All About Jess
Jessica Simpson was born in Abilene, Texas and raised in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas. She is the daughter of Joe Simpson who is a former Baptist youth minister and Tina who is a former Sunday school teacher. She has a younger sister Ashlee, who started her own her music career in 2004. Simpson started singing at the age of 12 in church choir. At the same age she was turned away when she tired out for The New Mickey Mouse Club.
Simpson attended J.J. Pearce High school in Richardson and was discovered singing at church camp by a head of a small contemporary Christian record label and recorded an album over the next three years, however the label folded before that record could be released. She dropped out in her senior year in order to tour and promote her demo album, she later earned her GED. Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records obtained a copy of the album and, thinking she had potential as a pop singer, signed her as such.
In late 1999, Simpson released her debut album Sweet Kisses, which peaked number 25 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and also made the 40. It was a quick success. Released during the summer of 2001, Simpson’s sophomore effort Irresistible reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. Despite the improvement of her debut, the album’s sales were less than satisfactory.
On October 26, 2002 Simpson married Nick Lachey. She famously announced that she remained a virgin until her wedding night. During the summer of 2003, Simpson and Lachey’s reality show, Newlyweds began airing on MTV. The show was wildly successful and sky rocketed the two to the top. Sadly in June 2006 Simpson and Lachey divorced.