Taylor Swift Wins 5 American Music Awards

Taylor Swift Wins 5 American Music Awards: LOS ANGELES, Taylor Swift Wins 5 American Music Awards, Country crossover star Taylor Swift overshadowed the late Michael Jackson at the American Music Awards on Sunday, winning five prizes including artist of the year.
Jackson, who had been expected to enjoy a clean sweep, ended up with four awards. He and Swift went head-to-head in the artist of the year race, the ceremony’s final prize.

Other multiple winners included hip-hop acts Jay-Z and the Black Eyed Peas, with two each.

Swift, 19, was also named favorite female artist in the pop/rock and country categories, and favorite adult-contemporary artist. Her 2008 album “Fearless,” the best-selling release in the United States this year, was named favorite country album.

She accepted her awards live via satellite from backstage at London’s Wembley Arena, where she will perform a concert on Monday.

“Music has never been ultimately about competition,” Swift said, after winning the artist of the year prize. She said it was an “unimaginable honor” to be cited in the same category as Jackson, and thanked the Jackson family.

Jackson was named favorite male artist in the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories, while his 2003 hits collection “Number Ones” was named favorite album in both those categories. The album is the No. 2 seller this year in the United States.

His brother Jermaine, accompanied by sons Jeremy, Jaafar and Jermajesty, accepted on his behalf. At one point, he thanked Allah “for blessing my entire family.”

Rapper Eminem, making a rare awards-show appearance in the wake of his four nominations, went home empty-handed. Glam-pop singer Lady Gaga, rock band Kings of Leon and jailed rapper T.I., who earned three nominations each, were also snubbed.

The Black Eyed Peas were named favorite group in both the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories. Jay-Z won favorite male artist and favorite album in the rap/hip-hop categories. His wife Beyonce, who was performing a show in Dublin, was named favorite female artist in the soul/R&B category.

Punk rock trio Green Day won the favorite alternative artist. Rascal Flatts won favorite country group for the fourth year in a row.

The performance-heavy show included some notable scenes. Openly gay “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert kissed a keyboardist of indeterminate gender and rubbed a male dancer’s face in his crotch. Jennifer Lopez, meanwhile, landed on her bottom after jumping off the arched back of one of her dancers.

Nominees are determined by radio airplay and retail sales, while members of the public determine the winners through online voting. That’s why Jackson got so many nominations, even though he didn’t release any new material.
Source: apakistannews.com

I Dreamed A Dream, Susan Boyle Album

I Dreamed A Dream, Susan Boyle Album updates:- I Dreamed A Dream by Susan Boyle, the upcoming debut album from the talent show sensation, has achieved the largest global CD pre-orders in the history of Amazon.com, This title will be released on November 23, 2009.
About I Dreamed A Dream:- Inspirational and breathtaking, “I Dreamed a Dream” is the highly anticipated album from a global phenomenon whose dream has become reality.
She captured the hearts of millions and became a worldwide YouTube phenomenon with over 300 million hits. An inspiration for those who have a dream, the talented Susan Boyle presents her stunning debut album. Susan surprised the world with her powerful, heart stopping voice when she walked onto the Britain’s Got Talent stage. Now with a beautiful and diverse album she will, once again, defy preconceptions. I Dreamed a Dream, the album, crafted by world acclaimed producer Steve Mac, demonstrates Susan Boyle’s extensive musical ability. Featuring her signature songs, `I Dreamed a Dream’ & `Cry me a River’ the album also includes a haunting rendition of Rolling Stones “Wild Horses”, Madonna’s `You’ll See, The Monkees `Daydream Believer’ and “Who I Was Born To Be” an original recording written specially for Susan. Susan enthused; “It was my greatest ambition to release an album and I have finally achieved it. This amazing journey has helped me find my own identity and fulfill my wish. There is happiness out there for everyone who dares to dream.”
About Susan Boyle

January 21st 2009 is not a date that Susan Boyle is ever likely to forget. ‘I will never forget it,’ she clarifies, in her unmistakeably Celtic brogue. It was the day that the shy, devout 48 year old stepped onto the stage of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow for an audition on Britain’s Got Talent. Or to put it another way, the day her world turned 360 degrees on its head. In front of the three-strong panel of judges charged with divining which of this year’s British hopefuls really did have talent, the singing voice of Susan Boyle turned out to be a watershed moment neither she nor anyone involved in the show could possibly have foreseen. It is now both her and the show’s defining moment.

In her own haphazard fashion, during three and a half minutes of television airtime, later aired to slack-jawed intakes of breath in May of this year, Susan Boyle fashioned a new kind of fame. She elicited a moment of pure, molten zeitgeist. She broke every rule of the talent show book and tore up a considerable number of the pages of popular music marketing into the bargain. She symbolized an astonishing variety of the little-people’s revenge, quite by accident. Ms Boyle describes her own astonishing 2009 in refreshingly frank and simple terms. ‘All I did was to apply for a talent show. I was lucky enough to be chosen. That’s it in a nutshell.’ But something deeper was going on in the collective public consciousness. If the two watchwords of the 21st century have been ‘reality’ and ‘celebrity’, Susan Boyle had accidentally located a brand new point on the graph where they both intersected. One of Britain’s forgotten characters had rarely, if ever, been so memorable.

After her one audition for Britain’s Got Talent, in which she confounded the judges, the audience and then anyone with access to Youtube’s expectations by dazzling her way through a version of the song I Dreamed A Dream, from the musical Les Miserables, a tornado of opinionated column inches, speculation, rumination and conjecture around Susan Boyle grew feverishly. 300 Million You Tube hits and counting. She became the subject of op-ed newspaper columns, a front cover sensation in her own right. This unlikely candidate for the melting pot of the new star machine in 21st century Britain caused computer crashes, miles of newsprint and the sophisticated approval of Hollywood’s well-heeled and super-groomed A-list. Though the content differed wildly, everyone proffering their thoughts on the self-confessed ‘wee wifey’ seemed agreed on one point. That in 2009, to be free of an opinion on Susan Boyle was to be free of opinion itself.
For one brief moment, vanity itself collapsed. As that ancient old maxim – ‘Never judge a book by its cover’ – clanked around the globe with speedy viral intensity, it was as if the world was about to offer its first unspoken apology for prizing beauty above all else. Perhaps it would temporarily forget its grotesquely accentuated new heights of judgement. Or perhaps Susan Boyle was just a fleeting icon by which a microscope was shone on our more fickle presumptions. Whatever history gifts the Susan Boyle story in the long term, it is now her time to prove that there is more to this incredible woman than being the symbol for a moment of international reflection. She will do it in the exact same way she entered our consciousness in the first place. With the raw combination of strength and fragility, beauty and solitude that is her singing voice.

In some ways, Ms Boyle’s story is just the same as any woman with a voice in any choir up and down the UK. In her home town of Blackburn, she had been schooled in singing in churches and choral societies. She says now that, as a shy young woman with some learning difficulties, being hidden in the blanket of a collective singing arrangement offered her comfort. So in one other, crucial way, her story is entirely her own. The most unlikely chorister in the sea of voices stepped out of line and put her head above the parapet to be noticed. For Susan Boyle, though she would never deign to say so much herself, this was an act of personal heroism, the like of which she had never contemplated before.

The speed with which reaction to her performance picked up gravitas proved an incendiary media hotbed. But it was most surprising for the woman at the centre of it. ‘It started off with the [Scottish newspaper] Daily Record visiting my door. And it ended up with TV stations from all over the world camping out on my street waiting for interviews and stories. I’d peak behind the curtains in the house, saying ‘what in God’s name is going on here?’ Then the phone calls started. My number was still in the book at that particular time, so anybody could get it and the phone was ringing 24 hours a day. It was constant. People were ringing me who I couldn’t understand because of their accents. All sorts of nationalities. Lots of Americans. It was absolutely unbelievable if I’m being honest.’ She is self-deprecating about why she should have caused such a furore. ‘A woman who went on with mad hair, bushy eyebrows and the frock I was wearing had to be noticed. Come on!’

Such is the quick nature of today’s star system, in September, just four months after her TV debut, Susan Boyle made her live TV comeback. She performed a rarefied take on The Rolling Stones Wild Horses, re-orchestrated to gently clasp the exact timbre of her natural talent, on the show’s US cousin, America’s Got Talent. An unprompted standing ovation followed. Outside of the unruly cyclone of her fame, there is something within the voice of Susan Boyle that is absolutely perfect for our times. At a moment when Dame Vera Lynn and Barbra Streisand are topping the album charts, there is something peculiarly modern about her improbably status as holding the international record for most pre-ordered album of all time. As the dust settles on the sheer wattage of conversation that she has prompted, it is time – as they say – to face the music.

Ms Boyle’s debut album was put together during the summer of this year. She first entered a recording studio in July in Edinburgh, to test how her vocals would respond to tape. The results shocked both her and veteran producer Steve Mac. Decamping to London, she fashioned the record over two months, picking songs that resonated with her, that pricked something within that she felt ready to unleash through music. ‘It was important that I could feel everything I was singing,’ she says, cutting straight to the core of why music can be such a useful release, an escape valve from the everyday.

A disarming mix of the sacred (‘My faith is my backbone,’ she says) and the secular, there is not a moment on it that is not moving. It is pitched exactly within the framework of the year she has enjoyed and, at well-documented times, endured. It is a collection of covers and original material that cuts a swathe into the interior life of the woman who is arguably the most intriguing, not to mention instantly recognisable character yet to be produced by the reality talent medium, the decade’s defining TV genre.

When she hurts, it hurts. Her rousing rendition of Madonna’s You’ll See is a riposte to the children that picked on her in the playground. The new composition Who I Was Born To Be is an astonishing testament to self-belief against some startling odds. Yet when she dreams, we dream too. Because of her uncanny knack of picking a song so perfect for her tale at that very first audition, Ms Boyle has become synonymous with the word ‘dream’. Her flawless album rendition of I Dreamed A Dream may come as no surprise, but it still manages to pick every individual hair from the back of your neck and yank them to attention. A country ballad version of Daydream Believer delicately seals the deal of her being synonymous with the concept of dreaming.

For this is Susan Boyle’s tale. The fearlessness to dream about something other than the lot life has handed you. The chance to escape. The pivotal role of music as a conduit to go to another place, sometimes lodged at the outer recesses of your imagination, and to allow that new place to blossom. Yes, this is Susan Boyle’s tale. It is why it connected with so many unsuspecting people across the world. In another nutshell? If she can dare to dream, so can you.

Kandi Burruss Boutique

Latest News Updated, Kandi Burruss Boutique: Kandi Burruss boutique Tags and Kandi Burruss clothing store. There is some good news for Kandi Burruss fans in Atlanta and beyond. The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss who has won hearts and minds of her fans with her impressive personality is now to floor them with her clothing lines.
Kandi who lost her boy friend last month in a brawl seems to be coming out of mourning.

She is maximizing her stint as a “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member, bringing renewed attention to her abilities as a songwriter with her work on the “Tardy For The Party” song for cast member Kim Zolciak who is just a little challenged as a vocalist.

Burruss is also expanding her business opportunities by opening a clothing boutique in metro Atlanta with friend Peaches Chin who will run the boutique on a day to day basis.

The store called Tags, will focus on affordable men’s and women’s clothing. The Atlanta Journal Constitution provides additional details on Burruss’ business venture.

Here’s wishing her well as she’s opening the store during a challenging economic climate, but by marketing affordable clothing she’s at least giving the store a chance to succeed.

Thirty two year old Kandi Burrussis a multifaceted personality. She is known to be R&B singer, songwriter, record producer and television personality, best known as a former member of the group Xscape from Atlanta.

In early 2006, Kandi began work on her sophomore album. The first single “I Need” was a promotional single only. It featured rap duo 8Ball and MJG. Another song, “Keep It Gangsta” featuring rapper Lil Scrappy, was also set to appear on the album, although it was never released as a promo single.
Failing to generate any buzz, plans for the new album were temporarily put on hold. Burruss then teamed with Atlanta female rapper Rasheeda to form the duo Peach Candy, signed to D-Lo Entertainment. Their first single, entitled “Bam,” got little airplay and plans for this album were also put on hold. PeachCandy EP was released on iTunes with a 5-track lineup.

In 2009, Kandi joined the second season of the Bravo reality series, The Real Housewives of Atlanta and went back to work on her sophomore album, entitled B.L.O.G..

Source: khabrein.info

Officials: Possible U.S. missile kills 3 in Pakistan

Intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed three alleged militants in Pakistan’s North Waziristan …

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Officials: Possible U.S. missile kills 3 in Pakistan

Rihanna Rocks Barbed-Wire Outfit on New Single Cover

R&B superstar Rihanna debuted a new single — and sexy image — on Ryan Seacrest’s nationally syndicated radio show Tuesday, marking her return to the charts with an edgy single and nearly nude cover shot just six months after ex-boyfriend Chris Brown physically abused her.

Rihanna appears wearing nothing but what appears to be barbed wire on the album cover of “Russian Roulette,” the first single off of the singer’s new album “Rated R.”

The song follows a woman grappling with questions of suicide — one of the ballad’s verses ends with the eerie lyric “so just pull the trigger,” while the

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Rihanna Rocks Barbed-Wire Outfit on New Single Cover

Adam, Gets Gaga And A Leaked Music Video

Adam, Gets Gaga And A Leaked Music Video: Well, obviously Adam Lambert is proving to be bigger than Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta (new album art, uhh…) and–who’s that screaming dude again?  Well, I’m judging from the attention the press is giving him.  Credit where due.

A couple of bits from the American Idol runner-up, then: first, he’s confirmed on his Twitter account that he’s collaborating with that girl with the slightly scary eyes, Lady Gaga.

Well, more of Adam recording a song the “Paparazzi” hitmaker wrote.  “Gaga wrote the song a while ago and she thought it would be a good fit for me,” he tweeted.  “It’s a solo track. I feel so honored and lucky to be asked.  Gaga just gets it, you know?”

Of course, the next question is whether these two will perform together, but whether it’ll happen on Adam’s album, For Your Entertainment (I don’t like the name, sorry) or in a future effort, or at all, we’ve still yet to see.

Oh, and by the way, the video for Adam’s first song, “Time for Miracles”–the one for the 2012 soundtrack which induces goosebumps when cut up nicely–has been leaked.  Thanks to the folks over at Rickey.org, here’s the video… ooops.  Apparently it just got deleted.  Well it’s the usual Adam singing with clips from the film and all that.  But he looks good.
Source: buddytv.com

Tim Mccarver

Tim Mccarver: Tim McCarver Sings selections from the American songbook, lead Fox baseball color analyst Tim McCarver’s debut album, leaves us impressed.
If you are familiar with McCarver’s work as  talk show host, radio host,  author and baseball analyst you know that McCarver’s mind is as mccarver-sings-coverinquisitive as it is broad.  During games, we hear McCarver’s stream of consciousness; this style both shares with the viewer an undying curiosity and annoys some viewers.  McCarver’s mind pores over theorems that explain how the game (or should) play out. McCarver is excitable, enthused and interested in baseball.

The sportswriter David Halberstam said of McCarver  “Tim McCarver was a writer’s perfect interview, combining an exceptional love of language with an equally remarkable love of the game”

As his voice goes high to low, you recognize McCarver’s Memphis trained tongue that has become familiar to World Series viewers young and old.

It’s obvious that McCarver has a strong desire to be technically accurate with the musical notes, just as he has voices his displeasure with technically inaccurate base running, fielding, pitching and hitting. This album is not McCarver’s interpretation of American Classics but simply as they should be sung.

Perhaps, the thing that aggravates the critics most is that McCarver has not relented from his style one bit. The same can be said of his singing, we don’t get the idea that he is trying to impress anyone. McCarver wants to both educate us and bring the listener enjoyment. Just as he does with historical anecdotes in his baseball broadcasts, McCarver is helping us recollect a a simpler time.
Source: digitalsportsdaily.com

Lalah Hathaway, Live Lalah Hathaway

Eulaulah Donyll Hathaway (born on December 16, 1968)[2] best known as Lalah Hathaway is a contemporary R&B and jazz singer. She is the daughter of soul singer Donny Hathaway and classically trained vocalist Eulaulah. In 1990, Lalah Hathaway released her self-titled album, Lalah Hathaway. The album’s first single was “Heaven Knows,” produced by Derek Bramble. The follow-up single was “Baby Don’t Cry,” produced by Angela Winbush.
In 1991, Hathaway released her extended play, Night & Day in Japan. A Moment was released in 1994, debuting at #34 on the Top R&B albums chart. The lead single “Let Me Love You” charted on the Hot R&B charts at #37. In 1999, Lalah Hathaway colloborated with Joe Sample and released her third album The Song Lives On. After a five year hiatus, Hathaway returned with her fourth album Outrun the Sky. The single “Forever, For Always, For Love” peaked #1 on the Hot Adult R&B Airplay.

In 2007, Hathaway signed to Stax Records and in 2008 released her fifth album Self Portrait. Self Portrait released on June 3, 2008 in the United States, debuted at #63 on the Billboard’s Hot 200 and reached the top ten on the Top R&B albums chart, making this album, Hathaway’s most successful album to date.

Early life and career beginnings

Lalah Hathaway was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 16, 1968. Hathaway is the daughter of Donny Hathaway, a R&B and soul singer, and Eulaulah Hathaway, an accomplished musician. Her sister Kenya Canelibra Hathaway is one of the three backup singers of the TV program American Idol. In 1979, Hathaway lost her father, Donny Hathaway at the age of ten. His body did not have any indication of struggle, and the glass from the window in Hathaway’s room had been removed; investigators determined Hathaway had committed suicide.

The Chicago native first put pen to paper, “with the music,” as a 10th grader. In 1989, Hathaway signed to Virgin Records and released her first song “Inside the Beat”, which was released as a promo single. Later, as a student at Berklee College of Music, she recorded her self-titled debut in 1990.

Recording career

Lalah Hathaway and A Moment (1990-1995)

In 1990, Lalah Hathaway released her self-titled and first album, Lalah Hathaway. The album debut at #191 on the Billboard’s Hot 200 and #18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. The album’s lead single Heaven Knows became a top ten single peaking at #3 on the Hot R&B charts. The album’s second single “Baby Don’t Cry” only charted at #18 on the Hot R&B charts. The follow up single “I’m Coming Back” received moderate success, possibly due to no music video. The album’s final single “Something” debut at #21 on the Hot R&B charts. In 1991, Hathaway released an extended play, entitled Night & Day. The EP was only released in Japan but the single “Night & Day” was released in America. Night & Day debut at #110 on the Hot R&B charts. In 1992, Hathaway appeared on Grover Washington’s album “Next Exit”. The song “Love Like This” which featured vocals from Lalah Hathaway, was chosen to be the lead single of the album. The single charted at #31 on the Hot R&B charts.

In 1994, Hathaway followed up her success with her sophomore album, A Moment. A Moment debut at #34 on the Top R&B albums chart and #23 on the Heatseekers chart. The release of her sophomore album, A Moment saw Hathaway embracing an even more progressive sound as producer Brian Alexander Morgan was enlisted for her upbeat single “Let Me Love You”. The lead single, Let Me Love You, debut at the #37 on the Hot R&B charts. Later that year, the songs “Separate Ways” and “Family Affair” were released as singles, with which neither of songs charted. Still, the album did not sell as well as her first release, and eventually Hathaway parted ways with Virgin.

The Song Lives On (1998-2000)

She continued working with many other established artists, including Take 6, Mary J. Blige, The Winans, and Marcus Miller, writing, producing and doing background vocals. In 1999, Hathaway joined GRP Records and collaborated with jazz legend Joe Sample on the album The Song Lives On. The Song Lives On, topped the jazz charts at #2. The album became Hathaway’s second debut on the Billboard’s Hot 200 and later charted on Top R&B album chart. The single “When Your Life Was Low” charted only on the Hot R&B charts at #118. The album’s second single “Fever” failed to chart.

The Song Lives On went on to become one of Hathaway and Joe Sample’s most successful album to chart. In response to the album’s success, Hathaway and Sample were honored with Billboard/BET On Jazz Award for “Mainstream Jazz Album”.

Outrun the Sky (2003-2006)

In 2003, Lalah Hathaway appeared alongside Sanctuary, Pyramid, Mesa, and Blue Moon Records. In 2004, Hathaway released a cover version of Luther Vandross’s song “Forever, For Always, For Love”. The song later appeared on the all-star tribute album “Forever, For Always, For Luther” and on Hathaway’s fourth album Outrun the Sky. The song was released the lead single and peaked #1 on the Adult R&B charts. Forever, For Always, For Love became Hathaway’s first single to chart on the Billboard’s Hot 100, charting at #112 and #37 on the Hot R&B charts. Hathaway’s first solo album in five years featured production from Rex Rideout, Mike City, and Chris Parks. The album’s second single “Better and Better” peaked #121 on the Hot R&B charts.

Also in 2004, Hathaway was featured on Donald Lawrence’s debut solo album I Speak Life as a lead vocalist on “Don’t Forget to Remember”. In 2005, Hathaway was seen on the international Daughters of Soul tour along with Sandra St. Victor, Nona Hendryx, Indira Khan, Simone, and Joyce Kennedy. Continuing her forays into the gospel realm, she could be found on Israel and New Breed’s 2006 Christmas album A Timeless Christmas, which also featured Marcus Miller.
Source: wikipedia.org

Bill Cosby

Maybe Bill Cosby doesn’t hate rap after all.
The 72-year-old legendary comedian is planning to drop his own rap album, Bill Cosby Presents the Cosnarati: State of Emergency, calling on old-school vets like Ultramagnetic MC’s Ced-Gee and William “Spaceman” Patterson to produce the project.
The album plays as a backdrop to Cosby’s former fiery lectures about problems in urban America. Tracks on the album include “Where’s the Parade,” “Dad Behind the Glass” and “Get on Your Job,” as the songs deal with topics ranging from absent fathers to self-respect.

“I don’t like referring to the music as clean,” Cosby said in a statement. “What I like is what you’re not going to do. You’re not going to curse. You’re not going to put women down. You’re not going to put the glory of the gun somewhere. And you’re not going to put a whole lot of violence up front like that’s the thing that will cleanse you and make you feel better.”

Cosby and his band, Cosnarati, are planning a live New York City show October 19. Footage of the show will be available on Ustream.

Bill Cosby Presents the Cosnarati: State of Emergency hits stores Nov. 24. Until then, you can stream the album here. –Linda Hobbs
Source: vibe.com

Ashford And Simpson

Nickolas Ashford (born May 4, 1942, in Fairfield, South Carolina) and Valerie Simpson (born August 26, 1946 in The Bronx, New York) are a successful husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists. They met at Harlem’s White Rock Baptist Church in 1964.

After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Josie Jo Armstead, at the Scepter/Wand label where their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap (“Never Had It So Good”), Maxine Brown (“One Step At A Time”), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson. Another of the trio’s songs “Let’s Go Get Stoned” gave Ray Charles a number one U.S. R&B hit in 1966. That same year Ashford & Simpson joined Motown where their best-known songs included “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “You’re All I Need To Get By”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, and “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”. As performers, Ashford and Simpson’s best-known song is “Solid” (1984 US and 1985 UK).
The duo essentially had two careers: one as a successful writing and producing team and the other as singers and performers themselves. They started their career in the mid-1960s, writing for artists such as The 5th Dimension (“California Soul”), Aretha Franklin (“Cry Like A Baby”), and Ray Charles (“Let’s Go Get Stoned” and “‘I Don’t Need No Doctor”). Their work with Charles brought them to the attention of Motown chief Berry Gordy.

Joining the Motown staff in 1966, Ashford & Simpson were paired with the vocal duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and they wrote and/or produced all but one of the late-1960s Gaye/Terrell singles, including hits such as the original version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Precious Love”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing”, and “You’re All I Need to Get By”. According to Gaye in the book “Divided Soul,” Simpson did most of the vocals on the last album he did with Terrell, “Easy,” as a way of Terrell’s family to have additional income as she was battling an ultimately fatal brain tumor. (Simpson is quoted as denying this in a book written by Terrell’s sister Ludie Montgomery.)

Ashford & Simpson wrote and produced almost all the songs on three 1970’s albums for former Supreme Diana Ross including her first solo album Diana Ross (“Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”), Surrender (“Remember Me”), and The Boss.

Other Motown artists that Ashford & Simpson worked with included Gladys Knight & The Pips (Didn’t You Know You’d Have To Cry Sometime”, “The Landlord”, “Bourgie, Bourgie”, and “Taste Of Bitter Love”), Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (“Who’s Gonna Take The Blame”), The Marvelettes (“Destination:Anywhere”), The Supremes (“Some Things You Never Get Used To”), and The Dynamic Superiors (“Shoe, Shoe Shine”).

Other artists with whom Ashford & Simpson had hits were Teddy Pendergrass (“Is It Still Good To You”), The Brothers Johnson (“Ride-O-Rocket”), Chaka Khan, both on her own (“I’m Every Woman” and “Clouds,” ) and with Rufus (“Keep It Comin’” and “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Maybe” )
Ashford & Simpson’s career as recording artists actually began in 1964, when they recorded “I’ll Find You” as “Valerie & Nick.” This was followed by several obscure singles Ashford recorded on the Glover, Verve and ABC labels such as “It Ain’t Like That”, (later recorded by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas), “California Soul” and “Dead End Kids” backed by his own version of “Let’s Go Get Stoned”. After concentrating on working with other artists, Simpson was the featured soloist on the songs “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “What’s Going On” on the Quincy Jones albums Gula Matari in 1970 and its follow-up, Smackwater Jack. Simpson subsequently recorded two solo LPs for Motown: Valerie Simpson Exposed in 1971, and, the following year, the album Valerie Simpson, which included the single “Silly Wasn’t I,” which was sampled on 50 Cent’s “Best Friend” from the movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The song was also sampled by 9th Wonder on Murs’s “Silly Girl” in the album Murray’s Revenge. Ashford & Simpson were featured singing selections from Simpson’s solo albums on the PBS TV show Soul!, hosted by Ellis Haizlip in 1971. They left Motown in 1973, after the albums Simpson recorded for the label received poor promotion and the company refused to release an album of the two of them recording a collection of their most famous songs for other artists.

In 1974 Ashford & Simpson got married, and they resumed their career as a duo with the Warner Bros. album Gimme Something Real. This was followed by the hit singles, “Don’t Cost You Nothin’,” in 1977, “It Seems To Hang On” in 1978, “Is It Still Good To Ya” in 1978, “Found A Cure” in 1979, “Street Corner” in 1982, and their biggest hit, “Solid”, which they recorded in 1984.

In 1978, they were featured as vocalists, along with Chaka Khan, on the hit single “Stuff Like That” from Quincy Jones’ Sounds…And Stuff Like That album and contributed to the writing of the soundtrack to The Wiz.

Simpson appeared (with Melba Moorman) as part of the “Blood, Sweat & Tears Soul Chorus” on the band’s Al Kooper led debut, Child Is Father to the Man.

On his own, Ashford produced, along with Frank Wilson, the mammoth hit “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”, which was recorded by Diana Ross & the Supremes in collaboration with the Temptations in 1968. He also appeared in the movie New Jack City (1991), as Reverend Oates, an ordained minister who was part of Nino Brown’s entourage.

Simpson’s brothers were in the record business as well: Ray Simpson replaced Victor Willis in the Village People and their brother Jimmy Simpson, produced the group G.Q., (who had big hits with “Disco Nights” and “I Do Love You”), and was in great demand as a mixing engineer during the disco era.
Source: wikipedia.org

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