NEW YORK – Long before the soaps invented the so-called, “Super Couple,” the music industry already had one, with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. And Ashford and Simpson were truly a super couple in every meaning of the word – on stage and off. Their marriage seemed just as strong and solid as their musical talents and lasted almost as long. That bond came to a tragic end Monday, Aug. 22, when Ashford lost his lengthy battle with throat cancer at a New York hospital. Ashford was 70-years old.
Ashford and Simpson’s relationship stretched for more than four decades after they met in a New York City church in 1964. Ashford, a South Carolina native, had come to the city to pursue a dance career, while Simpson was a music student.
After the two connected, they decided to launch a career writing songs together, and what a career it was.
Their first major success occurred when they came up with “Let’s Go Get Stoned” for Ray Charles. The bluesy, gospel-tinged song became a huge hit for Charles, and soon, they came to the attention of Motown Records and began penning hits for their artists.
Ashford and Simpson started out writing soulful, romantic works for the duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell that would become instant classics, like “Your Precious Love,” and “Ain’t Nothin’ Like The Real Thing.”
In fact, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was originally their hit, until Diana Ross later rerecorded it with a new arrangement that had sweeping pop grandeur and made it her signature song, the Associated Press reported.
Ross, however, may have been Ashford and Simpson’s greatest muse. With her, they wrote some of their biggest songs that helped to launch her solo career apart from The Supremes. Among the songs Ross made hits were “Reach Out and Touch,” ”The Boss,” ”My House,” and “Missing You,” a tribute to the late Marvin Gaye and others. They also composed some of the music for “The Wiz,” the movie musical that starred Ross and Michael Jackson.
The duo, married for 38 years, helped sell millions of records for several artists. But they also had success as their own entity with numerous chart-topping hits including: “It Seems To Hang On,” “Found A Cure,” “Street Corner,” Count Your Blessings,” and what could have been their national anthem for all married couples, “Solid (As A Rock).”
But even with the success of “Solid,” their songs were still dwarfed by those they wrote for others.
Ashford and Simpson continued to craft hits even into the new millennium: They are credited as co-writers on Amy Winehouse’s “Tears Dry On Their Own.”
In an industry where marriages and partnerships are fleeting, Ashford and Simpson clearly stood the test of time.
The couple was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002, and continued to perform in recent years.
Ashford is survived by his wife, Valerie, and their two daughters. A publicist for the couple said funeral arrangement have not been made.
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