Nicolas Ashford or Nick Ashford, one of the famous American Motown songwriter died Monday August 22 after an unmatched battle with throat cancer. He died at 70 (he was on May 4, 1941)at New York City Hospital, said his longtime friend and former publicist Liz Rosenberg. Another Motown songwriter is not other than his wife Valerie Simpson (they married in 1974 after their first meeting in a Harlem church in New York city). He was undergoing radiation treatment to treat his illness but in vain. They jointly created some legendary songs like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand," and 80's great hit "Solid As a Rock." The singers that make these songs immortal are Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston and Ashford & Simpson themselves.
"His music is unmatched in terms of great songwriting," Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire said after learning of his friend's death. "They had magic and that's what creates those wonderful hits, that magic," White added. "Without those songs, those artists wouldn't have been able to go to the next level." At his death he left his wife and two daughters Nicole and Asia Ashford.
Nicolas Ashford or Nick Ashford, one of the famous American Motown songwriter died Monday August 22 after an unmatched battle with throat cancer. He died at 70 (he was on May 4, 1941)at New York City Hospital, said his longtime friend and former publicist Liz Rosenberg. Another Motown songwriter is not other than his wife Valerie Simpson (they married in 1974 after their first meeting in a Harlem church in New York city). He was undergoing radiation treatment to treat his illness but in vain. They jointly created some legendary songs like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand," and 80's great hit "Solid As a Rock." The singers that make these songs immortal are Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston and Ashford & Simpson themselves.
"His music is unmatched in terms of great songwriting," Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire said after learning of his friend's death. "They had magic and that's what creates those wonderful hits, that magic," White added. "Without those songs, those artists wouldn't have been able to go to the next level." At his death he left his wife and two daughters Nicole and Asia Ashford.
