Valerie Simpson is not a household name, unless your household recognizes her as one half of Ashford & Simpson. And even then, despite Ashford & Simpson’s decades as an R&B duo and songwriting powerhouse, your household might only know “Solid” — their 1984 hit about a dependable love between two partners, solid as a rock, whose thrill is still hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hot.
Valerie Simpson’s Different Kind of Love
Valerie Simpson performs during NPR Music's Turning the Tables Live: The Motherlode at Lincoln Center on July 31, 2019 in New York City. (Sean Drakes/Getty Images)
But Ashford & Simpson also excelled in songs about another kind of love. The non-romantic love for one’s fellow human. The care and empathy that’s so often hard to find, or access, amidst the chaos of the world. “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand).” “Found a Cure.” “Don’t Cost You Nothing.” Even Simpson’s first solo album opens with “Fix It Alright,” a beautiful reminder of the value in offering support to one another.
All of which makes Valerie Simpson a perfect musical guest for this year’s Glide Memorial Holiday Jam on Nov. 9. Celebrating its 60-year anniversary in 2023, Glide Memorial offers free meals, rental assistance, harm reduction and an array of other services. From its home in the Tenderloin, Glide’s focus is on the less fortunate — the unhoused, the destitute, and the ones bypassed by America’s fallible safety net. (Simpson knows this population: in 1975, she co-wrote the debut album by the Dynamic Superiors, whose openly gay lead singer performed in drag during a very different, oppressive era.)
Also on the Holiday Jam bill are Martin Luther and Goapele, local stars who’ve blended music and activism for years, as well as D’wayne Wiggins. (Wiggins, whose quiet community support turns up in unexpected places, will be just off a nationwide tour with Tony Toni Toné.) And, along with the Glide Ensemble, and KQED’s own Priya David Clemens as emcee, there’ll be a guest of high honor in Rev. Cecil Williams, the 94-year-old pastor emeritus of Glide who stepped down earlier this year.
Glide Memorial’s Holiday Jam takes place Thursday, Nov. 9, at The Masonic in San Francisco. Details and ticket information here.
Sponsored
