Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an
American singer,
actress, and
television personality 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 ventured into the country music market in 2008 and released
Do You Know.
Early life and career
Simpson was born in
Abilene, Texas, the daughter of Tina and Joe Truett Simpson, who was a minister and psychologist.
As a child, she began singing at her local
Baptist church. At age twelve, Simpson unsuccessfully auditioned for
The Mickey Mouse Club.
While attending
J.J. Pearce High School, she signed to Proclaim Records, a minor Gospel music record label. She recorded an album, self-titled, "Jessica", but Proclaim went bankrupt and the album was never officially released except for a small pressing funded by her grandmother. This small funding however gained her minor attention and she gave concerts with other acts such as Kirk Franklin, God's Property, and CeCe Winans. Simpson left high school at age sixteen (she later earned her
GED), and after
Columbia Records executive
Tommy Mottola heard "Jessica", she was signed to the label.
[www.mtv.com/music/artist/simpson_jessica/artist.jhtml#bio]
