started his solo career, scoring six top 40 hits in the 1980s, including "The Other Woman" (Pop #4), and "

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...

". The latter song was the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album or film in which it appears. In the Korean music industry, the term is used to describe a promoted song on an album, akin to a single, regardless of the song's title. Title track may a ...

of the

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

hit

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

''. The single stayed at #1 for three weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1984. Knight went on to have a moderately successful solo career of his own, later forming

Ollie & Jerry Ollie & Jerry was an American dance-pop duo active in the 1980s, consisting of drummer Ollie E. Brown and R&B singer/bassist Jerry Knight. Despite releasing no studio albums under their own name, they are still widely known for their hit singl ...

, with

Ollie E. Brown Ollie E. Brown (sometimes credited as simply Ollie Brown) (born April 20, 1953) is an American drummer, percussionist, record producer, and high-school basketball coach. A prolific session musician, Brown has performed on over a hundred albums in ...

(who had been a session drummer on all of Raydio's albums) in the mid-1980s. Their two biggest hits also came from soundtracks: " Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us" was the theme to the

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

Breakin' ''Breakin (also known as ''Breakdance'' in the United Kingdom and ''Break Street '84'' in other regions) is a 1984 American breakdancing-themed musical film directed by Joel Silberg and written by Charles Parker and Allen DeBevoise based on a ...

'', and reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart; their second single " Electric Boogaloo" (from the movie '' Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo''), did not enter the Hot 100, but climbed to #43 on the dance chart. In 2014, original members Arnell Carmichael and Vincent Bonham revived Raydio, recruiting two new members, James Carmichael formerly of the Arista group Q.T. Hush, and up-and-coming young singer Giovanni Rogers. They toured with Average White Band, War, Switch, DeBarge, among several other major tours.

Discography

''All albums and singles listed below were issued on

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...

. For Ray Parker Jr.'s solo releases. see Ray Parker Jr. discography.''

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

*
Arnell Carmichael's MySpace page

Ray Parker Jr 2012 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com
{{Authority control African-American musical groups American rhythm and blues musical groups Arista Records artists Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1981 Musical groups from Detroit Ray Parker Jr.