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Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10 1980) is an American pop singer and actress who rose to fame in the late 1990s. She has achieved seven Billboard Top 40 hits and has five gold and two multi-platinum RIAA-certified albums. Simpson starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show Newlyweds. She has also begun a career as an actress and is the older sister of Ashlee Simpson, a pop rock singer.
Early life
Simpson was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Joe Truett Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister who is now her manager) and Tina Ann Drew. Simpson began singing in her Baptist church choir. At the age of 10, she sang in and won her school talent contest. In 1992, at age 12, she made an unsuccessful audition for The New Mickey Mouse Club, that also starred future pop superstars Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
Simpson later attended J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas and was discovered singing at a church camp by a head of a small contemporary Christian record label. She recorded an album over the next three years; however, the label folded before the record could be released. She dropped out in her senior year to tour and promote her demo album, which was funded by her grandmother, Joyce (thus the reason for the name of her 2004 holiday album, Rejoyce: The Christmas Album). She later earned her GED. During this time, she also toured with the Christian Youth Conference circuit performing with Kirk Franklin, God's Property and CeCe Winans. She and her father sold copies of the album after these performances. Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records later obtained a copy of the album and, thinking she had potential as a pop singer, signed her to a recording contract.
Career
1999-2001: Rise To Fame
Nineteen ninety-nine saw the arrival of pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera who each received multi-platinum success. Simpsons label had hoped the same with her. As 1999 came to a close, Simpson released her first single "I Wanna Love You Forever" which became a big hit in the states and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Soon afterwards, her album Sweet Kisses was released to great sales. Simpson would tour with boy band 98 Degrees to support her new album. It was then when she met her future husband Nick Lachey and the two soon began dating. Unlike the other pop princesses, Simpson was very straight forward about her relationship with Lachey. She was also the first pop princess to admit that she was a virgin, and was waiting until marriage (Spears would soon follow in her footsteps in admitting her virginal ways as well, but to a more famous extent).
Meanwhile, her album Sweet Kisses had gone double platinum thanks to the success for her follow up singles "Where You Are", 1999, a duet with her boyfriend Nick Lachey, and "I Think I'm In Love With You, 2001," the latter became Simpson's biggest radio hit at that point and was her first uptempo single to be released. Still, even with her debut album selling 2 million copies, her record label felt that she was still very much less successful than Britney and Christina, who'd gone on to become household names around the globe. It was then when Columbia Records decided that Jessica needed a change for her second album.
In 2001, Simpson's label helped her record her follow up album in which her record label wanted Simpson to sing more radio friendly up-tempo tracks and to lose weight in order to fit in with her competitors. The result in that was Irresistible, released in mid 2001 on the heels of the title track first single. The new sound and image helped make "Irresistible" a big hit on the radio, becoming one of the biggest hits of her career and peaking at #15 on the Hot 100. The album debut at #6 in June 2001 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. The album ended up selling 825,000 copies to date.
2002: Marriage to Nick Lachey and TV success
During the summer of 2003, the reality show, Newlyweds, starring Simpson and her new husband Nick Lachey began airing on MTV. Simpson's third album, In This Skin, was released in August of 2003 to coincide with the series premiere of Newlyweds.
Though she was successful before the series began, the show quickly became a pop culture phenomenon and is credited with making her a household name, even among those who did not follow pop music or MTV. “I never knew that just doing the show would give me that pedestal to step on,” Simpson told Blender magazine in a March 2004 feature.
Later that summer, Simpson won three Teen Choice Awards; Female Fashion Icon, Choice Hottie Female, and Female Reality/Variety TV Star for Newlyweds.
Throughout the run of four seasons, Simpson epitomized the stereotypical dumb blonde, most notably when she asked Lachey whether the Chicken of the Sea tuna she was eating was in fact chicken or fish. She also indicated that she believed that buffalo wings were made from actual buffalo. Her television persona helped turn the show into a huge hit, with an average rating of about 1.4 million viewers while reaching a series peak of about 4 million viewers.
As for the album In This Skin, it debuted at #10 on The Billboard 200 album chart with sales of just 64,000 in its first week. It rebounded after a special collectors' edition was released in April of 2004 and subsequently reached a peak of #2. It was eventually certified quadruple platinum, fueled largely by the couple’s television success on Newlyweds. It contained the hits "With You" (#14, 2004) and a cover of the Berlin song "Take My Breath Away" (#20, 2004).
The couple appeared in the television special The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour that aired in 2004 and drew comparisons to Sonny and Cher. Simpson released ReJoyce: The Christmas Album in late 2004 which peaked at #14 on the album chart and was later certified gold.
In 2005, Newlyweds won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show before wrapping shortly after.
Move to film
In the summer of 2005, at age 25, Simpson made her first appearance in a motion picture as Daisy Duke in the movie-remake of The Dukes of Hazzard. The film debuted at #1 at the U.S. box-office performing well.
Simpson also appeared on the film's soundtrack, releasing "These Boots Are Made for Walkin," a cover of the 1966 Nancy Sinatra hit. The song peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Song from a Movie in 2006. A video was created for the song featuring Jessica as Daisy Duke. It shows scenes of her flirting and singing in a bar and then later washing her car in a pink string bikini. In many countries the video was banned for its overly sexual content.
Simpson's second film Employee of the Month was released October 6 2006. She is preparing for her next movie role "the witness" which will start filming the end of March..her third film titled Blonde Ambitionis set to be release July (2007).
2006-2007: Music and movies
November 2005 brought confirmation of rumors of the end of Simpson and Lachey's union,
on June 30, 2006, their divorce was finalized. Simpson hosted the Teen Choice Awards in August 2006 and appeared on The View in September 2006 as the first choice of new co-host Rosie O'Donnell.
Jessica looked forward to going back in the studio to record her fourth coming album with her move to Epic Records from her previous label Columbia. She decided to switch labels because she wanted a new fresh start in music after her divorce. This also is supported by her termination of a deal with MTV.
Her fourth album, A Public Affair, was released on August 29, 2006 via Epic Records. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 with 101,000 copies sold in its first week. The first single, "A Public Affair" (#14, 2006), reached the Top 20 of the Hot 100 but quickly fell off the charts. The music video for "A Public Affair" featured Eva Longoria, Christina Applegate, Christina Milian, Maria Menounos, Andy Dick and Ryan Seacrest. A second single, "I Belong To Me", was also released through her website and is now included on the CD itself. The single's video appeared on TRL countdowns, but quickly fell off. The third single is rumored to be the Dead or Alive Cover "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" which will be released in conjunction with her upcoming film "Blonde Ambition"
In December 2006, while performing a tribute to Dolly Parton at the Kennedy Center Awards, she botched the words to the song she was singing, saying "I'm sorry Dolly, that made me so nervous." She explained that she had been feeling flustered during the performance (most likely because it was in front of many famous people, including Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and even President George W. Bush). Afterwards, during the final tribute to Parton, Parton's "biggest fan" Reese Witherspoon and her 2nd cousin Jessica Savelli gave a tearful Simpson a hug to make her feel better. Though Simpson was given the opportunity to redo the song for cameras at the end of the show to include in the CBS telecast, she was not satisfied with her second performance either, and she and producers ultimately agreed to edit her portion out of the TV broadcast of the show.
Simpson will co-star in Blonde Ambition with Luke Wilson. The movie is due out in late 2007. She will release her third single off her certified Gold cd "A Public Affair", "You Spin Me Round"; which will be re-vamped and featured on the movies soundtrack. Jessica recently stated that she is due back in front of the cameras filming her next movie role in "The Witness", she also stated she will be publishing a book of her personal journal and photography title "Look Up To the Sky". She will start filming her 4th movie role by the end of March with an expected November 2007 release date. Jessica has also been confirmed to be in studio recording with Timbaland, Eddie Galan and Drew Lane. Simpson is rumored to be writing a song with John Mayer.
Other projects
Following in the footsteps of other female musicians, such as Cher and Patti LaBelle, Simpson launched a line of hair and beauty products on the Home Shopping Network. Teaming with celebrity stylist Ken Paves and trained by HSN's first ever home shopping host Bob Circosta, Simpson sells clip-in hair extensions over the air. Hairdo-brand Salon Clip-In Hair from Jessica Simpson and Ken Paves
Simpson has had many commercials, mainly with Pizza Hut and Proactiv Solution. She also has a commercial with Ice Breakers, along with her sister Ashlee. She has had up to three Pizza Hut commercials, the first in 2004, advertising the new Buffalo Wing Pizza (costarring The Muppets). In 2005, she started advertising Proactiv Solution, the "number 1 acne treatment in America". In 2006, she premiered another Pizza Hut commercial in the Super Bowl. She sung 'These Bites Are Made For Poppin' in reference to 'These Boots Are Made For Walking'. This was to advertise the new Cheesy Bites Pizza. In 2007, in the Super Bowl yet again premiered her third Pizza Hut commercial, in which she again advertised the Cheesy Bites Pizza. She has also advertised HDTV in character as Daisy Duke.
Controversy
Jessica received criticism from a Christian group calling itself, "The Resistance," for the sexualized image she used in the music video for "These Boots are Made for Walking." In response, Jessica stated, "It didn't really surprise me because I grew up with a lot of that backlash. That's why I didn't end up going into the Christian music industry. I think that if they're really good Christians the judgment wouldn't be there."
Personal life
On October 26 2002, at age 22, Jessica Simpson married Nick Lachey, and later announced that she had remained a virgin until her wedding night. In November 2005, after months of tabloid speculation, Simpson and her husband Nick Lachey officially announced their separation. Simpson filed for divorce on December 16 2005, citing "irreconcilable differences". The couple's divorce was highly publicized worldwide and was reportedly finalized on June 30.
Jessica Simpson reportedly told Jane magazine in October 2006, that she knew her marriage to Nick Lachey was over when he refused to join her on a charity trip to Africa, even though it was on their third wedding anniversary. Questions remain over whether the trip was to celebrate the anniversary or just a PR junket guided by her father/manager who accompanied her on that day.
The couple reportedly sold their Calabasas mansion in which Newlyweds was filmed to Malcolm in the Middle star Justin Berfield for about $3.75 million. Jessica has received a good deal of publicity in the aftermath of her marriage to Nick Lachey. Following their break-up and her divorce, she was reportedly linked to her Employee of the Month co-star Dane Cook and The Dukes of Hazzard co-star Johnny Knoxville. On February 6, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Jessica Simpson says she was stung when ex-husband Nick Lachey jumped back into dating after their high-profile breakup. "Oh, it hurt me," the 26-year-old singer-actress says in an interview in the March issue of Elle magazine. "Two or three weeks later? Yeah, I'd say it kind of hurt me." Magazines have also speculated that she was jealous of her ex-husband's growing stardom and relationship with television personality Vanessa Minnillo, though she has publicly denied this.
Simpson is currently dating John Mayer. Rumors started in August 2006 with a People magazine article, but kicked into high gear when Simpson and Mayer spent New Year's holiday together in New York City, both attending Christina Aguilera's New Years Eve 2006 party. Reports indicated that the two were very publicly affectionate. In the March 2007 issue of Elle, Simpson said that in her private life she is "begging and pleading for privacy," but the interviewer did notice emails, videos and photos of Mayer on Simpson's laptop. The two were spotted kissing and hugging at a 2007 Grammy after-party, and posed for photos. Simpson also accompanied Mayer for several dates of his 2007 winter tour, before the two departed for Rome.
Discography
Main article: Jessica Simpson discography| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
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Sweet Kisses
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| File:Jessica Simpson - Irresistible.jpg | Irresistible
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This Is the Remix
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| File:Jessica Simpson - In This Skin.jpg | In This Skin
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| File:Jessica Simpson - Rejoyce.jpg | Rejoyce: The Christmas Album
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| File:Apa 600.jpg | A Public Affair
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Tours
- Heat It Up Tour (2000)
- Reality Tour Live (2004)
- Tour of Duty (2005)
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | World Wide Gross |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The Dukes of Hazzard | Daisy Duke | Major Supporting Role | $111,069,515 |
| 2006 | Employee of The Month | Amy Renfro | Major Supporting Role | $37,089,694 |
| 2007 | Blonde Ambition | Katie | Leading Role (Post-production) | TBR |
| 2008 | The Witness | TBA | (In Development) | TBR |
Notes
- Levy, Ariel (2004). "Queen of the Boob Tube" Blender.com (accessed January 30, 2007)
- http://www.theresistancemanifesto.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=39
- http://news.softpedia.com/news/Jessica-Simpson-Slams-Christian-s-Accusations-561 5.shtml
- "Jessica Simpson: Nick Lachey's Dating 'Hurt Me'". Associated Press, February 6, 2007.
- ^ Goldman, Andrew (2007). "The Unnewlywed" Elle.com (accessed March 15, 2007)
- (no byline)"John Mayer: Not Denying Jessica Romance" TeenPeople.com (accessed March 1, 2007)
- "Simpson, Mayer Ring In New Year Together"
- Carter, Kelley (2007)."Blige gives big thanks, Shakira shakes it and John Mayer speaks Japanese" Detroit Free Press.
- Warech, Jon (2007). "Jessica Simpson & John Mayer Hit Miami" People.com (accessed January 23, 007)
- Splash News correspondent (2007). "Jessica Simpson will tour with John Mayer for next two and a half weeks" SAWF.org (accessed January 26, 2007)
- Norman, Pete, et al (2007) "Jessica and John's Roman Romance" TeenPeople.com (accessed March 15, 2007)
External links
- Jessica Simpson's Official Website
- Jessica Simpson at IMDb
- Jessica Simpson's Official MySpace Page
- at Tv.com
- Jessica Simpson interview for Dukes Of Hazzard
| Jessica Simpson | |
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| Studio albums | |
| Compilation albums | |
| Singles | |
| Television | |
| Concerts and tours | |
| Clothing brands | |
| Related pages | |
- 1980 births
- Living people
- American house musicians
- American pop singers
- American female singers
- American child singers
- Rhythmic contemporary musicians
- American film actors
- American television actors
- American actor-singers
- American singer-songwriters
- Participants in American reality television series
- People from Abilene, Texas
- Baptists from the United States
- Christian musicians