Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American recording artist, actress, television personality, and fashion designer whose rise to fame began in 1999. Since that time, Simpson has achieved many recording milestones, starred in several television shows, movies, and commercials, launched a line of hair and beauty products, and designed fragrances, shoes, and handbags for women. Jessica Simpson has devoted time to philanthropic efforts including Operation Smile and a USO-hosted tour for troops stationed overseas. She started the Jessica Simpson Collection in 2005.
Childhood and youth
Jessica Ann Simpson was born in Abilene, Texas. She is the daughter of Tina Ann (née Drew), a homemaker, and Joseph "Joe" Truett Simpson, a minister and psychologist. Her mother is of English American and Native American descent, while her father is Scottish American. She has a younger sister, Ashlee, who is also a singer.
Jessica Simpson first developed and nurtured her talent in her local Baptist church, where her father also worked as the congregation's youth minister. At age twelve, she unsuccessfully auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club. While attending a church camp, at the age of 13, Jessica Simpson sang Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You and an arrangement of Amazing Grace.
One of the camp's visitors was launching a Gospel music record label and saw great promise and profits in her voice. It was during this time, while attending J. J. Pearce High School, Jessica Simpson signed to Proclaim Records, a minor Gospel music record label. She recorded an album, Jessica, but Proclaim went bankrupt and the album was never officially released except for a small pressing funded by her grandmother. This small pressing gained her minor attention which led her to performing at concerts with other gospel legendary acts such as Kirk Franklin, God's Property, and CeCe Winans.
When she was sixteen years old, Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola heard Jessica, he was impressed with Simpson’s musical talent and skill. Mottola instantly thought Jessica Simpson sounded like Mariah Carey. Jessica Simpson was immediately signed to the label. She dropped out of high school but later earned her GED.
Career
1999–2001: Sweet Kisses and Irresistible
Jessica Simpson released her first single, "I Wanna Love You Forever", which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1999, and reached the top ten in ten countries. Soon afterwards, her major label debut album Sweet Kisses was released. Although, she was classified in the teen pop sensation genre, unlike other female teen stars competitors like Britney Spears and Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson truly had a very powerful luscious voice beyond her years. To support the album's release, Simpson toured with Ricky Martin, Destiny's Child, and with boy band 98 Degrees.
Meanwhile, Simpson's album Sweet Kisses had gone double platinum, helped by the follow-up singles "Where You Are" and "I Think I'm In Love With You", which were both released in 2000. The latter became Simpson's biggest radio hit at that point, and was her first release of an uptempo single. Her debut album sold 2 million copies in US. Columbia Records officials reportedly decided Simpson needed a change for her second album. The following year, when Jessica Simpson came to record her second album, executives pressured her to have a much more sexy image.
In 2000, Jessica Simpson started recording the follow-up to Sweet Kisses, with what Columbia considered more radio-friendly, up-tempo tracks. The sophomore album, titled Irresistible, was released in mid-2001 on the heels of the title-track first single. "The title track" became one of the biggest hits of her career; it peaked at number fifteen on the Hot 100 and stayed in the chart for twenty weeks. It managed to reach the top forty in some other countries it charted. In addition, it led to the attention of record producer Jermaine Dupri of So So Def Recordings to remix the song within a Hip-Hop—tinged genre style which featured rap artist Lil Bow Wow.
Irresistible debuted at number 6 in June 2001 on the Billboard 200 chart, with 127,000 copies sold in its first week. It was later certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling or shipments of 500,000 copies or more. Irresistible has sold 850,000 copies in the US, to date. In order to support the album, Jessica Simpson went on her first headlining tour, called the DreamChaser Tour, in mid-August, but due to the September 11, 2001 attacks could not complete the planned dates.
