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Posted in music on August 22, 2011

Nick Ashford of Ashford & Simpson, RIP

Ashford and Simpson

Nick Ashford, who along with wife Valerie Simpson helped set the gold standard for R&B duets, both as songwriters and performers, died of throat cancer Monday in a New York hospital. He was 69.

Ashford & Simpson -- you can't think of one without the other -- penned and produced almost all of the '60s hits for Motown's Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, including Ain't No Mountain High Enough, You're All I Need to Get By, Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing and Your Precious Love. They also wrote hits for Chuck Jackson, The Shirelles, Maxine Brown and the Fifth Dimension.
Ray Charles' 1966 No. 1 R&B hit Let's Go Get Stoned was their breakthrough record. They would later write and produce Diana Ross' biggest solo hits, including her signature Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand). They also wrote Chaka Khan's I'm Every Woman, which was later recorded by Whitney Houston. [USA Today]

RIP Ashford!

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Tags: Ashford and Simpson, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Nick Ashford, RIP
posted at 11:08 PM on August 22, 2011 in music | Comments (19)

Comments (19)

the couple used to come to the club i was running a decade ago. they both are lovely pleasant people and their love story is just fantastic. very sad to hear the bad news.

Posted by me | August 22, 2011 11:43 PM

What a shame. Such a brilliant songwriter and 1/2 of an amazing love story.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 12:17 AM

Didnt know he wrote all those great old songs.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 12:22 AM

We send thee to the choclate afterworld w/ honors...

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 3:18 AM

is that a bag of coke in the corner of the top photo?

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 8:49 AM

May you rest in peace Mr. Ashford.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 8:55 AM

@8:49 - I'm sure you're just joking but it's a record store price tag sticker. Remember when there were record stores?

R.I.P. Nick Ashford.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 9:44 AM

idk man, that looks like a nearly empty 8 ball to me...

either, nick will always be solid (as a rock)...RIP

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 9:46 AM

RIP. Really sad news.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 9:46 AM

This is unrelated, but also sad news:

http://glasslands.blogspot.com/p/help-us-to-rebuild-our-stolen-pa.html

But if it happened August 2nd, why is it just being announced now.

Posted by anon | August 23, 2011 10:37 AM

^
They pull in plenty of money from The Manhattan Inn.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 10:48 AM

Sappy black pop music, most of it.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 11:48 AM

^ yay! retarded comment of the week!

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 12:11 PM

Hey 11:48, you sit down by yourself and you have a critical listen to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", and listen to the structure, the wordplay, the given and take of the two roles, not to mention the arrangement, and tell me that it's sappy black music. You still think so? You don't deserve to have a computer, or a radio.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 12:47 PM

actually I can't listen to ANMHE. It makes me want to puke. dopey cliched lyrics , it's the musical equivalent to Preparation H.

Posted by Anonymous | August 23, 2011 10:45 PM

Solid As a Rock is one of the cheesiest videos of all time

Posted by Anonymous | August 24, 2011 11:51 AM

^
They pull in plenty of money from The Manhattan Inn.

Posted by cfposlxv | December 21, 2011 4:07 AM

Sappy black pop music, most of it.

Posted by cfslxv | December 21, 2011 4:16 AM

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