Jessica Simpson Biography

Jessica Simpson was born in Abilene ,Texas. Her father, Joe Simpson, was a psychologist and minister and her mother, Tina, a homemaker. Being the daughter of minister, Jessica regularly sang in church. She was noticed by an agent, and was signed onto a religious record label called Proclaim. With them, she recorded her first self-titled album Jessica. Unfortunately, the label went bankrupt, and her album was never released. But it was not the end for her, as a small pressing of her album was released by finances provided by her grandmother. This helped get her noticed, and got her a few acts, performing for other stars.

Jessica attended the J.J. Pierce High School, but dropped out at the age of 16. Her album was heard by Tommy Mottola, who was the then President at Columbia Records. She was immediately signed by the label, as Mottola saw great potential in her strong voice. And right he was, her first single, released under the label, “I Wanna Love You Forever”, reached #3 at the Billboard Hot 100 and made it the top ten charts in many other countries. Soon, her first album, Sweet Kisses, was released, and it sold double platinum. To promote her album, she even toured with the boy band 98° and Ricky Martin.

Her debut album did very well and Jessica became a pop star. But she had an image of a high school girl, and the executives at the label wanted her to be sexier. For her second album, Jessica got an image makeover; the move paid off as Irresistible (2001), her second album, too hit the bulls-eye and was a major hit. She even planned a tour of the country, but cancelled it after the 9/11 attacks.

The music world was conquered; it was now time for television. Jessica had recently gotten married to singer Nick Lachey, the couple was a tabloid favorite and was a part popular culture. They starred in their very own reality show on MTV called Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. The show was about their married life together and the challenges they faced as a newlywed couple. The audiences loved it and the show was major hit. It made Jessica into a household name and got her even for fame than her singing career.

To coincide with premiere of the reality show, Columbia Records also released her third album, In This Skin. Sadly, this strategy did not work as the album only did moderately well when it was first released. But the sales report bounced back after a collector’s version was released of the album, it reached #2 in the charts. Following the success of their show, Nick and Jessica starred in another television special called Nick and Jessica Variety Hour. This special also did well and Jessica ended up winning the People’s Choice Award for favorite reality show star that year.

In 2004, Jessica also released a Christmas album Rejoyce: The Christmas Album (2004), which went on to sell gold. Jessica also appeared in The Dukes of Hazzard soundtrack as Daisy Duke. She wore a skin tight pink bikini for the video. The video was banned in many countries, and she even received criticism from many Christian groups back home.

After music and TV, it was now time of the celluloid world. Jessica made her debut in the remake The Dukes of Hazzard. She starred alongside Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott, portraying the legendary Daisy Duke. The movie was a hit, and Jessica’s film career too started on a sweet note.

It was now time for Jessica to part ways with Columbia Record. She signed on with Epic Records, and released the album A Public Affair. It was her first with the label and fourth overall. Comparatively, the album did not do as well as her previous albums, but it was the video of the title single that did really well, as the song featured a lot of famous personality making appearances. Her second film, Employee of the Month was also released, but it did not do well. It seemed her career was going through a low phase ever since her very public divorce from her husband Nick.

The setbacks continued in her life. At a performance where she was paying a tribute to Dolly Parton, while she was singing, she completely botched up the lyrics, and made a complete mess out of the song. In the crowd were present Shania Twain, Steven Spielberg and the then president, George W. Bush. She was allowed to re-record the video portions, but the song was finally edited out. Soon, her third film was also up for release called Blonde Ambition. Blonde Ambition also had Luke Wilson and, it was styled after the 1980’s Working Girl. The film met the same fate as her earlier work and was a flop.

Jessica needed to do something for her flailing career, and fast. Her father, in an interview, said that Jessica was considering doing a country music album. The move worked, Jessica recorded “Come on Over”, her first country single, which was ‘mysteriously’ leaked onto the net. The leaked version was even played on the country music radio stations. The video for the song was officially released on her personal website. And it was soon followed by her the release of her first country music album Do You Know. The album reached # 1 on the charts, giving Jessica her first number one album in her career. Her country music career had taken off, and image change had worked in her favor.

Sadly, her film career was getting bad to worse. Private Valentine: Blonde and dangerous was released straight to DVD. Jessica receive a lot of flak for her acting skill, with many even saying that she should seriously consider quitting acting all together, as it was only hurting her music career.

For 2010, Jessica released her second holiday album, Happy Christmas (2010). Jessica is currently working on an album, which will be her last album with Epic Records. She also got back to Reality TV, where she enjoyed her most success. She has hosted few episodes of The Price of Beauty (2010), which is executive produced by her and her father.

It has been Jessica’s personal life that has brought her a lot unwanted attention. Her first husband was the lead singer of 98°, and the two began dating in 1999. They separated in 2001, but reunited after the 26/11 attacks. They put their dirty laundry for display in the reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. Many could see on the show itself that their marriage was not meant to last. Jessica, it seemed, was too spoiled for him and he was too down to earth. But still they managed to stay together till 2005, but parted ways citing irreconcilable differences. Jessica then started dating football star Tony Romo, and it was no smooth ride with him too. She was pictured wearing a T-shirt, which said Real Girls Eat Meat. This was seen as a direct dig at Tony’s ex-girlfriend Carrie Underwood, who is a famous vegetarian. PETA launched a vicious verbal attack on her, which was later joined by Pamela Anderson.

But the viciousness did not stop there, Tony’s football career started to suffer, and Jessica was seen as the reason behind it. Many even dubbed her Yoko Romo after Yoko Ono. Her split from Tony was a bad one, and the tabloids even reported that Jessica met with a voodoo witch doctor and asked him to put curses on tony. Though, none of these reports were confirmed by Jessica or any such witch doctor.

Finally, it seems that, Jessica has got her personal life in order, after she got engaged to another footballer, Eric Johnson. The two started dating in May, 2010 and got engaged in November. Jessica will be doing one more album with Epic Records, and film wise, she has decided to do only smart and meaningful roles.