Simpson, Valerie (1946–)

views updated

Simpson, Valerie (1946–)

African-American songwriter, pop singer, and record producer. Born in the Bronx, NY, Aug 26, 1946; sister of Ray Simpson, lead vocalist for Village People; studied music at Chatham Square School; m. Nickolas Ashford (songwriter), 1974.

Joined with future husband to become the writing team of Ashford and Simpson (1964); had 1st success with "Let's Go Get Stoned" (1966), sung by Ray Charles; signed with Motown and wrote a series of hits, including Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's duets "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "You're All I Need to Get By" and Diana Ross' "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)"; also made 2 solo albums, Exposed! (1971) and Valerie Simpson (1972); with Ashford, launched a performing career as Nick & Valerie (1973); had breakthrough with gold album Send It (1977), which included Top-10 hit "Don't Cost You Nothing"; followed that with another gold-seller, Is It Still Good to Ya? and a 3rd gold album, Stay Free (1978), which contained the single "Found a Cure"; had biggest hit album with Solid (1984); continued to create hits for such singers as Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, and Whitney Houston.

See also Women in World History.

About this article

Simpson, Valerie (1946–)

Updated About encyclopedia.com content Print Article