Valerie Simpson
Valerie Simpson
Ashford & Simpson were a husband-and-wife songwriting-production team and recording artists: Nickolas Ashfordand Valerie Simpson...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionR&B Singer
Date of Birth26 August 1946
CityBronx, NY
CountryUnited States of America
critical good producing
When you're a producer and an artist you're very critical of yourself. I like to produce other people, but I'm not that good at producing myself.
good half knock next orchestra reader sight sing singers three
I was a good sight reader and I could sing two or three of these jingles a day. An orchestra would come in for half an hour, and then the singers would come in and knock 'em out, and go on to the next one. I was the voice of Budweiser and Almond Joy.
figure lots people possible sit
I don't know what I want to do. There are people who want me to do things. There's a possible book. There are lots of things to consider. I just have to figure out what I want to do. I'm not one to sit around and do nothing.
higher wrote
We stand on our songs and we stand on the songs that we wrote for other people. That gives us a higher platform.
life
Sometimes you want a Part Two in your life.
family living nobody songwriter thrown
Nobody in my family was musical. I had no idea you could be a songwriter and make a living at it. It was all discovery. It was all just thrown at me.
dream recorded run song
It's a songwriter's dream to have a song recorded and run up the charts.
future jumping keeps labels music pop
In the future I think the labels on most pop music are going to go. Everyone keeps jumping into everyone else's space.
harder
And it's a lot harder to hide with four musicians than it is with eight.
full good life lived lord store wide
I've already lived one full life, and so now I'm about to endeavor to see what else the good Lord has in store for me, and I'm wide open.
again coming learning sing solo
It's interesting when you've been a partner with someone for so long. So now to sing solo and starting all over again I am learning that I am more bodacious than I thought. I don't know where it's coming from but I am glad.
formula
There is a formula that allows you to write a decent song. But a song like 'You're All I Need to Get By,' it just writes itself.
believe both knew learned mistake music nobody played playing since song taught teacher upright
Both my grandmothers had upright pianos, and I just knew how to play since I was a child. Nobody taught me. I sounded like a grown-up, and then I learned how to read music. I played so well by ear I could fool the teacher to believe I could play the notes. She'd make the mistake of playing the song once, and I could play it.
attract half larger playing reach trying
We have been playing to a 70-30 black to white audience. And we are just doing what should come next, trying to attract a larger house, trying to reach an audience that's half black and white.