Ashford & Simpson

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.