| Biography | Nama : Ashlee Simpson
Birth Name : Ashlee Nicole Simpson
Birth Date : 10/03/1984
Birth Place : Waco, Texas, USA
Height : 5' 6"
Sex : F
Nationality : American
Occupation : Pop rock singer
Father : Joe Truett Simpson
Mother : Tina Ann Drew
Relation : Gregory Smith, Nick Carter (singer), Josh Henderson (actor, 2002-2004), Ryan Cabrera (singer, 2004), Braxton Olita (2005), Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy bassist, 2006)
Claim Fame : Album "Autobiography" (2004)
Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3, 1984) is a U.S. singer, actress and the younger sister of singer Jessica Simpson. She rose to prominence in mid-2004, when her first album debuted at number one in sales following a successful reality show.
Simpson, the daughter of Joe and Tina Simpson, was born and raised in Texas, where she was home-schooled by her mother. While her sister Jessica, four years older, displayed an early talent for singing, Ashlee danced from the age of three and was admitted to the School of American Ballet in New York City at age 11.1
After her sister Jessica signed a record deal, the family moved to Los Angeles, California, where Ashlee began auditioning for television commercials?her first commercial was for the department store Kohl's.2 Jessica achieved success in pop music in 1999 with her song "I Wanna Love You Forever" and the album Sweet Kisses, and Ashlee became a backup dancer in Jessica's concerts. She also appeared in an episode of the TV sitcom Malcolm in the Middle and had a minor role in the 2002 movie The Hot Chick, a comedy starring Rob Schneider. Simpson played the character Cecilia on the television show 7th Heaven from 2002 until the beginning of her singing career in 2004, at which point she stopped regular appearances.
In 2003, Simpson recorded a song, "Just Let Me Cry," for the soundtrack to the movie Freaky Friday, and also signed a record deal with Geffen Records. She recorded an album, Autobiography, released in the U.S. on July 20, 2004. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and was certified triple platinum in September 2004. The single "Pieces of Me" preceded the album, was one of the most popular songs in the U.S. in mid-2004, and sold well internationally. The next single, "Shadow", was less successful and not released in the U.K. The U.K.-sourced "La La" single followed in 2005.
Simpson and her music career were the subject of The Ashlee Simpson Show, a successful reality show on MTV. She had previously appeared on Newlyweds, an already successful reality show about the married life of Jessica and her husband Nick Lachey, and The Ashlee Simpson Show aired in the subsequent time slot. The show ran in the U.S. for eight weekly episodes from June 16 until August 4, 2004, and dealt with the process of writing, recording, and performing, and with aspects of Simpson's personal life. The first episode of the second season aired in the U.S. on January 26, 2005.
Simpson performs live with a backing band, which consists of Ray Brady (guitar), Braxton Olita (guitar), Zach Kennedy (bass guitar), Lucy Walsh (keyboards and vocals) and Chris Fox (drums). On September 29, 2004, she announced on her website that the band would be named "Ashlee Simpson and Submission," taking the name from the fact that they had received so many submissions of proposals for the name. Her manager is her father, Joe Simpson.
At the August 8, 2004 Teen Choice Awards show, Simpson received the "Song of the Summer" award for "Pieces of Me," as well as the "Fresh Face" award. She performed "Pieces of Me" during the pre-show for the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards on August 29, and during the actual show she presented an award with Tony Hawk for "Best New Artist in a Video."
Ashlee and her sister Jessica recorded a duet of the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy" together for Rejoyce, a 2004 Christmas album by Jessica; they sang the song together during "Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas", a variety hour special which aired on ABC on December 1. [1] (http://abc.go.com/specials/nickjess_xmas.html) Ashlee also sang "Christmas Past, Present, and Future" on the 2004 holiday album Radio Disney Jingle Jams.
Simpson has a role in the upcoming movie Wannabe, which began filming in November. She cut her hair shorter for her role as Clea, an aspiring actress and "tomboy". The Lions Gate property is directed by Meiert Avis and is described as a "romantic comedy". [2] (http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1493864/11182004/story.jhtml) She was shown talking about the film on its set in a segment on Total Request Live on November 30.
Ashlee has affected a tougher image than that of her sister. Previously blonde like Jessica, she dyed her hair dark during the recording of the reality show (in the fifth episode), after she had finished filming for 7th Heaven. Ashlee's songs also have rock elements absent from her sister's music. Her vocals, while generally not thought to equal her sister's range, have been praised by some as fitting the more rock-oriented sound of her music, and are sometimes described (positively or negatively) as raspy.
Simpson often wears shirts with "punk"-style designs and typically has her fingernails painted black. She has refused to discuss her sex life, in contrast to Jessica, who openly stated her intention to remain a virgin until marriage. "I decided that I didn't want to talk about that because it's super personal," she has said.3 Ashlee also got a tattoo of a star on her left wrist after the release of her album.
Simpson's relationship with Josh Henderson, who had previously appeared on Popstars 2, lasted about two years and ended during the first episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show. Soon she began her relationship with Ryan Cabrera, a musician who also released his debut album in 2004; this relationship also featured in the reality show (particularly in episodes three and four), and Simpson appeared in the music video for Cabrera's song "On the Way Down" as Cabrera's love interest. The two were reported to have split up in August 2004 due to their busy schedules, but they were still sometimes seen together in the months that followed, and in the first episode of the second season of The Ashlee Simpson Show, Simpson indicated that they had gotten back together. In October 2004, they did a series of concerts at high schools together.
Simpson and her sister Jessica were tied for third on Mr. Blackwell's list of the worst-dressed celebrities of 2004. Blackwell wrote that "from gaudy to grim to downright frenetic these two prove that bad taste is positively genetic."
Simpson appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on October 24, 2004. As is customary for musical guests, she was scheduled to give two performances, the first of "Pieces of Me" and the second of "Autobiography." As she was beginning the second performance, however, a recording of "Pieces of Me" started playing before she raised the microphone. Simpson, uncertain of how to react, danced nervously (as she later called it, a "hoe-down") and then left the stage. After an emergency commercial break, she appeared again during the show's closing with the guest host of the night, Jude Law, and apologized, saying that her band had started playing the wrong song. Others, however, criticized her for what they saw as evidence that she was lip synching.
On Monday, October 25, Simpson called in to Total Request Live, a popular U.S. top ten music video show, and explained that she had been having trouble with her vocal cords due to acid reflux and could not sing well, and thus had no choice but to perform with a guide track. For the second performance, Simpson said that her drummer had hit the wrong button and consequently the wrong track played.
Prior to the incident, Simpson expressed her distaste with lip synching in an interview with Lucky magazine: "I'm totally against it and offended by it. I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me." Some pointed to this as hypocrisy, but it has also been pointed out that under the circumstances?with her voice in such poor condition just hours before she was scheduled to perform?she may have had little choice but to rely heavily on the backing track.
During the October 25, 2004 Radio Music Awards broadcast, Simpson made fun of the SNL mistake by pretending at first to be caught in the same mistake with "Pieces of Me" as before, before saying "Just kidding, you guys!" and going into a performance of "Autobiography." On the morning of October 26, she discussed the incident with Katie Couric on The Today Show, and on October 31, the CBS news program 60 Minutes aired footage from Simpson's rehearsals before the SNL performance, in which she was shown having trouble with her voice and being visibly upset.
On January 4, 2005, Simpson performed "La La" at the halftime show for the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. When her performance was finished, many of the 72,000-plus spectators booed.[3] (http://www.local10.com/entertainment/4048912/detail.html)[4] (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1495731/20050111/index.jhtml?headlines=true)
On January 6, an Internet petition was addressed to Geffen Records.[5] (http://www.petitiononline.com/StopAsh/petition.html) Its signers were "disgusted with Ashlee Simpson's horrible singing and hereby ask[ed] her to stop." Over 200,000 signatures have been recorded, causing the petition to be ranked first of over 6000 active petitions on the site. [6] (http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news/14285421)
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