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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 three gold and two multi-platinum
RIAA-certified albums. Simpson starred with her
then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show
Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. She has also begun working
as an actress, and is the older sister of Ashlee
Simpson, a pop rock singer.
1999-2001: Rise To Fame: 1999 saw the arrival of
pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera,
who each received multi-platinum certificates. Simpson's
label hoped for the same with her. As 1999 came to a
close, Simpson released her first single, "I Wanna
Love You Forever," which peaked at #3 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Soon afterward her album Sweet Kisses
was released. Simpson toured with boy band 98 Degrees to
promote her new album. She was given a role in the music
video for 98 Degrees' hit song "My
Everything," playing Nick Lachey's love interest.
At that time she and Lachey began
dating. After dating for two years the couple cooled
their relationship, stating that the "break"
allowed them to concentrate on their music careers. Then
on September 11, 2001, Lachey was supposed to be flying
out of New York City with his group 98 Degrees. When
Simpson heard of the attacks on the nation coming from
the airport she immediately phoned Lachey to learn his
whereabouts. After this scare the couple rekindled the
relationship.
Meanwhile, Simspon's album Sweet Kisses had gone double
platinum thanks to the success of her follow-up singles
"Where You Are", 1999, 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 release of an uptempo single. But although her
debut album sold 2 million copies, sales fell far short
of those achieved by Spears and Aguilera, and unlike the
two pop princesses, Simpson was not a worldwide
household n ame. Columbia Records officials reportedly
decided Simpson needed a change for her second album.
In 2001, Simpson recorded a follow-up album with what
Columbia considered more radio-friendly, up-tempo
tracks; the studio also encouraged her 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" one of the biggest
hits of her career; it peaked at # 15 on the Hot 100.
"Irresistable" debuted at # 6 in June 2001 on
the Billboard 200 Album Chart, and has sold 825,000
copies to date.
2002: Marriage to Nick Lachey and TV success:
During the summer of 2003, the reality show, Newlyweds:
Nick and Jessica, 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.
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.
On May 30, 2004, Simpson was chosen to sing the National
Anthem at the Indianapolis 500. 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 Hollywood brat behavior helping turn
the show into a huge hit, with an average rating of
roughly 1.4 million viewers, while reaching a series
peak of approximately 4 million viewers.
The associated album, In This Skin' debuted at # 10 on
The Billboard 200 album chart, with sales of 64,000 in
its first week. It rebounded after a special collectors'
edition was released in April 2004 and subsequently
reached a peak of # 2. It was eventually certified
quadruple platinum. It contained the hits "With
You" (# 14, 2004) and a cover of the Berlin song
"Take My Breath Away" (# 20, 2004).
The couple starred in the television special The Nick
and Jessica Variety Hour," which aired in 2004 and
was compared to the Sonny and Cher show. 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 was #1 at the box office its opening
weekend, although it had little or no competition (the
only other new film opening that weekend was a
low-budget independent film), and grossed $30.7 million
on 3,785 screens. It also had an adjusted-dollar rank of
#14 all-time for August releases. The film eventually
collected $110.5 million world-wide, although it was
much less financially successful outside the U.S.
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. The
song's vidoe featured Simpson as Daisy Duke. It contains
scenes of her flirting and singing in a bar and then
later washing her car in a pink string bikini. In some
countries the video was banned for its overtly sexual
content.
Simpson's second film, Employee of the Month, was
released October 6, 2006. Despite poor reviews, the film
took in nearly $12 million in its opening weekend,
debuting at #4 just behind "Open Season." The
movie was made on a $12 million budget, and it finished
with a little over $28 million in the United States.
Simpson's third film,Blonde Ambition, is set to be
released July (2007). Filming is scheduled to begin in
June, 2007 on a fourth movie starring Simpson,
"Major Movie Star." Filming for the movie
"The Witness," a spy comedy, had been
scheduled for the same time but has been postpned.
2006-2007: Music and movies: November 2005
brought confirmation of rumors that Simpson and Lachey
were breaking up. 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.
Simpson then returned to the recording studio, switching
labels from Columbia to Epic Records. 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.
In December 2006, while performing a tribute to Dolly
Parton at the Kennedy Center Awards, she botched the
lyrics, getting flustered in front of a crowd that
included prominent persons such as Steven Spielberg, Tom
Hanks, and even President George W. Bush). Afterward,
during the final tribute to Parton, Parton's
"biggest fan" Reese Witherspoon and her second
cousin Jessica Savelli gave a tearful Simpson a
comforting hug. Though Simpson was given the chance to
redo the song for cameras, ultimately her portion was
editied out of the CBS broadcast.
Luke Wilson co-starred with Simpson in her third film,
Blonde Ambition, due out in late 2007. In April she
released her rendition of the Dead or Alive hit
"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", which is
also the third single from A Public Affair. The song was
revamped for the movie and will be part of the
soundtrack.
Simpson recently said she is due back in front of the
cameras filming her next movie role in "The
Witness." She also said she will be publishing a
book containing selections from her personal journal and
photographs, titled "Look Up To the Sky."
Simpson has also been confirmed to be in studio
recording with Eddie Galan and Drew Lane. Simpson has
recently recorded a song with Kanye West and John Mayer
for West's upcoming album "Graduation," titled
"Bittersweet".
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 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, an over-the-counter acne medicine. In 2006,
she premiered another Pizza Hut commercial for the Super
Bowl broadcast. She sang "These Bites Are Made For
Poppin'," in reference to the song "These
Boots Are Made For Walkin'," to advertise the new
Cheesy Bites Pizza. In 2007, the Super Bowl featured her
third Pizza Hut commercial, which again promoted the
Cheesy Bites Pizza. She has also advertised HDTV in
character as Daisy Duke.
Management: Jessica is managed by her father, Joe
Truett Simpson, whose fee is reported to be between 10
percent and 20 percent of her income. He has distanced
himself from his daughters' finances, however, and has
no access to their bank accounts, which are under the
supervision of their shared and longtim business
manager, David Levin. Mr. Simpson said he wanted his
children to see that "Daddy never touched their
stuff. I wanted them to always look at me with
respect."
Controversy: Simpson 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, Simpson 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,
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 Lachey announced they were seperating.
Simpson filed for divorce on December 16, 2005, citing
"irreconcilable differences." The couple's
divorce was publicized worldwide and was reportedly
finalized on June 30.
Simpson reportedly told Jane magazine in October 2006
that she knew her marriage to 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 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 $3.75 million.
Simpson received increased publicity following her
divorce, reportedly having romances with her Employee of
the Month co-star Dane Cook and Maroon 5 frontman Adam
Levine. On February 6, 2007, the Associated Press
reported that Simpson said she was stung when her
ex-husband 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. Dating 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 publicly very
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.
Philanthrophy: In March 2007 Simpson donated a
new Chrysler minivan to the Elim orphanage in Nuevo
Laredo. Simpson had won a Chrysler Crossfire sports car
at the 2006 MTV awards, but exchanged the $50,000 luxury
car for a minivan so she could help the orphanage. She
had first visited the orphanage as a child as part of
her youth group mission. She has also mentioned that she
has plans to adopt. |
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