Yesterday was a tough day for the music industry as we lost two legendary songwriters in Nick Ashford and Jerry Leiber. Both were part of songwriting teams – Ashford with wife Valerie Simpson and Mike Stoller with Leiber. Leiber and Stoller’s vast credits include early rock classics Love Potion No. 9, Hound Dog and Yakety Yak. Ashford and Simpson joined the Motown team in the ’60s and penned such wonderful tunes as Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, You’re All I Need To Get By and Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing.
Ashford, who died of complications from throat cancer, had a hit with Simpson in the ’80s called Solid that was one of the best-selling songs of 1984. Here’s the pair performing the tune live earlier this decade…
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6DMMjUYvsU&ob=av2n[/youtube]
For more on Jerry Leiber, read this insightful obituary from the L.A. Times, where you can also read more about the life of Nick Ashford.
