Nick Ashford, half of the Motown songwriting duo with wife Valerie Simpson, has died at 69, the Associated Press is reporting.
He had been undergoing throat cancer treatment in New York.
Ashford and Simpson wrote "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "You're All I Need to Get By," "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing."
They started their career in writing for The 5th Dimension, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, joining Motown in 1966.
They were inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
