BIOS

Valerie Simpson (Guest Artist) is a songwriter, performer and producer. With her late
husband, Nickolas Ashford (1941-2011), she has had a career of many decades which began
in mid-nineteen sixties New York when they were part of a gospel group and decided to write
pop songs for fun. After that, the pair wrote songs for The Shirelles and Ray Charles (“Let's
Go Get Stoned”). In 1966, they joined Motown and proceeded to write hit after hit, like:
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “You're All | Need to Get By,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the
Real Thing,” Ashford and Simpson songs have been recorded by everyone from Marvin Gaye
and Tammi Terrell to Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, and Stevie Wonder. As performers, Ashford and
Simpson’s best-known songs are “Solid (Like a Rock)” and “Found a Cure.”

Since then, Ashford and Simpson wrote in 1993 “I'm Every Woman” which was recorded by
Whitney Houston for The Bodyguard soundtrack. In 2002, they were inducted into the Song-
writers Hall of Fame. In 2009, they changed “Solid (Like a Rock)” to “Solid Like Barack” and
dedicated to the president’s first inaugural celebration.

In 2011, Ms. Ashford wrote and produced The Dinosaurs are Coming Back, a solo album.
Born in The Bronx, she lives in New York City and is the owner of The Sugar Bar, a restaurant
and live entertainment venue.

Meredith Magoun (Costumer)

As an avid fan of Motown Music Meredith is excited to be designing her first production

with Berklee College of Music. She holds a MFA in Costume Design from Carnegie Mellon
University ("11) where she studied under Susan Tsu and Barbara Anderson. Regionally, she has
designed shows with Stoneham Theatre, Arts After Hours, Longwood Players and Northeast-
ern University. ~ She has designed costumes in New York City, Pittsburgh and Vermont. She
also teaches Costume Design at Boston Performing Arts Academy. A special thanks goes out
to Wubie and to all of her friends and family who have supported her through her career.