Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946) – Drink The Wine (1972)

Ashford & Simpson co-wrote and produced this funky anthem with a positive message for Simpson's self-titled solo LP, released on Motown.

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Living legend Valerie Simpson is a genius singer/songwriter and producer who with her late husband Nickolas Ashford formed one of the most successful songwriting, production, and performing duos of all time.

Born in the Bronx in New York City, Simpson graduated from Evander Childs High School in 1964. The same year, when she was eighteen years old, Simpson met her future husband Nickolas Ashford at White Rock Baptist Church in Harlem while they were both singing in the choir.

A chance meeting with former Ikette Josephine Armstead aka "Joshie" Jo Armstead led the three of them to begin writing songs together. One of their first compositions, “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” was recorded by the Coasters, Ronnie Milsap, and Manfred Mann in 1965 before becoming a #1 R&B hit for Ray Charles in 1966. It was later covered by James Brown and sung by Joe Cocker at Woodstock.

The song’s success led them to join Motown as songwriters in 1966. They were paired with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and wrote most of the duo’s biggest hits, including “Ain't No Mountain High Enough,” “You're All I Need to Get By,” and “Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing.” They later wrote and produced for other Motown artists like Gladys Knight & the Pips, Syreeta Wright, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, and the Supremes with the Four Tops. Ashford & Simpson wrote and produced almost all the material on three of Diana Ross’ solo albums, including her self-titled 1970 debut solo LP and her 1979 disco classic The Boss, both of which went platinum.

Simpson recorded two solo albums of her own for Motown, Exposed (1971) and her self-titled LP, released in 1972. For that album, they wrote the beautiful love song “I Believe I'm Gonna Take This Ride,” and the funky, life-affirming anthem “Drink The Wine,” which Simpson called one of her favorite songs the two of them ever wrote together.

The couple left the label in 1973 after realizing her solo albums were being poorly promoted and Berry Gordy refused to release an album by the two of them as a duo, recording some of the hits they had written for other Motown artists.

They married in 1974 and resumed their career as a performing duo, signing with Warner Brothers.

In 1976, for their fourth album Come As You Are, they produced the phenomenal disco-funk jam “One More Try,” which was also released as a rare extended disco 12” single. It was the only track on they album they did not co-write, instead co-written by Bobby Gene Hall, Jr. and Raymond Simpson, Valerie's younger brother who in 1979 went on to replace Victor Willis as the policeman in the Village People.

Ashford & Simpson co-wrote and produced everything on their fifth album Send It (1977), the first in a series of three of their late seventies LP’s that went gold. Its highlights were the ultra-funky jam “Don't Cost You Nothin',” and the instrumental version of “Bourgié Bourgié,” which was later a hit (with vocals) for Gladys Knight & the Pips, and covered by John Davis & The Monster Orchestra with an epic remix by John Morales.

#soul #funk #disco #Ashford&Simpson #ValerieSimpson