Jessica
Simpson
It's in Dallas, Texas, that jessica simpson was born on July
10th, 1980. Growing up in the small town of Richardson, her
life was textbook happy. Her father Joe was a psychologist
who also served as youth minister in the local Baptist church.
With this background, it was only normal for young jessica
to participate in church activities and so she sang in the
choir. Such was her gift that at the age of 12, she auditioned
for The Mickey Mouse Club.
When she reached the finals, she froze, choking completely.
Unfortunately, she didn't get the job; Britney Spears and
Christina Aguilera were luckier. Nevertheless, this experience
served as an important life lesson for jessica.
She returned to Richardson and bit into the Christian music
she had been brought up with. Before long, small label Proclaim
Records noticed her voice and offered to record an album.
She recorded a number of gospel songs but just as they were
angling for a release date, the label went bankrupt.
Not about to give up in the face of adversity, Joe (now her
manager) took his daughter on the road, where they worked
the Christian Youth Concert circuit. jessica sang and then
sold her home-recorded album after performances. This was
a winning formula and while she was still in junior high,
jessica was performing with famous gospel acts like Kirk Franklin
and Ce Ce Winans.
Word spread about simpson and her record sold like hotcakes.
More importantly, it wasn't only Christian music fans who
got into her music; pop lovers everywhere were being charmed
by her voice. This was just the encouragement jessica needed
to pursue a middle-of-the-road pop music career.
Sure enough, news of jessica's success reached important
people in the industry. Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records/Sony
Music was one of them and he was stunned by simpson's voice
and skills.
Mottola believed she had the talent to reach mainstream audiences.
Still, jessica made it clear that she would only be onboard
if she could maintain her identity. Luckily, Mottola understood
what she believed in and supported her decision.
After signing up with the music giant, her debut album Sweet
Kisses was released in 1999, giving way to the singles "I
Wanna Love You Forever" and "I Think I'm In Love
With You." She then hit the road and showed audiences
worldwide what the jessica simpson craze was all about.
She joined boy band 98 Degrees for the tour and it didn't
take long for her to fall in love with one of its members,
Nick Lachey. Their budding romance only helped the release
of their duet, "Where You Are," off Sweet Kisses.
In June 2001, her sophomore album Irresistible was released.
The title track was a smash hit and it went as high as #3
on the Top 40 mainstream chart. After some remixes, her third
record In This Skin was released in August 2003. However,
jessica simpson's life was about to take a drastic turn.
After a short breakup, jessica and Nick finally got married
in October 2002 (which meant that they could finally consummate
their union...) and the celebrity marriage had rejoiced gossip
columnists everywhere. As a result, MTV offered the couple
a reality show based on their everyday life as a couple, much
like The Osbournes.
The deal was struck and August 2003 marked the debut of Newlyweds:
Nick & Jessica. Although the show overshadowed simpson's
new album, it became an incredible hit and it was picked up
for a second season.
Since the world can't seem to get enough of their goofy antics,
the couple was offered a TV variety special reminiscent of
The Sonny and Cher Show. They don't plan on making it a series
but we'll see what happens.
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