The HistoryMakers continued its vital work of capturing the oral history of prominent African Americans leaders in hosting its annual PBS-TV interview and fundraiser AN EVENING WITH VALERIE SIMPSON at the Thorne Hall Auditorium at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago.
The November 19th gala was one of the first public interviews of R&B icon Valerie Simpson since she lost her husband and songwriting partner, the acclaimed Nickolas Ashford, in August of this year. He died of throat cancer shortly after being diagnosed with the disease. Simpson was interviewed by veteran journalist Gwen Ifill, an award-winning moderator, managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for the PBS network’s NewsHour, with guest appearances and performances by Grammy Award-winner Patti Austin and Kindred the Family Soul. Former Ashford & Simpson musical director, Ray Chew, served as the program’s music director.
Chew was hired to join the Ashford & Simpson team when he was eighteen and worked for them for over 20 years. He currently serves as the musical director for American Idol. Chew credited Ashford & Simpson with “empowering me as a music director.” AN EVENING WITH VALERIE SIMPSON included an appearance by the couple’s longtime friend and choreographer, Tony Award-winning choreographer George Faison, who thanked Ashford for “the most precious gift we could ever have: an ever-enduring legacy.” Faison served as co-producer along with The HistoryMakers’ founder and executive director, Julieanna Richardson, who pointed to Nick Ashford’s death as to the urgency of The HistoryMakers project.
“I regret that we did not get to hear Nick Ashford’s story from Nick Ashford,” said Richardson. “We have to record people’s stories because we are losing people every day.”
Simpson was candid, revealing and quite funny as she talked about meeting Ashford, working in partnership with him at Motown as a sought-after songwriting team and ultimately marrying him and having children. “I just got very lucky to find my personal soul mate. Anybody that knew him knew he had something very special,” Simpson said.
Nick Ashford was in his early 20s when the South Carolina native found himself homeless in New York City. He had gone to a Harlem church for a free hot meal, but as fate would have it that was the church where Valerie Simpson was a member and sang in the choir. The two met and soon after became songwriting business partners. Ashford would be the lyricists while Simpson would be the musician.
They launched an unsuccessful singing duo early on, but by 1966 they found themselves working for Berry Gordy’s Motown label in Detroit. It was there that Ashford & Simpson catapulted in the R&B music and songwriting industry. They penned such label hits as included “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “You’re All I Need To Get By,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand).”
“It was very special time at Motown. It was a songwriter’s dream to have the singing talent that Motown had,” Simpson said at Saturday’s taping. Vocalists included Diana Ross and the Supremes and Tammy Terrell and Marvin Gaye. Berry Gordy also offered praise for Ashford & Simpson in a video message shown during the taping.
Ashford and Simpson wrote many other hit songs including Chaka Khan‘s “I’m Every Woman” and Teddy Pendergrass’ “Is It Still Good to You.” After their duet “Solid” debuted in 1985, Ashford & Simpson became a household name.
Simpson revealed that she and Ashford worked as a business duo for some nine years before kindling a romantic relationship. She quipped that Ashford had always been “like a brother to me” as they worked their grind of creating songs.
Alas, “then he knew my real essence and he loved me anyhow. And when the love hit, it was real hard,” Simpson said during the taping. Ifill’s interview took Simpson down memory lane, and forward-looking at today’s music. Simpson talked about their family entertainment venue, Sugar Bar, located in New York, and offered advice to aspiring artists: “Do you. Do you good!” she said.
After spending most of her adult life with Nick Ashford, losing him in August was hard for Simpson, who said she draws strength from the couple’s daughters – who were at the taping. She explained that after they learned of Ashford’s cancer, family and friends all thought they had more time, but Simpson’s illness progressed quickly.
“The good part about it is we got to say everything we needed to say to each other. His daughters got to love him. I am loved up,” Simpson said. “In the twinkling of an eye, all of our lives can change.”
Simpson closed the taping with an emotionally charged vocal performance that thanked HistoryMakers and paid tribute to the love of her life, Nick Ashford.
Attending the taping were Martha Reeves of Martha Reeves & the Vandellas; John Rogers, Ariel Investments founder and co-chair; Chicago Urban League president Andrea Zopp; retired media veteran Merri Dee; and historian Timuel Black, among others.
AN EVENING WITH VALERIE SIMPSON will be broadcast during Black History Month on February 12 at 8 p.m. on witf.
