Suave, sophisticated, impossibly romantic Nick Ashford, who, side by side with his wife Valerie Simpson, co-wrote, "'Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand," "Solid As A Rock" and so many other Motown astonishments, died yesterday in Manhattan.
It's impossible to single out any one of his masterpieces, but put on Chaka Khan's world-shaking version of Ashford and Simpson's "I'm Every Woman" at any disco, anywhere in the world -- right now -- and see what happens. It's called joy.