Ashford & Simpson - Send It

Biography by William Ruhlmann: Nickolas Ashford (b. May 4, 1942, Fairfield, SC) and Valerie Simpson (b. Aug 26, 1946, New York City) have two careers, as songwriters and as performers, with the former seemingly more important than the latter until the mid-'80s. The two met in 1964 and scored their first songwriting hit in 1966 with Ray Charles' recording of their "Let's Go Get Stoned." After a period at Scepter Records, they moved to Motown, where they wrote hits for the duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell ("Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "You're All I Need to Get By"). When Diana Ross left the Supremes for a solo career, Ashford & Simpson wrote "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand" for her.

Their own performing career was launched in 1973 with Keep It Comin' on Motown and Gimme Something Real on Warner Bros. Their first success came in 1977 with the gold-selling Send It, which contained the Top Ten R&B hit "Don't Cost You Nothing." Is It Still Good to Ya, a second gold album, contained the number two R&B hit "It Seems to Hang On" in 1978. Stay Free, their third straight gold album, contained "Found a Cure," another R&B smash that also made the Top 40 on the pop chart. A Musical Affair, in 1980, featured the hit "Love Don't Make It Right," but was not as successful as previous efforts.

Meanwhile, Ashford & Simpson continued to work with other artists, scoring successes with Ross, Chaka Khan ("I'm Every Woman"), and Gladys Knight. Their own career saw a resurgence in 1984 with Solid, which went gold and produced the R&B number one "Solid" (number 12 on the pop charts), "Outta the World," and "Babies." During the late '80s and two following decades, Ashford & Simpson continued to tour and record sporadically.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• r&b
• soul
• old
• school

[infamouslexdiamond]

RIP to another musical genius.......

[RamonaFromPomona]

R.I.P. Nick. This was always one of my favorites...

[Ms18221822]

LOVE HAS ITS OWN WILL!!! SEND IT!!!!!

[von1231000able]

these folks are great. i love them. even though nick has transitioned. his sprtit still lives on.

[MrSHOT3]

Sooooo.....Sooooooo.....MANY SONGS SO MANY HITS AND SO MUCH LOVE SEND IT R.I.P. NICK LOVE YOU VALERIE STAY STRONG AND SOLID AS A ROCK LIKE I KNOW YOU WILL PEACE AND LOVE.....

[SOULJATWIN]

R.I.P NICK ASHFORD 1942-2011 GOD BLESS YOU MY BROTHA

[angline5]

The Lord really showered us with wisdom in the songs of this husband and wife team. Send it is one of my favorites of their songs, and there many others. Much Love!

[tonkinshipwreck69]

When i was a child, i would hear my grandmother say: You are only hear for a short time, but being a young teen, that really didn't mean anything to me but obviously i listen because here i am repeating this to you. All these wonderful singers i came up with are passing on which only tells me that granny was right, it is a short time. I see what you meant granny. I see the end is closer than the beginning. RIP Nick, glad that i was on the short trip with you.

[pinky8465]

Their second best song next to so so satisfied.

[stanlee504]

Nick Ashford sprit does as he fortold ''travels faster than a laser beam"...all who read this are now on alert...lol

[birdnerder]

Chills galore and their ain't no mountain high enough.. Gone home never forgotten