Nick Ashford, Motown songwriter was 70

Bad day for legendary songwriting teams. Nick Ashford, a prolific writer of hits for Motown with his partner and later wife Valerie Simpson, died in New York City. He had been undergoing treatment recently for throat cancer. Ashford and Simpson wrote the Motown hit duets for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in the 1960s, provided songs for most of the label's other stars, and their song "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough" became the first solo #1 for Diana Ross after she left The Supremes. When Berry Gordy wouldn't let them perform for Motown, Ashford and Simpson went off, got married, and became a singing act. Their biggest hit, “Solid,” reached No. 12 on the pop chart and No. 1 on the R&B chart in 1984, says the New York Times.