Nick Ashford and his songwriting partner & wife Valerie Simpson were not only one of the great Soul/R&B/Funk/Jazz songwriting teams from the mid sixties on, they were recording artists in their own right.
As staff songwriters for Scepter Records, Ashford and Simpson wrote Ray Charles' classic "Let's Go Get Stoned" in 1964, which brought them to the attention of Motown. The song became a number one U.S. R&B hit in 1966 for Ray Charles.
Ray Charles - Let's Go Get Stoned
Ronnie Milsap used a song penned by Ashford & Simpson entitled Never Had It So Good
Maxine Brown recorded their song entitled One Step At A Time.
As a team the duo went on to write some of the biggest hits in R&B history including several Motown classics.
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell first recording Ashford & Simpsons song Aint No Mountain High Enough (1967)
Diana Ross also covered a great version of Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Ashford & Simpson also wrote "You're All I Need To Get By" covered by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
"Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" first covered by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1968
The Jackson 5 also covered Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing
Below is Ashford and Simpson performing their classic hit " Reach and Touch Somebody's Hand
" with their friends Ben E. King, Roberta Flack, Phyllis Hyman, Cissy Houston, Paul Shaffer, Stevie Wonder, and Patti LaBelle.
"Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)"
