Ashford & Simpson....Elrgays, please make make sense!

HE GAVE ONE OF THE GREAT PERFORMANC OF THE 1970S. NOBODY KNEW HE WAS GAY.

Ashford, who rerd and performed profsnally wh his wife of 30+ years, Valerie Simpson, is bt known for wrg the 1984 h songs “Solid (As A Rock)” and 1967’s “A’t No Mounta High Enough” rerd by Marv Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

IS MATTHEW ASHFORD GAY?

Ashford and Simpson never reached the heights of fame as the superstars who rerd their mil posns, such as Diana Ross, Chaka Khan and Marv Gaye. Their songs were spun to hs by, among others, Aretha Frankl, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Marv Gaye, Chaka Khan, Whney Hoton and Ashford & Simpson themselv – cludg the ’80s h “Solid As a Rock.

” Motown quickly signed them to wre for Ross, Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and the relatnship wh that label lasted seven years.

Wfield always kept his private life private, part, bee he was a gay, Ain-Amerin man workg a time when rol for black actors were limed, and when homophobia ran high. He’s one of the great, unrrated gay actors of our time. The list of artists who rerd or sampled Ashford and Simpson’s mic is imprsive; Ray Charl, who had a eback of sorts 1966 wh the cidly secular, yet sanctified, “Let’s Go Get Stoned”; the rerdg duo of Tammi Terrell and Marv Gaye, who served as m for the young Ashford and Simpson; Diana Ross, whose ft sis as a solo artist where arguably wrten by Ashford and Simpson; Dis legend Sylvter, who rerd the duo’s “Over and Over” on his solo but 1977; Chaka Khan, whose signature tune “I’m Every Women” is an Ashford and Simpson classic; Teddy Penrgrass who rerd “Is It Still Good To Ya”; Cheryl Lynn, who match the duo’s own performance of “Believe Me”; Aretha Frankl who vered several of their tracks; The Dynamic Superrs, whose out gay lead sger Tony Washgton, was clearly fluenced by Ashford’s own soarg falsetto (a lost art today’s mil environment); the late Amy Wehoe; and even Mary J.