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Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3,
1984) is an American pop rock singer, songwriter, and
actress, and sister of pop singer Jessica Simpson.
Simpson rose to prominence in mid-2004 through the
success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and
the accompanying reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show.
Simpson received widespread criticism when she used a
pre-recorded vocal track for a performance on Saturday
Night Live in October 2004. Following a North American
concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released a
second number-one album, I Am Me, in late 2005.
Early life: Simpson was born in Waco, Texas, and
raised in Dallas. She is the daughter of Joe Truett
Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister who is now her
manager) and Tina Ann Drew (a former Sunday School
teacher who homeschooled Ashlee).[citation needed] An
accomplished dancer, Simpson began studying classical
ballet at the age of three, and was admitted to the
School of American Ballet in New York City at the age of
eleven. Around that time, she suffered from an eating
disorder; the condition lasted about six months, and she
dropped to about 31 kg (70 pounds) at 159 cm (5ft 2in),
but her parents then stepped in and got her to eat more.
After her sister Jessica Simpson landed a record deal,
the Simpson family decided to move to Los Angeles,
California, where Ashlee began appearing in television
commercials. When Jessica became a star after releasing
her first album, Ashlee became one of her backup
dancers. Later, she began appearing in films and
television series, including an episode of the sitcom
Malcolm in the Middle in 2001, a minor role in the 2002
film The Hot Chick and a recurring role on the family
drama series 7th Heaven. In the summer of 2003, recorded
a song titled "Just Let Me Cry" for the
soundtrack of the film Freaky Friday. Eventually,
Simpson signed a record deal with Geffen Records.
Debut album and reality television: Simpson's
first album, Autobiography, debuted at number one in the
U.S. in July 2004 with first week sales numbering around
398,000 copies. The album was certified triple platinum
in September 2004. Simpson co-wrote all of the album's
tracks and described it as "very true to my
emotions" in one interview, but critical reviews
were mixed. Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Relic
characterised Autobiography as a "mundane melange
of Avril-ish brat pop and Sheryl Crow cod rock". E!
Online wrote "Even if it doesn't wow you,
Autobiography may surprise you." The single that
preceded the album, "Pieces of Me," was one of
the biggest hits of the summer in the U.S. and sold well
elsewhere. However, the follow-up singles
"Shadow" and "La La" were less
successful.
Simpson occasionally appeared on Newlyweds: Nick and
Jessica, a reality show about the married life of
Jessica and her then-husband Nick Lachey. To accompany
the beginning of her own music career, she got her own
MTV reality show entitled The Ashlee Simpson Show, which
aired in a subsequent time slot to Newlyweds. It ran in
the U.S. for eight weekly episodes over the summer of
2004, and a second season of ten episodes aired from
January to March 2005. The show dealt with the process
of writing, recording, and performing Simpson's music as
well as aspects of her personal life.
When appearing for live performances, Simpson performs
live with a backing band consisting of Ray Brady
(guitar), Braxton Olita (guitar), Joey Kaimana (bass
guitar—from 2004 to 2005 Zach Kennedy filled this
role), Chris Megert (keyboards and vocals—from late
2004 to 2005 Lucy Walsh filled this role), and Chris Fox
(drums).
In addition to her own first album, Simpson sang
"Christmas Past, Present, and Future" on the
2004 holiday album Radio Disney Jingle Jams and a duet
of the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy"
with her sister Jessica for the album Rejoyce, which
they had sung together during the ABC variety hour
special Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas. In 2004
Simpson received the "Song of the Summer" Teen
Choice Award for "Pieces of Me," as well as
the "Fresh Face" award.
In addition, she also won a Billboard
Award for New Female Artist of the Year in December, and
was later named Entertainment Weekly's "Breakout
Star of 2004" in January 2005. Simpson also
co-hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve along with
Regis Philbin (in Dick Clark's absence) at the end of
the year, hosting the West Coast portion of the show and
performing three songs.
The Saturday Night Live incident: Simpson
appeared as a musical guest on Episode 568 of Saturday
Night Live (October 23–24, 2004), and as is customary
for the show's format, she was scheduled to perform two
songs. Her first song, "Pieces of Me", was
performed without problems. However, when she began her
second song, "Autobiography", the vocals for
the song "Pieces of Me" were heard
again—before she had raised the microphone to her
mouth. Simpson began to dance and then left the stage,
while the band (not a recording) continued playing.
During the closing of the show Simpson
appeared with the guest host Jude Law stating that her
band performed the wrong song in the opening on the
performance and commenting that she thought she'd
"do a hoedown" following the musical number.
MSNBC gossip columnist Jeannette Walls compared the
impact of the incident to the 1990 Milli Vanilli
incident in which their guide track skipped during a
live MTV performance, revealing that they were
lip-synching.
On October 25, Simpson called in to the music video show
Total Request Live and explained that due to
complications arising from a "severe"
variation of acid reflux (which had previously been seen
in The Ashlee Simpson Show) she had completely lost her
voice and her doctor had advised her not to sing. She
claimed that because of the acid reflux, her father
required her to use a guide track for the performance.
She said of the incident, "I made a complete fool
of myself." According to Simpson, the drummer hit
the wrong button, which caused the wrong track to be
played.
During the October 25 Radio Music Awards broadcast,
Simpson pretended, as a joke, to make the same mistake
as she did in the SNL incident, but then began to
perform "Autobiography" without using a
pre-recorded vocal track as she had done during the
prior SNL performance. On October 31, the CBS news
program 60 Minutes aired footage from Simpson's
rehearsals before the SNL performance in which Simpson
is shown to be disturbed by voice trouble.
Early 2005: On January 4, 2005, Simpson performed
"La La" at the halftime show for the Orange
Bowl in Miami, Florida; after her performance, many of
the 72,000-plus spectators booed. Representatives for
the Orange Bowl stated that they were pleased with her
performance and felt that it was a belated reaction to
the SNL incident, while others have speculated that it
may have been because the audience of the Orange Bowl
was outside of Simpson's target age bracket. Still
others disagree (Kelly Clarkson had performed before
Simpson in the show to a far more positive reaction),
and assert that Simpson's performance was poor and very
off-key.
Following her Orange Bowl performance, an Internet
petition at PetitionOnline.com complaining about
Simpson's singing was among the most active of the
site's petitions. Simpson later said: "That's cool.
You don't always have to be a fan of everybody's
music", also citing the support she had received
from her fans. Around the time of the petition,
Cosmopolitan magazine chose Simpson to be on the cover
of the February 2005 issue, naming her the "Fun
Fearless Female of the Year".
Simpson's first U.S. headlining tour (with two dates in
Canada as well) ran from mid-February to late April
2005, and its opening acts were Pepper's Ghost and The
Click Five. In addition to material from Autobiography,
Simpson performed her own unreleased song
"Hollywood", The Pretenders' "Brass in
Pocket", Blondie's "Call Me", and
Madonna's "Burning Up". She said that the tour
would be "stripped down", without
pyrotechnics, and that "it's going to be me and my
band getting out there and having fun". In March
2005, Simpson said that The Ashlee Simpson Show would
conclude at the end of its second season, the last
episode of which aired at the end of the month.
Film, second album, and theater: Simpson had a
supporting role as an aspiring actress named Clea in
Undiscovered (originally titled Wannabe), an independent
film that was released in theaters in August 2005.
Simpson filmed her scenes in late 2004. While Simpson's
performance was met with acceptable reviews, the film
itself was trashed by critics and placed outside of the
top ten in its opening weekend, earning just $676,048.
Her performance in the film earned her a Razzie
nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.
Simpson's second album, I Am Me, was released in the
U.S. on October 18, 2005. Simpson said that she had
wanted to incorporate the feel of music from the 1980s
on the album, and that unlike her debut it would focus
less on relationships and more on herself. I Am Me
debuted at number one with roughly 220,000 copies sold,
but sales quickly deteriorated; by April 2006, it had
sold a little less than 900,000 copies. Its first
single, "Boyfriend", became a top twenty hit
on the Billboard Hot 100 and performed similarly
elsewhere. The second single, "L.O.V.E.",
reached the U.S. top twenty-five, its success aided by a
remix by R&B/hip-hop producer Missy Elliott and
MTV's heavy rotation of the single's music video (it has
been her most successful video to date on Total Request
Live).
Simpson began a concert tour in late September in
Portland, Oregon and appeared on the October 8, 2005
episode of SNL to promote the album. The first of
Simpson's two performances on the show was of the ballad
"Catch Me When I Fall", which was written
about her previous SNL experience, and she thanked the
crowd after her second performance. In mid-December,
Simpson collapsed after performing in Japan, possibly
due to exhaustion. She was briefly hospitalized, and
consequently cancelled an appearance at the Radio Music
Awards.
Simpson appeared on the December 2005/January 2006 cover
of Teen People with her sister Jessica, and could also
be seen on the December 2005 issue of Blender,
Cosmopolitan magazine's January 2006 edition, the March
2006 issues of Seventeen and ELLE, the April 2006 issue
of JANE, the June/July 2006 issue of Teen People (in
which she was named one of its "25 hottest stars
under twenty-five"), the July 2006 issue of Marie
Claire and the September 2006 issue of CosmoGirl.
Simpson won a Kelly Slater/MTV celebrity surfing
invitational competition, which also featured
celebrities such as Meagan Good, Jack Osbourne (her main
competitor during the competition), Ashley Parker Angel
and Tony Hawk, as part of an MTV-sponsored 'Spring
Break' Special in March 2006. On April 12, 2006 she
hosted and performed at the MTV Australia Video Music
Awards, where she won "Best Female Artist" and
"Best Pop Video" (for "Boyfriend").
A new single, "Invisible", was released in
mid-2006 and reached the top 25 on the Billboard Hot
100. Initially it was said that the song would appear on
a re-released version of I Am Me, but this never
occurred. Simpson began a summer tour on June 5, 2006
with Ashley Parker Angel as an opening act; initially
The Veronicas also opened but quit the tour after the
first few shows due to a problem with one of their
singers' vocal cords.
Simpson said that after this tour, which ended in late
July, she would be going on vacation, that she would
take her time making her third album, and that she would
look at movie scripts and continue her acting career.
Simpson played the role of Roxie Hart in the London
stage production of Chicago to rave reviews, from
September 25 to October 28, 2006. One reviewer called
Simpson's performance in the show "dazzling and
near flawless".
Third album: In November 2006, Simpson said that
she was going to meet with record executives soon and
begin working on her third album. Simpson also stated
that she would like to work with Robert Smith from The
Cure, who attended her last performance as Roxie Hart in
the musical "Chicago".
Producer Ron Fair said in December 2006 that working on
Simpson's next album would be "very tricky"
because of press scrutiny and "prejudices",
but that Geffen would work with her to overcome that,
"because she deserves to be heard and she deserves
a shot."
On January 17, 2007, Simpson sent out a message to her
fans, saying "I am starting to write and record a
new album which I am so excited about", and "I
have a good feeling about 2007, and I can't wait for you
guys to hear my new album later on this year".
On February 1, 2007, MTV's TRL spoke about Simpson's new
music, saying such top artists as Tom Petty, Pharrell
Williams, Linda Perry, India.Arie, and will.i.am want to
help Simpson with her third album.
On March 6, 2007 MTV reported that Simpson's next album
would have "a more soulful sound" and was
planned for release in October 2007. Simpson said she
was writing with many different people.
On March 22, 2007 EW.com reported that Joe Simpson
revealed she had been writing with Keena and Chad Hugo.
She also is said to be working with Timbaland, John
Legend, and Tim Rice-Oxley, who worked with Gwen Stefani
on a song from her album The Sweet Escape. Simpson is
also working on a collaboration with The Cure's
frontman, Robert Smith.
In an April 2007 issue of US Magazine, Simpson was
quoted to say her album will have a more
"mature" sound, yet still remain
"rock." In the June 2007 issue of
Cosmopolitan, which featured Simpson on the cover, she
said that as she was becoming more mature, her music was
changing, and she mentioned that the new album would
have less focus on relationship trouble and breakups.
Image and personal life: When she first broke
onto the scene, Simpson had a decidedly different image
from that of her sister. Previously blonde like Jessica,
she dyed her hair dark during the recording of the MTV
reality show after she finished filming for the 7th
Heaven television series, although after a year with
dark hair she returned to blonde in 2005. Simpson's
songs also have rock elements absent from her sister's
music, and, particularly during the time of her initial
stardom, Simpson would often wear shirts with the type
of designs that are described as "punk"-style,
sometimes emblazoned with band names.
Her fingernails and toenails are often
painted black, and has at least three tattoos: a star on
one wrist, two cherries on her ankle, and the word
"love" on her other wrist. Simpson has changed
her style significantly over time; she now is often seen
favoring girlier, "preppier" looks, though her
more "punk"-oriented look is still displayed
at concerts. She has also been seen sporting long blond
hair extensions.
Her vocals, while generally not thought to equal her
sister's range, have been praised by some as fitting the
style of her music, and are usually described as
"raspy" or "throaty." Simpson and
her sister were tied for third on oft-quoted
celebrity-fashion critic Mr. Blackwell's list of the
worst-dressed celebrities of 2004. Blackwell quipped
that "from gaudy to grim to downright frenetic
these two prove that bad taste is positively
genetic."
She has refused to discuss her sex life, in contrast
with her sister, who openly stated her intention to
practice sexual abstinence until marriage. "I
decided that I didn't want to talk about that because
it's super personal," Simpson said of the
situation. Simpson's relationship with actor Josh
Henderson lasted for nearly two years and ended during
the first episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show.
Soon after, she began dating fellow
musician Ryan Cabrera. That relationship was also
featured on the show, and Simpson appeared as Cabrera's
love interest in the music video for his song "On
the Way Down." The two were reported to have split
in August 2004 due to their hectic schedules, but they
resumed their relationship for a while afterward, before
ending it again in early 2005; Simpson says they are
still friends, although rumors suggested that Simpson
did not like the fact that Ryan had moved on to Lisa
Origliasso of The Veronicas.
In 2005, rumors began circulating that Simpson had
stolen Wilmer Valderrama from Lindsay Lohan. Simpson's
single "Boyfriend" was reported to be about
the situation, but she said that the song "is about
[how] every girl out there sometimes thinks you stole
her boyfriend. It's just making fun of that."
Valderrama has since said on Howard Stern's radio
program that he did have sex with Simpson, but claimed
the incident was unrelated to his break-up with Lohan.
Later that year, rumours arose that Simpson was secretly
dating another Joe Simpson-managed actor, Viva La Bam's
Chris Raab. In February 2006, she told Seventeen
magazine that she was dating bandmate Braxton Olita and
went on a 10-day vacation with him to Hawaii.
In November 2005, eTalk Daily broadcast a video of a
late-night visit made by Simpson to a McDonald's
fast-food restaurant in Toronto, Canada. Simpson
appeared to be intoxicated in the video, and was shown
arguing with a member of the staff, as well as rejecting
a customer's attempt to get an autograph from her
because he wouldn't kiss her feet. According to Simpson
in a 2006 ELLE interview, she was "a little
tipsy", and the customer had first called her
"gross" before he had realized who she was, at
which point he asked her for an autograph. She has said
that she told herself to "grow up" after the
incident.
In February 2006, Simpson was honored by MTV's Total
Request Live (TRL), as the "Bounce-Back"
artist. The award was given to her for being able to
recover from her many ups and downs of her career, and
still manage to release another #1 platinum album.
Simpson reportedly had a nose job in April 2006. When
asked about it in an interview in May, Simpson neither
confirmed nor denied it. In the May 2007 issue of
Harper's Bazaar, she said that she was not insecure
about her appearance and had not been beforehand. She
said that plastic surgery was a "personal
choice" that one should only decide to do for
oneself and not for others. There have also been claims
that Simpson had chosen to surgically enhance her lips
and to reduce her chin. In June 2006, it was reported
that Simpson seriously considered but later turned down
a $4 million offer to pose nude for Playboy.
In early September 2006, Us Weekly reported that Simpson
and Braxton Olita had split up. Simpson's rep said that
the couple “broke up about a week ago. They have
decided to take a break.” Simpson has often been seen
with Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz in late 2006 and
early 2007, and there has been speculation that they are
in a relationship. In an interview for OK! magazine she
denied this. In an interview with Pete Wentz on Ryan
Seacrest's American Top 40 live, Ryan asked if Wentz and
Simpson were "on" or "off." Wentz
laughed and said "off." In a Rolling Stone
photo shoot however, Wentz and Simpson took a picture
together for the opening of Wentz' bar, Angels &
Kings, and were labeled as a 'couple'. Simpson was
ranked as one of the "Hottest Women in
Pop/R&B" by Blender magazine in January 2007.
In the June 2007 edition of Cosmopolitan, Simpson said
that she hasn't lip synched since her Saturday Night
Live incident, that she has "a little crush on
Christian Slater", feels sexiest in bed, and that
you can and can't have a good relationship without
amazing sex. She also mentioned that she is single.
Simpson was voted number 16 in Maxim's 2007 Hot 100
list.
Criticism: In mid-2006, Simpson gave an interview
to Marie Claire magazine, in which she was said to have
"had it with Hollywood's twisted view of feminine
beauty" and was photographed painting a pro-female
mural with a group of underprivileged girls from Los
Angeles's Green Dot Public School.
However, by the time the magazine hit
newsstands, Simpson had already had her alleged nose job
and had been seen sporting long blonde hair extensions.
Some Marie Claire readers complained about this as being
hypocritical; the magazine received over 1,000 angry
letters and the magazine's new editor expanded the
letters section of the September issue of the magazine
to give readers a chance to vent their frustrations. |
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