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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 in the MTV reality show Newlyweds, released her own line of beauty products called Dessert and has also started a career as an actress. Early careerSimpson was born in Abilene, Texas and raised in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas. She is the daughter of Joe 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. Simpson was discovered singing at a church camp by a head of a small CCM record label and recorded an album over the next three years, although it was never released due to the label folding. While waiting for the album to be released, 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. Pop successOn November 23, 1999, Simpson released her debut pop album Sweet Kisses, reaching a peak of #25 on the US Billboard 200 chart and also making the top 40 of the UK charts. The album proved to be a success, selling over 2 million copies in the US. Her first single, the platinum-selling "I Wanna Love You Forever", reached the top 5 of the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the top 10 in Canada and the UK 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 off the album, the John Mellencamp-sampled "I Think I'm In Love With You", was a top 40 hit in the US and a top 20 hit in Canada and the UK. 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 sophomore effort Irresistible, released on June 5, 2001, reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and top 20 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 US for selling over 500,000 copies. The title track, which was featured as the lead single, went top 20 in the US, Canada and the UK, as well as top 40 in Australia and Switzerland. A follow-up single entitled "A Little Bit" was also released, but failed to achieve much success apart from going top 20 in Portugal. Compared to her competition in ex-Mouseketeers Aguilera and Spears, Simpson seemed to be lagging behind in terms of chart success and sales. Between her second and third albums, Simpson also released a collection of remixes entitled This Is The Remix on July 2, 2002. 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 a peak of #2 on the Billboard 200 and the top 40 of the UK charts, due largely in part to the success of her reality show Newlyweds. The album eventually proved to be her most successful, selling over 3 million copies in the US and allowing her teetering music career a second chance. The lead single off the album was a cover of Diane Warren's "Sweetest Sin"; the song was not very successful, however, and caused a backlash 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 went top 10 in the UK and top 20 in the US and Australia, as well as on world adult charts. The third single, a cover of Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", also went top 20 in the US. A cover version of Robbie Williams' "Angels" was released as the fourth and final single. Simpson released an album of Christmas songs entitled Rejoyce: The Christmas Album on November 23, 2004. For a collection of holiday covers, the album proved successful; it reached the top 20 of the Billboard 200 and was certified gold in 2005. It includes a duet with her sister Ashlee on the song "Little Drummer Boy". Jessica and Ashlee also performed the song together on Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas, which aired on the ABC on December 1, 2004. NewlywedsOn October 26, 2002, Simpson wed Lachey. The couple then went on to star in the MTV reality show Newlyweds, which began airing in 2003 and wrapped up in 2005. She often appears 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 2-3 million viewers. The success of the show greatly aided the sales of In This Skin. 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. DiscographyAlbums
6 million Albums sold in the U.S. Singles
1.5 million Singles sold in the U.S. Filmography
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