Nick Ashford of Ashford & Simpson dies

[Mosiah]

http://news.yahoo.com/songwriter-nic...005535674.html

[Mosiah]

Didn't know they were such great song-writers!

[MdmeX]

Yep they were. RIP Nick.

[Historian]

Yes, They Really Were!

Didn't know they were such great song-writers!

Yes, they were a genuinely outstanding and highly prolific songwriting team!! In fact, the Yahoo article here did not even mention all of their great songs! This lovely couple even forayed into gospel, and co-wrote one of the most popular modern gospel songs ever, “(The Fool Says in His Heart) There Is No God.”

In my opinion, it is virtually impossible for Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson to ever become poor, as the royalties which they most certainly are still getting will ensure that they never have to work another day in their lives, regardless of how lavish they live! The key, as I’ve always told people, is to write hit songs!

Ashford and Simpson also seem to have had an incredible, storybook love affair with each other. I’ve never ever heard even a hint of scandal during their almost 40 years of marriage!

Ashford and Simpson is definitely a great songwriting team, right up there with Hal David and Burt Bacharach, and Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin!

By the way, Mosiah, do you realize that popular recording artists like Neil Diamond and Isaac Hayes started their careers as songwriters hired by recording studios, writing numerous hit songs for others ?

[MdmeX]

Some favorites

Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing
You're All I Need To Get By
Solid as a Rock
I'm Every Woman

[Gamma]

might sound harsh but i expect valerie simpson to go soon too ... they seem to have been very very close ... "solid as a rock" even!

[MdmeX]

Yes, they were a genuinely outstanding and highly prolific songwriting team!! In fact, the Yahoo article here did not even mention all of their great songs! This lovely couple even forayed into gospel, and co-wrote one of the most popular modern gospel songs ever, “(The Fool Says in His Heart) There Is No God.”

In my opinion, it is virtually impossible for Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson to ever become poor, as the royalties which they most certainly are still getting will ensure that they never have to work another day in their lives, regardless of how lavish they live! The key, as I’ve always told people, is to write hit songs!

Ashford and Simpson also seem to have had an incredible, storybook love affair with each other. I’ve never ever heard even a hint of scandal during their almost 40 years of marriage!

Ashford and Simpson is definitely a great songwriting team, right up there with Hal David and Burt Bacharach, and Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin!

By the way, Mosiah, do you realize that popular recording artists like Neil Diamond and Isaac Hayes started their careers as songwriters hired by recording studios, writing numerous hit songs for others ?

They also owned several restaurant/clubs, including the 20/20 on W. 20th St. and the Sugar Bar on W. 72nd St.

[MdmeX]

might sound harsh but i expect valerie simpson to go soon too ... they seem to have been very very close ... "solid as a rock" even!

Gamma - ever heard of Dr. Kenneth B.M. Crooks. He and his wife Nella Edgar Crooks were ever so close. But Dr. Crooks died in 1959 at age 54, and Nella died in 2010 at the age of 108 (double his age)

[Assasin]

Saw them perform 5 years ago and I remember they had a program on NY radio station. They took great care in everything they do and were such jovial people. Nick seem to take co-ordinate every move he made on stage. I think Valerie is the better singer but he is a great performer. It was pleasure to see them do "Solid".

Great songwriters, singers and mentors to a lot of the groups that came out of NY in the disco era. Groups like Chic, Ntume and others. RIP Nick.

[Gamma]

the exception rather than the rule

[Islandman]

Yep, a few hit songs create a continuous stream of income.

I only became really aware of this when I saw an interview, in the early 90s I think, with Lord Creator. He said he had been struggling for a while, until UB40 recorded Kingston Town and it became a hit in the UK, France and a few other places. He said just based on that he could live comfortably.

I can only imagine the kind of royalties people that people like Ashford and Simpson, Smokey Robinson, and Rod Temperton from Heatwave collect annually. For Temperton, even if you throw out all the rest and only consider the MJ hits Thriller, Rock With You and Off the Wall, that would be more than enough!

[Assasin]

Bunny Wailer sitting pretty with just one song "Electric Boogie"
Arrow was sitting pretty too on "Hot Hot Hot".

Yeah man Royalty is key but nuff a the writer them give it away to record company or do it as "work for hire". I recently hear Denroy Morgan said he got nothing from " I will do anything for you". Don't know how true it is but he could live from that alone.

[Historian]

You Got It Right!

I only became really aware of this when I saw an interview, in the early 90s I think, with Lord Creator. He said he had been struggling for a while, until UB40 recorded Kingston Town and it became a hit in the UK, France and a few other places. He said just based on that he could live comfortably.

I can only imagine the kind of royalties people that people like Ashford and Simpson, Smokey Robinson, and Rod Temperton from Heatwave collect annually. For Temperton, even if you throw out all the rest and only consider the MJ hits Thriller, Rock With You and Off the Wall, that would be more than enough!

You certainly got it right Islandman, and your examples are also certainly well chosen!

In addition to what you said, ever wonder why Sir Paul McCartney, the only surviving member of that world-famous songwriting team, will NEVER ever get poor? The same can be said about the Californian songwriter and musician Andrae Crouch, one of the most prolific gospel songwriters of the twentieth century. Crouch today is a preacher, but his many classics are still being recorded by countless gospel artists, performed live by countless gospel singers and bands, and played on radio stations across the English-speaking world!

The fact is that even after a songwriter’s death, the royalties will continue to pour in for his/her immediate family for several decades. It is not coincidental, for example, that all the singers on American Idol sing oldies for their entries. It makes a huge difference to the pockets of the American Idol producers!

Closer to home, do you seriously think that Rita Marley will ever become poor? This is because royalties are paid for two things: 1) each time a song is recorded, the songwriter laughs all the way to the bank (particularly if the newly recorded version is a hit); 2) royalties are also paid to songwriters based on airplay.

So, with the continued airplay Bob Marley gets in many countries, the royalties will continue to flow to Rita, his wife. (Remember Aston “Family Man” Barrett and his failed effort in a British court to get “his share” of royalties?)

(I just hope that Bob Andy’s excellent compositions are still being played on radio stations abroad, because I would hate it if this very talented songwriter stops benefitting from his creativity.)

Recently in the Gleaner (I believe a Sunday or two ago) there was a very nice article on the great Barbadian songwriter Irving Burghie (writer of hits such as “Jamaica Farewell,” “Island In the Sun,” “Mary’s Boy Child,” etc.). This man became very, very wealthy from the recordings of his songs by Harry Belafonte and a million others (lol), and today Burghie lives a very comfortable, wealthy life in New York.

[Islandman]

The most disturbing cases for me are the ones like Ike Turner and George Clinton who let thier drug habit cause them to sell out thier work for little and nothing.

It must be really hard to see your songs being sampled or selling again for some reason and you not getting anything from it.

[Reggaedoc]

Denroy I tell pure lie. That is not what he said many years ago, in my presence.