SOLID – ASHFORD & SIMPSON

Chart performance:

Week	Position	Movement	Comments
29-Mar-85	27	New
05-Apr-85	26	+1
12-Apr-85	24	+2
19-Apr-85	16	+8*	Biggest climber/Star rater
26-Apr-85	15	+1
03-May-85	14	+1
10-May-85	5	+9	Biggest climber/Star rater
17-May-85	5	0
24-May-85	4	+1	Peak
31-May-85	4	0	Peak
07-Jun-85	6	-2
14-Jun-85	10	-4
21-Jun-85	12	-2
28-Jun-85	13	-1
06-Jul-85	15	-2
13-Jul-85	19	-4
20-Jul-85	23	-4
27-Jul-85	25	-2

* This was the 2,500^th time we saw a star rater climb (i.e. a climb of 4 or more)

Written by: Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
Produced by: Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson
South African record label (unless otherwise stated): Capitol

Hit number for artist	1
Peak position	4
Weeks	18
Biggest climber awards	2
Star rater climbs	2
Biggest faller awards	0
Top 20 points	135
Overall Top 20 points ranking	=830
Top 20 points ranking for the artist	1
Top 30 Points	295
Overall Top 30 points ranking	657
Top 30 points ranking for the artist	1

Annual ranking:

1985

32

Other chart success:

Australia	21
Austria	4
Belgium	2
Canada	5
Finland	10
Germany	2
Ireland	3
Netherlands	3
New Zealand	1
Sweden	13
Switzerland	3
UK	3
US	12
Zimbabwe	7

SA Radio charts:

Capital 604	4
Radio 5	5
Radio 702	3

Ray Simpson, who was the brother of Valerie Simpson, would be the cop in The Village People for a while. He would sing backing vocals on the track. In 2009 Ashford & Simpson re-recorded the song to honour Barrack Obama and renamed it ‘Solid (As Barrack)’. ‘Solid’ would outperform 2 other songs that Ashford & Simpson produced, those being Diana Ross’ ‘It’s My House’ and The Supremes and The Four Tops’ version of ‘River Deep, Mountain High’.

Video:

Artist link: Ashford & Simpson

ASHFORD & SIMPSON (US)

Ashford and Simpson were a husband and wife team comprising Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Ashford was born on 4 May 1941 in Fairfield, South Carolina, while Simpson was born on 26 August 1946 in the Bronx in New York. They met at a Baptist Church in Harlem. Their initial attempts to be singers proved unsuccessful, but they started getting noticed as songwriters as they penned hits for Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and Chaka Khan amongst others. One of their most successful compositions was ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ which got to number 19 in the US for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell while Diana Ross’ version would top the charts there. As singers they would see 6 US Hot 100 hits with ‘Solid’ being their only hit to make the top 20 as it peaked at 12. ‘Solid’ would get to number 3 in the UK and was 1 of 4 hits they had there (none of the others made the top 40). They would also see some success as producer. Sadly, Ashford would die on 22 August 2011 from throat cancer.

Hits as Ashford & Simpson:

Date of entry	Song	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
29-Mar-1985	Solid	4	18
		Total hits	1
		Total weeks	18

They wrote and produced ‘Solid’.

Biggest climber awards	2
Star rater climbs	2
Biggest fallers	0
Weeks with oldest in the charts	0
Longest run in the charts (weeks)	18
Weeks with more than 1 in the charts	0
Biggest gap between hits (weeks)	0
Top 30 points ranking	581
Top 20 points ranking	=618
Top 30 points	295
Top 20 points	135

Hits as songwriters and producer:

Song	Act	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
It’s My House	Diana Ross	7	14
		Total hits	1
		Total weeks	14

Hits as producers:

Song	Act	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
River Deep Mountain High	The Supremes & The Four Tops	14	4
		Total hits	1
		Total weeks	4

Total chart involvement:

Number of hits	3
Weeks	36