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The Spectacle Blog
This isn’t a good day for songwriters. First, Jerry Leiber of Leiber-Stoller fame passes away. Now comes word that Nick Ashford of the husband and wife songwriting team of Ashford & Simpson passed away today of throat cancer. He was 70.
Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson are best known for co-writing a string of hits for Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell - “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “”Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing” and my favorite Ashford-Simpson composition “You’re All I Need To Get By.” All three songs charted over a fifteen month period between 1967 and 1968. Ashford & Simpson also composed songs for the likes of Ray Charles, Diana Ross and Gladys Knight & The Pips amongst many others. I like the Fifth Dimension’s take on “California Soul.” They were also performers in their own right scoring their biggest hit in 1984 with “Solid.”
The work of Ashford & Simpson certainly stands up well with other husband-wife songwriting teams of that era such as Goffin & King, Mann & Weill as well as Barry & Greenwich. Ashford & Simpson might very well be the most underrated songwriting team of the rock n’ roll era.
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More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/08/23/nick-ashford-rip
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PCC| 8.23.11 @ 12:53AM
Dear Aaron,
Congratulations. You have cornered the pop music and baseball markets on the AmSpec Blog. What's next? Household pets?
With best wishes.
PCC
Occam's Tool| 8.23.11 @ 1:22AM
Cassius J Cat. Finest 13 year old tabby cat alive. No competitors worthy of competing for the title with "The Greatest of All Time!"
Talks as much as his namesake, too. Has a wicked right hook, still. These days, prefers to have his tummy rubbed.
astorian| 8.23.11 @ 10:42AM
Actually, the most underrated husband and wife pop/rock songwriting team of all time (the fact that you didn't even MENTION them is a sign of how underrated they were) are Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote almost all the Everly Brothers' biggest hits, and Nazareth's FM rock staple "Love Hurts."
Not to mention "Rocky Top," which we hear every time the Tennessee Volunteers score a tocuhdown!