Nick Ashford, one-half of the legendary music duo Ashford & Simpson, died Monday at age 70, according to published reports.

Ashford, who along with wife, Valerie Simpson, wrote some of Motown's biggest hits, had suffered from throat cancer and had undergone radiation treatment, according to the Associated Press.

Although best know commercially as singers in their own right, behind the scenes, the couple penned some of Motown’s most memorably classics, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand" by Diana Ross and "You're All I Need To Get By" by Gaye and Tammi Terrell. They also wrote the Chaka Khan ballad "I'm Every Woman," which was later remade by Whitney Houston.

Here is how Nick Ashford is being remembered today:

"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," Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire, quoted in the Los Angeles Times.

“They wrote for virtually every major act on the (Motown) label, including Gladys Knight and the Pips (“Didn’t You Know You’d Have to Cry Sometime”) and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (“Who’s Gonna Take the Blame”). While writing for Motown, Ashford & Simpson nursed a desire to perform, which Berry Gordy Jr., the founder and patriarch of the label, discouraged. They left the label in 1973 and married in 1974.” ~ The New York Times

“I’m so sad that he’s gone. ... So many of the greatest are going to a greater place ... what a legacy of infectious music ... man!” Alicia Keys on Twitter, as reported by The Washington Post.

Ashford was born in Fairfield, S.C. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

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