Ashford and Simpson: From Let's Go Get Stoned to Solid as a Rock

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Nickolas Ashford was born in Fairfield, South Carolina, and raised in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he sang with the Hammond Singers at Christ Temple Baptist Church. Valerie Simpson grew up in the Bronx as a classically trained pianist. They met in 1964 at Harlem's White Rock Baptist Church, and their first records as a duo went nowhere. Teaming with Jo Armstead, they turned to writing for others at Scepter/Wand, placing songs with Maxine Brown, the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson, and in 1966 Ray Charles took their Let's Go Get Stoned to number one on the R&B chart. That hit brought them to Motown the same year.

At Motown they wrote and produced most of the late 1960s singles for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, then reworked Ain't No Mountain High Enough into Diana Ross's first solo number one. Motown buried Valerie's solo albums Exposed and Valerie Simpson and refused to release an album of the pair singing their own hits, so in 1973 they left for Warner Bros., and they married in 1974. A decade later Solid made them stars in their own right. They wrote I'm Every Woman for Chaka Khan, opened the Sugar Bar in New York in 1996, and kept working together until Ashford died of throat cancer complications in 2011 at 70.

Valerie Simpson sang guide vocals during the making of Easy in 1969 while Tammi Terrell was ill with a brain tumor.
Valerie's brother Ray Simpson replaced the lead cop singer in the Village People.
Nick Ashford played Reverend Oates in the 1991 film New Jack City.
The Sugar Bar's Thursday open mic night drew performers including Queen Latifah.
Valerie's 2012 solo album featured Nina Simone's last recorded performance.

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