Biography
26 August 1946, The Bronx, New York, USA. This career of this superior singer and songwriter is inexorably linked to that of her partner Nicholas Ashford. Billed as Valerie And Nick, the couple made their recording debut in 1964 with ‘I’ll Find You’, but achieved greater distinction for a series of excellent compositions, often in partnership with ‘Joshie’ Jo Armstead. Among the many artists to record the team’s songs were Ray Charles, Maxine Brown and Chuck Jackson. In 1966 Ashford And Simpson were signed to the staff of Tamla/ Motown. The latter supposedly deputized, uncredited, for singer Tammi Terrell while she was too ill to complete duets with Marvin Gaye. Simpson’s voice, she controversially claims, was featured on ‘The Onion Song’, a UK Top 10 hit, which in part inspired the resumption of her recording career. ‘Silly Wasn’t I’ reached the R&B Top 30 in 1972, but the following year she and...
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