Ashford and Simpson: The Soundtrack to Black Love

Just in time for Valentine's Day we recognize one of R&B's strongest pairs -- in life and in music.

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Ashford and Simpson: The Soundtrack to Black Love
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21

Some 40-plus years after its release, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" may be the most recognizable Soul duet ever recorded. It’s easy to think that the song’s timelessness has everything to do with the musical bond that Gaye and Terrell shared, in the studio and on stage, but in reality Terrell recorded her vocals for the songs months before Gaye did; The duo were not in the studio together for the recording of the song.

While Gaye and Terrell did find studio magic on tracks like “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” “You’re All I Need to Get By,” and “Your Precious Love,” the one constant on those recordings was the song-writing and production team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. The duo was in their early twenties when Motown head Berry Gordy entrusted them with some of the label’s marquee acts, beginning a more than 40-year career where their songs have served as the soundtrack to Black love.

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Solid as Barack

from McClatchy

Solid as Barack: How 1980s hit song became Obama tribute

by William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Some may call it a case of life imitating art, or a dose of excessive political enthusiasm, but singer-songwriters Ashford & Simpson call it a labor of love.

After hearing audiences change the lyrics to their 1984 hit song "Solid (as a Rock)" to "Solid (as Barack)" — and watching "Saturday Night Live" perform a skit in with cast members did the same thing — the performing duo went back into the studio, retooled the lyrics to honor Obama, and intend to release it via digital download on Inauguration Day.

"We were amazed that it went from a concert in California to New York to 'Saturday Night Live,'" Valerie Simpson told McClatchy in an interview. "It really started out as a people thing and snowballed from there."

Ashford & Simpson said they never thought about recording a song for Obama, though they're staunch supporters of the president-elect. They were running through a medley of their hits during a show in Los Angeles in August when they turned the microphone towards the audience to have it join them in singing "Solid."

Instead of singing "solid as a rock," many in the crowd of 3,000 belted out "solid as Barack." An audience in New York did the same thing several nights later, and it caught the attention of a newspaper concert reviewer.

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Listen to "Solid As Barack" Here