Nick Ashford, one half of the Ashford & Simpson team who wrote and performed some of Motown's classic songs, has died following a battle with cancer aged 70 (22 August).
Together with his wife and songwriting partner Valerie Simpson, Ashford was responsible for songs like Ain't No Mountain High Enough and Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand, while he could count the likes of Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles and Chaka Khan among the people who had performed his songs.
Ashford & Simpson, who were married for 38 years, met in 1964 after South Carolina-born Ashford relocated to New York to pursue a career as a dancer. They started writing songs together, both for other artists and their own act, scoring a Number Three on the UK Singles Chart in 1985 on in their right with Solid As A Rock, selling millions of records worldwide in the process.
Ashford is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Alicia Keys was among the first to pay tribute to the songwriter, writing on Twitter that "I'm so sad that he's gone.....So many of the greatest are going to a greater place....what a legacy of infectious music... man!"
DJ Trevor Nelson also paid his respects, describing Ashford as "one of the greatest songwriters [and] one of Motown's and black music's legends."
News of Ashford's death came just hours after it was reported that fellow songwriter, Jerry Leiber - often dubbed "poet laureate of rock n' roll" - had also died.
Here another of Nick Ashford's classics...
1:33 PM | 23/08/2011
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