Partners in life and music, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson became one of R&B’s preeminent power couples both as the team behind some of Motown’s greatest songs and as a recording act in their own right. Between their first meeting at a Harlem church in 1964 and Ashford’s passing in 2011, they made the most of their special musical chemistry with a run of major hits that began with Ray Charles’ “Let’s Go Get Stoned” in 1966. In their time as staff writers at Motown, they crafted classics like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”. Even as they continued to find success with loyal clients like Diana Ross and Chaka Khan, Ashford & Simpson established themselves as performers with such joyful hits as 1979’s “Found a Cure” and 1984’s “Solid”, an irresistible celebration of the love and strength they always found in each other.