SONGWRITER NICK ASHFORD MISSES HOMELESS PAST

SONGWRITER NICK ASHFORD MISSES HOMELESS PAST

NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) -- Songwriter Nick Ashford suffers from a weird form of nostalgia: he likes hanging out at the bench where he slept as a homeless person 30 years ago. Ashford -- best known for co-writing the hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" with his wife Valerie Simpson -- says when he first started out, he spent a few months sleeping on a bench in New York's Bryant Park. Entertainment journalist Baird Jones reports Ashford often climbs the park fence at night so he can sit on his beloved bench and remember the days when he was so hungry, his daily goal was to get 25 cents just so he could buy a hot dog. Ashford feels such warm feelings to his former bench that he recently paid $5000 to New York City to adopt the bench and install a plaque reading "Nick Ashford Slept Here."