Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3, 1984) is an American singer, actress and the younger sister of singer Jessica Simpson. She rose to major prominence in mid-2004, when her first album debuted at number one in sales, accompanied by a successful reality show.
Simpson, the daughter of Joe and Tina Simpson, was born and raised in Texas. While her sister, four years older than her, displayed an early talent for singing, Ashlee danced from an early age and was admitted to the School of American Ballet in New York City at age 11.1 She has said that the first CD she ever bought was Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill (released in 1995), but that her mother did not like for her to listen to it because it included profanity, and would not allow her to go to one of Morissette's concerts, even though she had tickets.
Her sister 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 dancer in Jessica's concerts. Turning to acting, she 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. She 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 said that she would no longer regularly play the role.
Following these acting roles, Simpson began a career in music. She recorded a song, "Just Let Me Cry," for the soundtrack to the 2003 movie Freaky Friday. This was a prelude to her first album, Autobiography, which was released in the U.S. on July 20, 2004 by Geffen Records. Simpson received credit for cowriting each of the 12 songs on the album, a blend of rock and pop with lyrics based on Simpson's relationships and feelings. Autobiography debuted at number one in its first week, selling over 398,000 copies, and remained at number one for three of the first four weeks following its release. It quickly went platinum, and its sales compare favorably even to the past sales of Jessica's albums, none of which have ever reached number one.
Autobiography was preceded by its first single, the popular hit "Pieces of Me," which was written about Simpson's relationship with Ryan Cabrera, her boyfriend at the time. The second single, "Shadow," is a somewhat darker song that was written about Simpson's feelings of living in the shadow of her older sister, but it has a positive message, as she describes finding her own identity. While "Pieces of Me" proved to be one of the most popular songs in the country in mid-2004, eventually reaching number one on the Billboard Top 40, "Shadow" did not rise as high on the charts.
Simpson and the beginnings of her music career were the subject of The Ashlee Simpson Show, a successful reality show on MTV. She had previously occasionally 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 timeslot just after it. The show ran in the U.S. for eight weekly episodes from June 16 until August 4, 2004 and helped to establish recognition for Ashlee. It dealt with the process of writing songs, recording in the studio, and performing live, as well as with aspects of Simpson's personal life. She has said there will be a second season of The Ashlee Simpson Show in the future.
Ashlee has a somewhat different, more rock-oriented 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, although she has said that the change of hair color was not intended to distinguish herself from Jessica. She explained in an interview: "I dyed my hair brown the day I finished Seventh Heaven because on the show I had to have the same hair for two years. Literally, the same haircut and color for two years! I got so sick of it! So I went to Target and bought hair dye and colored it." (Steppin' Out, August 4, 2004, page 53). In the same interview, she said that she thinks she gets hit on more as a brunette than she did as a blonde.
Ashlee's songs also have rock elements absent from her sister's music, and she has cited Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and Joan Jett as influences. Her vocals, while generally not thought to equal her sister's singing, have been praised by some as fitting her more rock-oriented songs, and are sometimes described as raspy. Blender magazine, in its review of Autobiography, called her singing "refreshingly unfluffed, with a ragged tomboy edge that's consistently affecting." [1]
Simpson often wears shirts with "punk"-style designs, such as displaying the names of bands, and typically has her fingernails painted black. Notably, she has refused to discuss her sex life, in contrast to Jessica, who had, prior to her marriage, openly stated her intention to remain a virgin until then. Ashlee also has a tattoo of a star on her left wrist, which she got after the release of her album.
Simpson tours with a backing band, which consists of Ray Brady (guitar), Braxton Olita (guitar), Zach Kennedy (bass guitar), 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.
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." The two were reported to have split up in August 2004 due to their busy schedules, but they are still sometimes seen together, and some have speculated that they may still have a relationship or may resume one. In October 2004, they did a series of concerts at high schools together.
Simpson has appeared in two commercials with her sister Jessica: a Pizza Hut commercial (the filming of which is featured at the beginning of episode six of The Ashlee Simpson Show) and an Icebreakers Liquid Ice mints commercial. Both of these commercials poke fun at Jessica's image as a "dumb blonde" (an image fostered by Newlyweds), and consequently portray Ashlee as being a bit smarter. For instance, in the Icebreakers commercial, Jessica is endlessly confused by whether the "Liquid Ice" is liquid or ice; finally, an exasperated Ashlee tells Jessica to "just try one" of the mints, and then Jessica understands. Ashlee and Jessica have also recorded a duet of the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy" together.
At the 2004 Teen Choice Awards, held on August 8, 2004, 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" (the band Maroon 5 won with the video for their song "This Love", but were not present to accept the award). Simpson has a role in the upcoming movie Wannabe, which began filming in November. She cut her hair shorter for her role in Wannabe, a Lions Gate film which has been described as a "romantic comedy". [2]
Simpson appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on October 24, 2004 (the show began at 11:30 Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, October 23, but Simpson performed after midnight on Sunday). She was scheduled to give two performances, as is customary for musical guests on the show, the first of "Pieces of Me" and the second of "Autobiography," the title track from the album. As she was beginning the second performance, however, a recording of "Pieces of Me" was heard 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 or singing along to a backing track to make her voice sound stronger, although these are not uncommon techniques and have reportedly been used on SNL in the past.
On Monday, October 25, Simpson called in to Total Request Live, a popular U.S. top ten music video show, to explain the incident. She said that she had been having trouble with her vocal cords due to acid reflux (a problem that also featured prominently on The Ashlee Simpson Show, particularly during episodes five and six) and could not sing well, and thus had no choice but to perform with a backing track (the first time she had ever done so, she said). For the second performance, however, Simpson said that her drummer had hit the wrong button and consequently the wrong track played.
Despite her illness, however, Simpson became the subject of hateful attacks from some on the internet for several days after the incident, and at one point the community section of her official website had to be disabled due to trolling. She also received a great deal of support from her fans, and Simpson posted a message on the website on October 26 thanking them.
During the 2004 Radio Music Awards on October 25, 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, thus appearing to confirm Simpson's explanation of the incident.
Simpson was scheduled to perform "Autobiography" on these shows because it had been determined not long before that the title track would be the third single from her album, and it had won in an internet poll in which fans voted on which of three songs should be the next single. On October 29, however, it was announced on Simpson's official website that "La La" would replace as "Autobiography" as the third single. "La La" is the song with the heaviest "rock" sound of any on the album, and Simpson has described it as a tongue-in-cheek song about sexual fantasies. [3]
Note
1. Although the minimum age for admission was technically 12, Simpson's father and manager Joe Simpson said that he lied about his daughter's age to get her into the school in an October 2004 interview. (The New York Times, "Who Wants to Be a Simpson?", October 3, 2004.)