Jessica Ann Simpson came to fame as a pop singer in the late 1990s, as part of the wave of pop princesses coming out that time, like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
Born on the 10th of July, 1980 in Abilene, Texas to Joe and Tina Simpson, Jessica Simpson had a normal childhood as the daughter of a Baptist youth minister. She grew up in Richardson, Texas, and sang in the choir at church. At the age of 12, she auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club, but unlike fellow pop stars Britney and Christina, she didn’t make it past the finals after succumbing to the pressure.
She returned to Richardson and continued with the Christian music she had grown up with. Her father became her manager and they worked the Christian Youth Conference circuit, where she performed and sold her home-recorded albums after singing. She was performing with well-known gospel acts by the time she was in junior high, and Christian music fans were charmed by her voice. Soon, the buzz surrounding her reached famous producer Tommy Mottola, who signed her to Columbia Records in 1998.
A year later, her first single was out, and “I Wanna Love You Forever” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2000. Soon after that, her debut album was launched, and she toured with the boyband 98 Degrees to promote it. “Sweet Kisses” eventually went double-platinum, with her follow-up singles “Where You Are” and “I Think I’m In Love With You” becoming radio hits. Selling 2 million records wasn’t much compared to fellow stars Britney and Christina though, so a more radio-friendly sound was planned for her next album.
The tour with 98 Degrees was where she met future husband Nick Lachey, a member of the group, and they became a couple, although they eventually broke up after two years to concentrate on their respective careers. September 11,2001 changed all that, and when Jessica called Nick in New York to check on how he was, their romance was rekindled.
That year was when she recorded and released “Irresistible”, her follow-up album, and it was also a big success, peaking at No. 15 on the Hot 100. The title track was a smash hit for her, reaching No.3 on the Top 40 charts.
Meanwhile, in October 2002, Nick and Jessica got married.
The year 2003 was a big year for Jessica, as her third album “In This Skin” was released in August. It was also the year when her reality show with her husband began airing. It was offered to them by MTV after their marriage the previous year, which was a tabloid feast, and “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica” was a hit for the network, becoming a pop culture phenomenon and making Jessica a household name to those who weren’t familiar with her or her music before. She won a Teen Choice Award for Female Reality/Variety TV Star the following year for that show, aside from Female fashion Icon and Choice Hottie Female.
“In The Skin” meanwhile, reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart when a special collector’s edition was released in April 2004. The first release had peaked at No. 10, and the album eventually went on to become a quadruple platinum hit. The single “With You” reached No. 14, and the remake of Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away made it to No. 20. Later that year, she would release “Rejoyce: The Christmas Album”, which would be certified gold after reaching No. 14 on the charts.
Nick and Jessica also starred in “The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour”, a television special which aired in 2004, while their MTV reality show would go on to win a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show in 2005, after which it eventually wrapped up.
Parlaying her celebrity into a Hollywood career has been the path of many other starlets before her, and so in 2005, Jessica starred in her first movie – the remake of “The Dukes of Hazzard”, which was a big August hit, and her song from the soundtrack also did good, reaching No. 14 on the charts and netting her another People’s Choice Award for Favorite song from a Movie a year later.
However, things were falling apart for Nick and Jessica on the homefront, and the two eventually divorced in July 2006, after months of speculation in the showbiz press.
Simpson switched to Epic records for her next album, and “A Public Affair” was released in 2006. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, and its first single, “A Public Affair”, reached the Top 20. Recently, she was reported to have secured a recording deal with the Nashville division of Columbia Records, a Sony BMG label in preparation for her next release. Her father and manager, Joe Simpson, has confirmed that Jessica is planning for her next album to be a country album.
Jessica has also done many commercials for Pizza Hut, has her own line of hair and beauty products on the Home Shopping Network, and is also currently Operation Smile’s Youth Ambassador. Her sister, Ashlee Simpson is also a pop star and TV celebrity in her own right, and is also being managed by their father, Joe.
She is currently dating Tony Romo, a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. She was blamed by many Cowboys fans for the team not reaching the Superbowl, because she and Romo went on a trip to Mexico during the Wild Card game week break. The Cowboys then lost to the New York Giants in the divisional playoffs. This has earned her the nickname of “Yoko Romo” from the team’s irate fans, after infamous Beatles-breaker Yoko Ono.