I Love Disco remembers Nickolas Ashford

Nickolas Ashford has become a music legend. He was 70 years old; songwriter of, among others, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “I’m Every Woman,” written and performed alongside his wife, Valerie Simpson.

Born in 1941 in South Carolina, Ashford met Valerie in the early 1960s when he moved to New York.

He sang to make ends meet while Valerie Simpson played the piano and sang in the choir at the White Rock Baptist Church. The two began dating and writing songs together. Their first success came in 1966, when Ray Charles recorded their track “Let’s Go Get Stoned.”

They married in 1974 and continued to write a string of hits for the prestigious Motown Records. The duo wrote numerous tracks, starting with “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” performed as a historic duet by none other than Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. They also sang “You’re All I Need to Get By,” which was later covered in 1968 by Dionne Warwick and two years later by Diana Ross.

Gloria Gaynor also later lent her voice to this track composed by Ashford and Simpson.

Nickolas’s creative genius produced tracks such as “Ain’t Nothing like The Real Thing,” “Send It,” “Found a Cure,” and “Don’t Cost You Nothing.”

Notably, “I’m Every Woman” was performed by Chaka Khan and later by Whitney Houston. It also served as the opening theme for the Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2002, Ashford and Simpson were rightfully inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

With the passing of Nickolas Ashford, the music world loses one of its most esteemed composers.