Nick Ashford born 4 May 1941

Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946) were an American husband-and-wife songwriting, production and recording duo. 

The son of a construction worker, Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, and grew up in Willow Run, Michigan, singing in a church choir as a child. After briefly attending Eastern Michigan College, he moved to New York to follow a career in jazz dance. He turned to songwriting in 1963 when he met Simpson, a music student, at the White Rock Baptist church in Harlem, where she was a featured singer. Ashford often credited their church background as a vital influence on the duo's songs. "So much soul comes out of the Baptist church, it's so embedded in you. You could go out any minute and turn the sweetest ballad into a gospel song if you felt real good about it." 

Their first success came with a song whose sentiments were anything but devotional. They were staff writers for the Scepter/Wand record company when their song Let's Go Get Stoned, a No 1 hit in the R&B chart for Ray Charles in 1966, brought them to the notice of Berry Gordy, head of the most renowned African-American music company, Tamla Motown. Ashford recalled that the song came out of creative frustration: "We had been trying to write something all day but we couldn't come up with anything. So I said 'Let's go get stoned.' I meant, just go and have a drink, so we started laughing out the door, singing, 'Let's go get stoned.'" 

Gordy quickly contracted Ashford and Simpson to write exclusively for his artists and for the next five years they were major contributors to Motown's dominance of black pop music. The couple moved to Detroit and often played, or sang backing vocals, on Motown tracks. They were especially adept at providing duets for Gaye and Tammi Terrell, such as Your Precious Love (1967), Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing (1967) and You're All I Need to Get By (1968). 

Ashford and Simpson were also assigned to compose for Diana Ross, crafting such hits as Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) in 1970 and Surrender (1971). Perhaps the masterpiece of their Motown years was Ain't No Mountain High Enough, a No 1 hit for Ross in 1970. This six-minute epic was also produced by Ashford and Simpson. Ashford had previously co-produced the 1968 recording by Diana Ross, the Supremes and the Temptations of I'm Gonna Make You Love Me. 

                                   

Ashford and Simpson had made a few recordings soon after they met, and they petitioned the autocratic Gordy to allow them to revive their recording career. He viewed them as writers and producers rather than performers, but in 1971 he reluctantly acceded. Simpson made the albums Exposed and Keep It Comin', but despite critical acclaim, neither compared favourably with Motown's stars in sales terms. Ashford and Simpson severed their Motown contract and moved to Warner Brothers in 80’s as recording artists, although Gordy retained their services as occasional writers and producers, notably for Ross. During the Warners years, the husband and wife (they married in 1974) recorded a series of albums typified by their celebratory romantic songs. 

Their records sold well to the African-American community but there was also the occasional crossover song that appealed to white audiences, such as Found a Cure and Solid. The intensely uxorious Solid was the title track from the couple's second album under a new contract with Capitol Records. Ashford & Simpson's music has been used as themes for international events, such as the opening of the Olympic Ceremonies, and the Hands Across America theme "Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand.” 1993 had everybody humming their smash hit “I’m Every Woman,” recorded by Whitney Houston for The Bodyguard soundtrack. 

In latter times, Ashford & Simpson recorded and toured sporadically, and in 1996, they opened a restaurant and live entertainment venue, Sugar Bar in New York City, with an open mic on Thursday nights. The pair were inducted into the Songwriters Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. They even performed at Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, rewriting their song “Solid” as “Solid as Barack.” 

According to the Guardian, "It's one thing to write a love song, it's another to convince an audience you inhabit one.” Ashford & Simpson's stage shows captivated audiences everywhere and their songs continued to bring joy to people all over the world. In 2009 they released The Real Thing, a compilation of live recordings. 

Ashford died at the age of 70 in a New York City hospital on August 22, 2011, four days before Valerie Simpson's 65th birthday, of complications from throat cancer. His publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said that he had undergone radiation therapy to treat his illness.

(Edited from The Guardian, Wikipedia & Songhall)