Jessica Simpson

Categories: 1980 births | American actors | American pop singers | Rhythmic Top 40 acts | Dance Top 40 acts in United States | Baptists | English Americans | Female singers | Film actors | People from Texas | Sex symbols | Television actors | Whistle register singers

Image:Jessica Simpson USO.jpg
Jessica Simpson performing at a USO/DoD Celebrity Tour at a U.S. Army base on November 14 2001

Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10 1980) is an American pop singer who rose to fame during the late 1990s. She has starred with her husband Nick Lachey (pronounced la-SHAY) in the MTV reality show Newlyweds, released her own line of beauty products called Dessert, and has also started a career as an actress.

Contents

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Biography

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Early life and career

Simpson was born in Abilene, Texas and raised in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. She is the daughter of Joe (a Baptist youth minister) and Tina Simpson and has a younger sister, Ashlee, who launched her own music career in mid-2004. Jessica started singing at the age of twelve as a part of her Baptist church choir. At the same age, she made an unsuccessful application for The New Mickey Mouse Club, which starred fellow singers Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake, among other future stars.

Jessica attended J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas. Simpson was discovered singing at a church camp by a head of a small contemporary Christian record label and recorded an album over the next three years, but the label went out of business before the album could be released. She dropped out her senior year in order to tour and promote her demo album, which was funded by her grandmother, Joyce (thus the reason for the name Rejoyce: The Christmas Album); she later earned her GED. During this time, she 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 her performances.

Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records obtained a copy of the album and, thinking she had potential as a pop singer, signed her as such. Jessica eliminated the Christian influences from her appearance and music.

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Pop beginnings

On November 23 1999, Simpson released her debut pop album Sweet Kisses, reaching twenty-five on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and also making the top forty of the U.K. charts. The album proved to be a success, selling two million copies in the U.S. Her first single, the platinum-selling "I Wanna Love You Forever", reached the top five of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the top ten in Canada and the U.K. in late 1999. Her second single, a duet with then-boyfriend, now-husband Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees, "Where You Are", was a modest radio hit. The last single from the album, the John Mellencamp-sampled "I Think I'm in Love with You", was a top-forty hit in the U.S. and a top-twenty hit in Canada and the U.K.. In 2000, Simpson won two Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Artist and Love Song of the Year ("Where You Are" featuring Nick Lachey).

Simpson's second album, Irresistible, released on June 5 2001, reached the top ten of the Billboard 200 and top twenty of the Canadian album charts. Despite this improvement, the album's sales were less than satisfactory; to date, it has only managed to be certified gold in the U.S. for selling over 500,000 copies. The title track, "Irresistible", which was featured as the lead single, reached the top twenty in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., as well as the top forty in Australia and Switzerland. A follow-up single entitled "A Little Bit" was also released, but failed to achieve much success apart from reaching the top twenty in Portugal.

Between her second and third albums, Simpson released a collection of remixes entitled This Is the Remix on July 2 2002. However, the collection failed to chart even on the Billboard 200.

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Newlyweds and In This Skin

On October 26 2002 Simpson married Nick Lachey. Simpson famously announced that she remained a virgin until her wedding night, making Lachey the only man she had been with. During the Summer of 2003, Simpson and husband Lachey's reality show Newlyweds began airing on MTV. Though Simpson was moderately famous before the series began, the show is considered responsible for transforming her into a star.

Throughout the run of three seasons, she often appeared as a stereotype of a dumb blonde, notably when she asked whether the Chicken of the Sea tuna she was eating was chicken or fish, and when she thought that buffalo wings were made from actual buffalo. Her apparent stupidity made the show a huge hit, making the average rating for each episode about 1.4 million viewers. When introduced to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Simpson responded: "You've done a nice job decorating the White House".

Banking on the success of her new popularity, she appeared on a variety show with Lachey on the ABC called the Nick and Jessica Variety Hour on April 11, 2004. A pilot for a sitcom on ABC was also planned, but was rejected by network executives in May 2004. During the Summer of 2004, Simpson won three Teen Choice Awards for Choice Female Fashion Icon, Choice Hottie Female and Choice Female Reality/Variety TV Star, further proving that Newlyweds had greatly strengthened her overall popularity. In 2005, the series won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show. A couple of months later, the show finally wrapped.

Coinciding with Newlyweds, her third album, In This Skin, was released on August 19 2003. On a whole, the record featured a much more mature sound compared to her earlier releases. Though the album initially was not a huge success, it got its chance to rebound on the charts when a special collector's edition was released on March 2 2004. This helped Skin to reach number two on the Billboard 200 and the top forty of the U.K. charts, due largely in part to the success of Newlyweds. The album eventually proved to be her most successful, selling three million copies in the U.S. and allowing her teetering music career a second chance. The first single from the album was a cover of Diane Warren's "Sweetest Sin"; the song was not very successful, however, and caused a setback in sales of Skin early on. The follow-up single, the gold-selling "With You", enjoyed much more success, and became her biggest hit since "I Wanna Love You Forever". The song reached the top ten in the U.K. and the top twenty in the U.S. and Australia, as well as on world adult charts. The third single, a cover of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", also reached the top twenty in the U.S. A cover version of Robbie Williams' "Angels" was released as the fourth and final single from the album.

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Media mogul

After the success of Newlyweds, many doors opened for Simpson to branch out in her career.

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Beauty products

One way was by creating her own line of beauty products called Dessert Beauty. Other one was Dessert Treats. Co-founder is Randi Schiner and Jessica Simpson. She has also appeared on TV infomercials for Proactiv Solution acne treatment, along with other celebrities.

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Acting

More recently, Simpson has made her way into the world of acting; her film debut as Daisy Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard was released in August 2005. The film debuted at number one at the box office, grossing more than thirty million dollars. The movie has grossed over forty million dollars so far. One of the tracks from the soundtrack for the movie, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", is sung by Simpson and was used as a single to promote the film. The song debuted at thirty-three on the Hot 100; the biggest debut of her career. The single became a huge seller regarding digital downloads through programs such as iTunes, which in turn aided it in becoming a chart success; after only two weeks on the chart, it reached fourteen. The video for the song earned itself quite a bit of media attention for being particularly more raunchy than any of Simpson's previous videos, as it included her in a revealing ensemble and ended with her washing a car in a bikini. This could be accounted to the fact that she is playing the role of Daisy Duke in the video, but she has still been criticized by a number of Christian groups, and her use of sexuality to sell has led her to be compared to Willa Ford, Jewel, Shakira and Christina Aguilera. The single also did well overseas, reaching number three in the U.K. and number two in Australia.

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Speculation about body shape

In the aftermath of Dukes, Simpson's fans noticed her buttocks flattening. Speculation abounded as to the cause of Simpson's disappearing behind. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The general consensus is that it resulted from a change in diet and exercise regimen. Simpson's body remains the topic of media attention. There are also rumors of a Simpson work-out video that contains the exercise routine that she used for her role as Daisy in The Dukes of Hazzard.

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After Dukes

Simpson's next album, titled And the Band Played On, will be released in May or June 2006, after Simpson postponed her album release date. For the first time, Simpson has participated for much of the process of the creation of the album; she has registered a number of songs earlier this year on ASCAP.com and is also the executive producer of the album.

Upcoming projects for Simpson include a role in the film Room Service, as well as a clothing line called "Princy" set to be released by the end of 2005.

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Discography

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Studio albums

  • 1999: Sweet Kisses #25 U.S., #36 UK, U.S. Sales: 1.9 Million; U.S. Certification: 2x platinum
  • 2001: Irresistible #6 U.S., #13 CAN, U.S. Sales: 730,000+ Copies; U.S. certification: gold
  • 2003/2004: In This Skin #2 U.S., #36 UK, U.S. Sales: 2.8+ Million; U.S. Certification: 3x platinum
  • 2005: And the Band Played On (to be released in May/June 2006)
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Compilations

Total U.S. Album Sales: 6+ million

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Singles

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Audio samples

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Filmography

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External links

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