We Remember Nick Ashford - RIP

'Solid' singer/songwriter passed away at 70 of throat cancer.

By Jocelyn Vena

Nick Ashford, one half of songwriting and performing duo Ashford & Simpson, has died. The legendary Motown artist passed away in New York City on Monday at the age of 70 from throat cancer.

The pair found fame with the Berry Gordy-founded record label, writing hits like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand" and "I'm Every Woman" for singers like Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and Chaka Khan, in the '60s and '70s. The pair's breakout hit came courtesy of "Let's Go Get Stoned" recorded by Ray Charles in 1966.

The duo also had a very successful recording career of their own, characterized by tracks that celebrated love, such as "Don't Cost You Nothing," "It Seems to Hang On," "Found A Cure" and "Solid."

Friends and fellow music industry legends are mourning Ashford's loss. In a statement to The Associated Press, Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire said, "They had magic, and that's what creates those wonderful hits, that magic. Without those songs, those artists wouldn't have been able to go to the next level."

Nick Ashford was born May 4, 1942, in Fairfield, South Carolina, and was raised in Michigan, where he sang at Willow Run Baptist Church, according to The New York Times. After a brief stint at Eastern Michigan University, he moved to New York City to become a dancer, but failed to make a career of it. While living on the streets in New York, he attended the White Rock Baptist Church in Harlem, where he met Valerie Simpson. The pair began writing songs together and was signed to Motown as staff writers and producers, beginning what would be a fruitful music career.

After Gordy discouraged their desire to perform their own songs, they left Motown in the early '70s and married in 1974. They have two daughters, Nicole and Asia.

In the mid-'90s, the duo opened the Sugar Bar in Manhattan, where they still frequently performed. They also connected with a new generation of music lovers when they worked with the late Amy Winehouse on her track, "Tears Dry on Their Own." The pair received a songwriting credit for the song, which samples "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

MARVIN GAYE & TAMMI TERRELL "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

Diana Ross Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Sister Act 2 - Whoopi Goldberg

Guess Who is coming to Patti's Dinner...

I love how creative individuals can be and how talented they are in creating their work. Imagine if Patti Labelle, Aretha Franklin, Beyonce', Rihanna, Diana Ross, Maya Angelou, and Chaka Khan all got together for a "private" dinner. Well HERE IS YOUR CHANCE!!! And trust the DRAMA explodes!!!

Every Ebony Issue from 1959 to 2008 Now Online

The Future Forward points out a fun way to waste away the few hours left before the weekend: Every issue of Ebony, from 1959 to 2008, is now available online. To the right is one from February 1970, featuring a stunning Diana Ross.

The magazine partnered with Google to launch the project. As you can tell, it’s a work in progress, as not every issue is available just yet.

Check out a collection of our favorite covers after the jump.

Baby It's You! The NEW Broadway HIT

You’ve seen Dreamgirls, you know The Supreme’s

It’s now time to experience The Shirelles in BABY IT’S YOU!

BABY IT’S YOU! is the original Broadway musical inspired by the true story of Florence Greenberg, a suburban housewife from New Jersey, who discovered one of the greatest girl groups of all time, The Shirelles, and created Scepter Records, becoming the music industry’s first female powerhouse.

SPECIAL DISCOUNTED OFFER!

Visit BroadwayOffers.com and enter code: BBHLM28

Call (212) 947-8844 and mention code: BBHLM28

Bring this page to the Broadhurst Theatre Box Office at 235 West 44^th Street

(Between Broadway & 8^th Ave)

For more information on the show, please visit http://babyitsyouonbroadway.com/

SINGLE TICKET DISCOUNT: CLICK HERE!

GROUPS RATES: CLICK HERE!

Your 10 Personal Favorite Michael Jackson Songs

By Waddie Grant

www.worldwidewaddie.com

With the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson, a.k.a. The King Of Pop, looming tomorrow, I wanted to share with you all my ten personal favorite songs of Mr. Jackson.

Above all artists, his musical has been one of the most influential as far as how I want to express my own creativity. His trend-setting, thinking outside-the-box and social awareness significantly affected the music industry positively, and my creativity has been affected as well. I admired his perfection. I feel the emotions he spews in my favorite tunes of his. The upbeat tempos bring up my spirits where I want to dance whenever I hear them. Ultimately, Jackson’s music takes me onto an imaginary journey where I visualized my own visual soundtrack to his music.

Thus, these ten songs below are the Michael Jackson tunes I will never grow out of loving.

10. “In The Closet” (Dangerous album, 1992)

I love the New Jack Swing era of Michael Jackson. That kind of rhythm with one of Jackson’s sexiest lyrics and music videos kept me jammin’ for a long time. Also, this song has that extended instrumentation that was popular in the 80′s and 90′s that keep us party people dancing.

9.”Heal The World” (Dangerous album, 1992)

…

8.”Break Of Dawn” (Invincible album, 2002)

When I first listened to Invincible album, I remember loving every second of the album because I was glad that Michael finally released new music since his 1995 HIStory album. Immediately after, I realized how dated the album sounded, but this song stood out to me. I remember creating this beautiful imagery in my head of a beautiful, sunny morning atmosphere with the one I would love.

7.”They Don’t Care About Us” (HIStory album, 1996)

There are many sides of Michael that I love, and his militant side is what I appreciate the most. His pro-Black and caring for the world approach in his music about social injustice makes his catalog of music stand out above all other artists. I love singing the lyrics of this tune when I feel militant-minded. I even love the music video with Jackson protesting with the poor residents of Brazil.

6.”Ain’t No Sunshine” (Got To Be There album, 1972)

Who knew that a 14 year old male pop singer could sing a song with so much soul as Michael did with this remake of this Bill Withers classic? His vocal dynamics of this heart-wrenching soulful ballad made me feel the melancholy anguish of the lyrics. His rendition outperforms the vocal talents of his contemporaries twice his age.

5.”Got To Be There” (Got To Be There album, 1971)

I first fell in love with Chaka Khan’s remake of this tune before I even knew that Michael was the original singer from a decade prior. When I learned that revelation, I’m thinking Chaka’s version had to make Michael’s forgettable. Fortunately, I was wrong. Like “Ain’t No Sunshine,” I could not picture a young male teen singing his soul out like a seasoned adult performer about such experience a teen may be too young to endure. At that point, I realized Michael was able to sing anything at any age.

4.”Scream” (Naughty Pretty Pella remix) featuring Janet Jackson & Treach (HIStory album, 1995)

The pairing of Michael and his equally popular sister Janet made me go bananas on this tune. I admit that I was enamored with the high-tech music video more than the song’s album version until I heard the official remix with Treach of Naughty By Nature. The rock and neo-soul groove of the remix is one of my favorite instrumentations I have ever listened.

3.”Billie Jean” (Thriller album, 1993)

What is not to love about this tune? The bassline beat is the hottest. Jackson’s moonwalk changed the game of stage performance and became a legend instantly. The subject matter was ahead of its time, especially for a R&B/pop singer. I didn’t even understand what the lyrics were about. I was seven years old at that time. Regardless, I enjoy the song now as much as I did then.

2.”Man In The Mirror” (Bad album, 1988)

The humanitarian in Michael Jackson is what I will always admire most about his legacy. I remember being in middle singing this song all the time and realizing for the first time how I could be more socially aware especially about communities and countries who really need the help and love that I have been blessed to have.

1.”Remember The Time” (Dangerous album, 1992)

Hands down, this is my favorite song to perform at karaoke. I remember at first listen when I was 15 years how this song made me want to dance. The song could never get out of my head either…and that was before the video came out with all that Black star power and the hottest choreography of that era. When I got the Teddy Riley extended remix of this song, I fell in love with this song much more. I wish I had the talent of dancing because I would create the hottest choreography for this.

From this list you would think that Dangerous is my favorite Jackson album, but Thriller is really my favorite. What are your favorite Michael Jackson songs and albums?

I LOVE NY 26 of 28 Places to Visit

Central Park
Photos courtesy of Kennected

Central Park is an urban park that occupies about 1.2 square miles (341 hectares, or 843 acres) in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year. Central Park was opened in 1859, completed in 1873 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963.

The park was designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the architect Calvert Vaux. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks (one of which is a swimming pool in July and August), the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a reservoir with an encircling running track, and the outdoor Delacorte Theater which hosts the "Shakespeare in the Park" summer festivals. Eighty-five percent of the park's operating budget comes from private sources via the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the park pursuant to a contract with New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Diana Ross FREE concert in Center Park in July 1983

The Diana Ross Playground is located Central Park, inside the park at West 81st Street and Central Park West. Its namesake, the recording artist Diana Ross, who lives across the street in The Beresford, gave a fabled 1983 free concert in Central Park and pledged to fund the project with proceeds from the television rights; however, when this did not prove profitable, she used personal resources. Groundbreaking took place in September 1986, with both Ross and then-Mayor Ed Koch present. Ross reportedly called the event "one of the most fulfilling aspects of [her] life and career."

Today, the playground is equipped with sturdy wood equipment, tire swings, a tube slide, a corkscrew slide, sandboxes, rope bridges, and a mushroom-style water feature. Open daily from 7:30am to dusk, the space is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy Playground Partners program.