In Memoriam: Nick Ashford (1942-2011)

One of the primary songwriting and producing teams of Motown, Ashford & Simpson specialized in romantic duets of the most dramatic kind, professing the power of true love and the comforts of sweet talk. In “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” from 1967, their first of several hits for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, lovers in close harmony proclaim their determination that “no wind, no rain, no winter’s cold, can stop me, baby,” but also make cuter promises: “If you’re ever in trouble, I’ll be there on the double.”
- Ben Sisario, New York Times

Nickolas Ashford was born in South Carolina and grew up in Michigan. He moved to New York in the early 1960s with $57 in his pocket, hoping to make it in show business.

He was attending Harlem’s White Rock Baptist Church when he met Valerie Simpson, a New Yorker who sang in the choir and also had musical ambitions.

They recorded together briefly and unsuccessfully in 1964 as “Valerie and Nick,” but had more success with writing songs – which at first, said Ashford, they sold for $75 apiece.

Their first big hit was Ray Charles’s “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” which hit the top 10 on the R&B charts in 1966, and soon after they signed to Motown.
- David Hinckley, New York Daily News

“Competition brings out the best in you,” he said in 1976. “You don’t know how much reserve you really have until you push yourself. There were so many good writers and producers there. You felt you had to call upon yourself for more than you had previously been doing.”

That push made Ashford’s work stand out, Motown songwriter Janie Bradford said. “The quality was very polished and professional… Nick had a way with words.”

Describing the duo’s gospel influence on their popular songs, Ashford told The News in 1972: “We feel that we have brought a particular feeling across the bridge to the R&B idiom. And … whether you are singing R&B or soul, you have to get it because it’s that deep.”
- The Detroit News

Though they had initially performed together in 1964 as Valerie & Nick, after meeting a year earlier at Harlem’s White Rock Baptist Church, they didn’t fully break out as R&B stars until the late ’70s and ’80s with songs like “Don’t Cost You Nothing,” “It Seems to Hang On,” “Found A Cure,” “Street Corner” and “Solid.” They generated excitement onstage with the tall, leonine Ashford trading harmonies with the sultry Simpson.

Ashford, who was born in Fairfield, S.C., and raised in Willow Run, Mich., had originally aspired to be a dancer.

The couple, who had been married since 1974, were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. They recorded eight albums for Warner Bros., including four that went gold, five with Capitol and two independently. Their last album, 1996′s “Been Found,” was a collaboration with poet Maya Angelou.
- Steve Jones, USA Today