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Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3, 1984) is an American pop rock singer, songwriter, and actress, and younger sister of pop singer Jessica Simpson. Simpson rose to prominence in mid-2004 through the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and the accompanying reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show. Simpson received widespread criticism when she used a pre-recorded vocal track on Saturday Night Live in October 2004. Following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released a second number-one album, I Am Me, in late 2005. Her third album is scheduled for release in early 2008.

Early life

Simpson was born in Waco, Texas,^[1]

and raised in Dallas. She is the daughter of Joe Truett Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister who is now her manager) and Tina Ann Drew (a former Sunday School teacher who homeschooled Ashlee).

Ashlee attended Prairie Creek Elementary.^[2] An accomplished dancer, Simpson began studying classical ballet at the age of three, and was admitted to the School of American Ballet in New York City at the age of eleven.^[3] Around that time, she suffered from an eating disorder; the condition lasted about six months, and she dropped to about 31 kg (70 pounds) at 159 cm (5ft 2in), but her parents then stepped in and got her to eat more.^[4] After her sister Jessica Simpson landed a record deal, the Simpson family decided to move to Los Angeles, California, where Ashlee began appearing in television commercials.^[5]

Career

Early years

When Jessica became a star after releasing her first album, Ashlee became one of her backup dancers. Later, Ashlee began appearing in films and television series, including an episode of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 2001, a minor role in the 2002 film The Hot Chick and a recurring role, 39 episodes from 2002-2004, on the family drama series 7th Heaven.^[6]

In the summer of 2003, Ashlee recorded a song titled "Just Let Me Cry" for the soundtrack of the film Freaky Friday. Eventually, Simpson signed a record deal with Geffen Records.

Debut album and reality television (2004)

Simpson's first album, Autobiography, debuted at number one in the U.S. in July 2004 with first week sales numbering around 398,000 copies. The album was certified triple platinum in September 2004. Simpson co-wrote all of the album's tracks and described it as "very true to my emotions" in one interview,^[7] but critical reviews were mixed.^[8] Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Relic characterised Autobiography as a "mundane melange of Avril-ish brat pop and Sheryl Crow cod rock".^[9] E! Online wrote "Even if it doesn't wow you, Autobiography may surprise you."^[10] The single that preceded the album, "Pieces of Me," was one of the biggest hits of the summer in the U.S. and sold well elsewhere. However, the follow-up singles "Shadow" and "La La" were less successful.

Simpson occasionally appeared on Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, a reality show about the married life of Jessica and her then-husband Nick Lachey. To accompany the beginning of her own music career, she got her own MTV reality show entitled The Ashlee Simpson Show, which aired in a subsequent time slot to Newlyweds. It ran in the U.S. for eight weekly episodes over the summer of 2004, and a second season of ten episodes aired from January to March 2005. The show dealt with the process of writing, recording, and performing Simpson's music as well as aspects of her personal life.

When appearing for live performances, Simpson performs live with a backing band consisting of Ray Brady (guitar), Braxton Olita (guitar), Joey Kaimana (bass guitar—from 2004 to 2005 Zach Kennedy filled this role), Chris Megert (keyboards and vocals—from late 2004 to 2005 Lucy Walsh filled this role), and Chris Fox (drums).

In addition to her own first album, Simpson sang "Christmas Past, Present, and Future" on the 2004 holiday album Radio Disney Jingle Jams and a duet of the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy" with her sister Jessica for the album Rejoyce, which they had sung together during the ABC variety hour special Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas.^[11][12]

At the Teen Choice Awards on August 8, 2004, Simpson received the "Song of the Summer" Teen Choice Award for "Pieces of Me," as well as the "Fresh Face" award.^[13] In addition, she also won a Billboard Award for New Female Artist of the Year in December,^[14] and in the same month she was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Breakout Stars of 2004.^[15] Simpson also co-hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve along with Regis Philbin (in Dick Clark's absence) at the end of the year, hosting the West Coast portion of the show and performing three songs.

The Saturday Night Live incident

Simpson appeared as a musical guest on Episode 568 of Saturday Night Live (October 23–24, 2004), and as is customary for the show's format, she was scheduled to perform two songs. Her first song, "Pieces of Me", was performed without problems. However, when she began her second song, "Autobiography", the vocals for the song "Pieces of Me" were heard again—before she had raised the microphone to her mouth. Simpson began to dance and then left the stage, while the band (not a recording) continued playing. During the closing of the show Simpson appeared with the guest host Jude Law stating that her band performed the wrong song in the opening on the performance and commenting that she thought she'd "do a hoedown" following the musical number. MSNBC gossip columnist Jeannette Walls compared the incident to the 1989 Milli Vanilli incident in which their guide track skipped during a live MTV performance, revealing that they were lip-synching.^[16]

On October 25, Simpson called in to the music video show Total Request Live and explained that due to complications arising from a "severe" variation of acid reflux (which had previously been seen in The Ashlee Simpson Show) she had completely lost her voice and her doctor had advised her not to sing. She claimed that because of the acid reflux, her father required her to use a guide track for the performance. She said of the incident, "I made a complete fool of myself." According to Simpson, the drummer hit the wrong button, which caused the wrong track to be played.^[17] During the October 25 Radio Music Awards broadcast, Simpson pretended, as a joke, to make the same mistake as she did in the SNL incident, but then began to perform "Autobiography" without using a pre-recorded vocal track as she had done during the prior SNL performance. On October 31, the CBS news program 60 Minutes aired footage from Simpson's rehearsals before the SNL performance in which Simpson is shown to be disturbed by voice trouble.

Orange Bowl performance and first tour (early 2005)

On January 4, 2005, Simpson performed "La La" at the halftime show for the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida; after her performance, many of the 72,000-plus spectators booed. Representatives for the Orange Bowl stated that they were pleased with her performance and felt that it was a belated reaction to the SNL incident, while others have speculated that it may have been because the audience of the Orange Bowl was outside of Simpson's target age bracket. Still others disagree (Kelly Clarkson had performed before Simpson in the show to a far more positive reaction), and assert that Simpson's performance was poor and very off-key.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Following her Orange Bowl performance, an Internet petition at PetitionOnline.com complaining about Simpson's singing was among the most active of the site's petitions.^[22] Simpson later said: "That's cool. You don't always have to be a fan of everybody's music", also citing the support she had received from her fans.^[23] Around the time of the petition, Cosmopolitan magazine chose Simpson to be on the cover of the February 2005 issue, naming her the "Fun Fearless Female of the Year".

Simpson's first U.S. headlining tour (with two dates in Canada as well) ran from mid-February to late April 2005, and its opening acts were Pepper's Ghost and The Click Five.^[24] In addition to material from Autobiography, Simpson performed her own unreleased song "Hollywood", The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket", Blondie's "Call Me", and Madonna's "Burning Up". She said that the tour would be "stripped down", without pyrotechnics, and that "it's going to be me and my band getting out there and having fun".^[25] In March 2005, Simpson said that The Ashlee Simpson Show would conclude at the end of its second season,^[26] the last episode of which aired at the end of the month.

Film, second album, and theater (2005–2006)

Simpson had a supporting role as an aspiring actress named Clea in Undiscovered (originally titled Wannabe), an independent film that was released in theaters in August 2005. Simpson filmed her scenes in late 2004. While Simpson's performance was met with acceptable reviews,^[27][28] the film itself was trashed by critics^[29] and placed outside of the top ten in its opening weekend,^[30] earning just $676,048. Her performance in the film earned her a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actress.

Simpson's second album, I Am Me, was released in the U.S. on October 18, 2005. Simpson said that she had wanted to incorporate the feel of music from the 1980s on the album, and that unlike her debut it would focus less on relationships and more on herself.^[26] I Am Me debuted at number one with roughly 220,000 copies sold,^[31] but sales quickly deteriorated; by April 2006, it had sold a little less than 900,000 copies.^[32] Its first single, "Boyfriend", became a top twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and performed similarly elsewhere. The second single, "L.O.V.E.", reached the U.S. top twenty-five, its success aided by a remix by R&B/hip-hop producer Missy Elliott and MTV's heavy rotation of the single's music video (it has been her most successful video to date on Total Request Live).

Simpson began a concert tour in late September in Portland, Oregon and appeared on the October 8, 2005 episode of SNL to promote the album. The first of Simpson's two performances on the show was of the ballad "Catch Me When I Fall", which was written about her previous SNL experience, and she thanked the crowd after her second performance. In mid-December, Simpson collapsed after performing in Japan, possibly due to exhaustion. She was briefly hospitalized, and consequently cancelled an appearance at the Radio Music Awards.^[33]

Simpson and her sister Jessica were scheduled to appear in Rolling Stone magazine in a shoot shot by photographer David LaChapelle in 2005. Upon hearing the concept, both sisters were said to be uncomfortable with LaChapelle's raunchy ideas and cancelled, outraging the photographer. He ranted to the press in early 2006, calling them "everything that's wrong with music." Furthering his statement, LaChapelle said he was just trying to "make the Simpsons look cool. I realize now that is an impossible task." LaChapelle planned to have the sisters "down and dirty" and appearing with snakes.^[34]

Simpson appeared on the December 2005/January 2006 cover of Teen People with her sister Jessica,^[35] and could also be seen on the December 2005 issue of Blender,^[36] Cosmopolitan magazine's January 2006 edition, the March 2006 issues of Seventeen and ELLE, the April 2006 issue of JANE, the June/July 2006 issue of Teen People (in which she was named one of its "25 hottest stars under twenty-five"), the July 2006 issue of Marie Claire and the September 2006 issue of CosmoGirl.

Simpson won a Kelly Slater/MTV celebrity surfing invitational competition, which also featured celebrities such as Meagan Good, Jack Osbourne (her main competitor during the competition), Ashley Parker Angel and Tony Hawk, as part of an MTV-sponsored 'Spring Break' Special in March 2006. On April 12, 2006 she hosted and performed at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards, where she won "Best Female Artist" and "Best Pop Video" (for "Boyfriend").^[37] A new single, "Invisible", was released in mid-2006 and reached the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Initially it was said that the song would appear on a re-released version of I Am Me, but this never occurred. Simpson began a summer tour on June 5, 2006 with Ashley Parker Angel as an opening act;^[38] initially The Veronicas also opened but quit the tour after the first few shows due to a problem with one of their singers' vocal cords.^[39]

Simpson said that after this tour, which ended in late July, she would be going on vacation, that she would take her time making her third album, and that she would look at movie scripts and continue her acting career.^[40]

Simpson played the role of Roxie Hart in the London stage production of Chicago to rave reviews, from September 25 to October 28, 2006.^[41] One reviewer called Simpson's performance in the show "dazzling and near flawless".^[42]

Third album (2007–present)

In November 2006, Simpson said that she was going to meet with record executives soon and begin working on her third album. Simpson also stated that she would like to work with Robert Smith from The Cure, who attended her last performance as Roxie Hart in the musical "Chicago".^[43]

Throughout 2007 Simpson has been working on her third album with producers such as Timbaland, Kenna, Chad Hugo^[44] and will.i.am, hinting at a more "soulful" sound and more emphasis on beats than guitars.

Producer Ron Fair said in December 2006 that working on Simpson's next album would be "very tricky" because of press scrutiny and "prejudices", but that Geffen would work with her to overcome that, "because she deserves to be heard and she deserves a shot."^[45]

On March 22, 2007, EW.com reported that Joe Simpson revealed she had been writing with Kenna and Chad Hugo. She also is said to be working with Timbaland, John Legend, and Tim Rice-Oxley, who worked with Gwen Stefani on a song from her album The Sweet Escape. It was also reported that Simpson was working on a collaboration with The Cure's frontman, Robert Smith,^[46] although in July Smith said that he had not worked with her and did not think it was likely that he would do so in 2007; he did, however, give a positive appraisal of Simpson's 2006 performance in Chicago.^[47] In September, Simpson said that, although it would be "a dream" to work with Smith, it had never happened and she had been embarrassed by the rumor.^[48]

In October, the album's release was delayed to the first quarter of 2008.^[49] On November 13, Simpson told MTV News that the album would be released in March 2008, with its first single, the Timbaland-produced "Out of my Head (Ay Ya Ya)", to be released in January.^[50]

In an interview with CosmoGIRL! for its December 2007/January 2008 issue (for which she was the cover girl), Simpson said that she had a "stronger vision" for this album and that she challenged herself by "working with new sounds and new people". She described the result as a "fun party album" with a "silly and quirky" side. Regarding her future plans, she said that she wanted to take some small movie roles and eventually move into bigger roles. She also said she would like to do theater again and to someday have a clothing line.^[51]

Artistry

Voice

Simpson's vocal capabilities have been both praised and ridiculed by critics and the general public alike. Simpson cites her childhood as being the time when she began to sing, and admits that she dreamed of being on Broadway and didn't expect to break into the pop music scene.^[52] Simpson's voice is described as being a Lyric Alto.^[53] The highest note Simpson has shown capabilities of hitting is an E5 (in her songs "Invisible" and "La La"), and the lowest note she has shown capabilities of hitting is an E3 (in her songs "Catch Me When I Fall" and "Shadow") – about a 2 octave range. On Simpson's voice, producer Ron Fair has said it has a "gritty tone", and in a review of her album Autobiography, a critic said "Simpson has a singing ability much like a harder-rocking Alanis Morissette, with the sassy aspect of Avril Lavigne, and the poise of such singers as Sheryl Crow".^[54] The New York Times has described Simpson's voice as "rather breathy, and mannered". Simpson trains with a vocal coach, and studies old Etta James and Aretha Franklin albums for vocal inspiration.^[55] In one interview, Simpson pointed to Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, and Chrissy Hynde as musical influences.^[56]

Awards won

 Videos featured on TRL

- The following videos have charted on MTV's Total Request Live (TRL) program:

Discography

• 2004: Autobiography
• 2005: I Am Me
• 2008: Ashlee Simpson's third studio album Color Outside The Lines

Filmography

Films

Television