Ashlee Simpson Biography

Ashlee Simpson

Ashlee Nicole Simpson (born October 3, 1984) is an American pop rock singer and an actress. Originally known for being the younger sister of pop singer Jessica Simpson, Simpson eventually rose to prominence in Ashlee Simpson's own right in mid-2004 through Ashlee Simpson's chart-topping debut album Autobiography and the accompanying MTV reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show. Simpson received negative attention when Ashlee Simpson used a pre-recorded vocal track on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) in October 2004. This led to accusations that Ashlee Simpson had lip synched during the performance (according to Simpson, Ashlee Simpson needed a backing track due to an illness known as acid reflux), which continued to follow Ashlee Simpson's throughout the promotion of Ashlee Simpson's first album. Simpson's second number-one album, I Am Me, was released in October 2005.

Biography

Early history
Born and raised in Texas, Ashlee is the daughter of Joe Truett Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister who is now Ashlee Simpson's manager) and Tina Ann Drew (a former Sunday School teacher who homeschooled Ashlee). 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. After Simpson's sister Jessica signed a record deal, their family decided to move to Los Angeles, California, where Simpson began appearing in television commercials. When Jessica achieved fame through Ashlee Simpson's first album, Simpson became a backup dancer for Jessica's concerts. Later, Ashlee Simpson began appearing in films and television series, including an episode of the TV sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 2001, a minor role in the 2002 film The Hot Chick and a recurring role in the series 7th Heaven. In 2003, Simpson recorded a song called "Just Let Me Cry" for the soundtrack to the film Freaky Friday. Eventually, Simpson signed a record deal with Geffen Records.

Autobiography: Early music career and reality TV

Simpson's first album, Autobiography, was released in the U.S. on July 20, 2004 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with sales in the first week numbering about 400,000 copies. The album was certified triple platinum on September 2004. Critical reviews were mixed, with the online review collection site Metacritic giving the album fifty-five out of one-hundred points. Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Relic described Autobiography as a "mundane melange of Avril-ish brat pop and Sheryl Crow cod rock" while "E! Online" wrote "Even if it doesn't wow you, Autobiography may surprise you." The single "Pieces of Me" that preceded the album was one of the most widely-played songs in the U.S. in mid-2004 and sold well internationally, but the next single, "Shadow", was less successful and not released in the U.K. However, the "La La" single was released in the UK in 2005.

When appearing for live performances, Simpson performs live with a backing band that consists of Ray Brady (guitar), Braxton Olita (guitar), Joey Kaimana (bass guitar—from 2004 to 2005 Zach Kennedy filled this role), Chris James (keyboards and vocals—from late 2004 to 2005 Lucy Walsh filled this role), and Chris Fox (drums). In September 2004, Simpson announced on Ashlee Simpson's 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.

Screenshot from episode two in season one of the MTV reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show. This shows Simpson's natural blonde hair before it was dyed dark brown to promote Ashlee Simpson's first album, Autobiography.Simpson also occasionally appeared on Newlyweds, a reality show about the married life of Jessica and Ashlee Simpson's husband Nick Lachey; eventually, Ashlee Simpson got Ashlee Simpson's own MTV reality show entitled The Ashlee Simpson Show, which aired in a time slot subsequent time 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, and also dealt with aspects of Ashlee Simpson's personal life.

In addition to Ashlee Simpson's 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 Ashlee Simpson's sister Jessica for the album Rejoyce, which they sung together during the ABC variety hour special "Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas". 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.

Saturday Night Live incident

Simpson walking away after rehearsing for a Saturday Night Live performance. Ashlee Simpson is seen in distress here due to Ashlee Simpson's vocal difficulties Ashlee Simpson had during the rehearsal.Simpson appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on October 24, 2004, and as is customary for the show's format, Ashlee Simpson was scheduled to perform two songs. The first song Ashlee Simpson performed, "Pieces of Me", went off without a hitch. However, when Ashlee Simpson began Ashlee Simpson's second song, "Autobiography", a recording of "Pieces of Me" was heard before Ashlee Simpson had raised the microphone to Ashlee Simpson's mouth. Simpson began to dance nervously (later calling it a "hoe-down") and then left the stage. The show then cut to an emergency commercial break. During the closing of the show Simpson appeared with the guest host Jude Law stating that Ashlee Simpson's band performed the wrong song in the opening on the performance. Others, however, criticized Ashlee Simpson's for what they saw as evidence that Ashlee Simpson was lip syncing.

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) Ashlee Simpson had completely lost Ashlee Simpson's voice and that Ashlee Simpson's doctor advised Ashlee Simpson's not to sing. Ashlee Simpson continued that because of the acid reflux, Ashlee Simpson's father required Ashlee Simpson's to use a guide track for the performance. Ashlee Simpson said of the incident: "I made a complete fool of myself." According to her, the drummer hit the wrong button, which caused the wrong track to be played. During the October 25 Radio Music Awards broadcast, Simpson pretended, as a joke, to make the same mistake as Ashlee Simpson did in the SNL incident, but then began to perform "Autobiography", without using a pre-recorded vocal track as Ashlee Simpson 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 Ashlee Simpson was portrayed as having trouble with Ashlee Simpson's voice and seemed visibly upset.

Almost a year later, Simpson was invited back as a guest performer, with a scheduled appearance on the October 8, 2005 episode of SNL. For Ashlee Simpson's first of two songs, Ashlee Simpson performed the ballad "Catch Me When I Fall", which was written about Ashlee Simpson's previous SNL experience. Ashlee Simpson's second and more energetic song of the show was the first single from I Am Me, "Boyfriend". The audience's enthusiastic reaction to this performance seemed more positive than its reaction to the first, and Simpson glowed, thanking the crowd before the broadcast went to commercial.

Awards and more controversy

In 2004 Simpson received the "Song of the Summer" Teen Choice Award for "Pieces of Me," as well as the "Fresh Face" award. In addition, Ashlee Simpson also won a Billboard Award for New Female Artist of the Year in December and was later named Entertainment Weeklys "Breakout Star of 2004" in January 2005. On January 4, 2005, Simpson performed "La La" at the halftime show for the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida; when Ashlee Simpson's performance finished, many of the 72,000-plus spectators booed. Representatives for the Orange Bowl stated that they were pleased with Ashlee Simpson's 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, however, and assert that Ashlee Simpson's performance was poor and off-key.

Foray into film

Simpson had a supporting role as an aspiring actress and short-haired "tomboy" named Clea in the romantic comedy film Undiscovered (originally titled Wannabe), an independent film that was released in theaters on August 26, 2005. Simpson, who filmed Ashlee Simpson's scenes in late 2004, said that for Ashlee Simpson's first significant film role Ashlee Simpson decided to play a secondary character rather than taking on a leading role so soon. Film critic Michael Rechtstaffen of the Hollywood Reporter said Simpson's performance was "subdued" and "unadorned", and Robert K. Elder felt that Simpson was "aware of Ashlee Simpson's own overexposure and underplaying Ashlee Simpson's part fittingly". The film itself met with mostly negative reviews, and placed outside of the top ten, earning $676,048 in its opening weekend.

Early 2005

In January 2005, following Ashlee Simpson's Orange Bowl performance, an Internet petition at PetitionOnline.com complaining about Simpson's singing was among the most active of the site's petitions. Simpson later said, "that's cool. You don't always have to be a fan of everybody's music," also citing the support Ashlee Simpson had received from Ashlee Simpson's fans. Around the time of the petition, Cosmopolitan magazine chose Simpson to be on the cover of the February 2005 issue, naming Ashlee Simpson's 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. The opening acts for the tour were Pepper's Ghost and The Click Five. In addition to Ashlee Simpson's usual Autobiography songs, Simpson also performed three cover songs; The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket", Blondie's "Call Me", and Madonna's "Burning Up" along with Simpson's own unreleased song "Hollywood". Ashlee Simpson 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." In March 2005, Simpson stated that Ashlee Simpson would like to incorporate the feel of music from the 1980s on Ashlee Simpson's second album, and that the album would focus less on relationships and more on herself. Ashlee Simpson also said that Ashlee Simpson wanted to do another television show, but that The Ashlee Simpson Show would conclude at the end of its second season, the last episode of which aired at the end of March.

Current activities

Simpson's second album, I Am Me, was released on October 18, 2005 in the U.S. and debuted at number one; [25] the first single, "Boyfriend", hit radio in early September 2005. Simpson began touring on September 21 in Portland, Oregon, to promote the new album and single (with the main tour beginning in November), and Ashlee Simpson has appeared on several television programs to promote the album. Most notably, Simpson returned to SNL on October 8/9, performing two new songs, "Catch Me When I Fall" and "Boyfriend". "Catch Me When I Fall" was written by Simpson after Ashlee Simpson's unsuccessful first appearance, a fact Ashlee Simpson noted before starting the song. In contrast to Ashlee Simpson's SNL debut in October of 2004, Ashlee Simpson's second appearance on the show went on without any problems. On October 14, MTV aired a show about Simpson's 21st birthday earlier in the month, Ashlee Simpson Live and Legal.

Simpson plans to continue touring into 2006, and the second single from I Am Me is expected to be "L.O.V.E." Ashlee Simpson appeared on the cover of Teen People with Ashlee Simpson's sister Jessica for the December 2005/January 2006 issue, and Ashlee Simpson will also be on the cover of Blender for the December 2005 issue. In early November, the Canadian entertainment news programme eTalk Daily broadcast a video of a late night visit made by Simpson to a McDonald's fast food restaurant in Toronto, in which Simpson appeared to be drunk, refusing to pose for a picture and arguing with an employee.

Image and personal life

Cover of the August 2005 edition of Cosmo Girl featuring a photo of Ashlee Simpson with blonde hair, to which Ashlee Simpson returned in May 2005.Simpson has a decidedly different image from that of Ashlee Simpson's sister. Previously blonde like Jessica, Ashlee Simpson dyed Ashlee Simpson's hair dark during the recording of the MTV reality show after Ashlee Simpson finished filming for the 7th Heaven television series, although after a year with dark hair Ashlee Simpson returned to blonde in 2005. Simpson's songs also have rock elements absent from Ashlee Simpson's sister's music, and Simpson often wears shirts with "punk"-style designs, sometimes displaying band names, and typically has Ashlee Simpson's fingernails and toenails painted black. Ashlee Simpson has three tattoos: a star on one wrist, two cherries on Ashlee Simpson's ankle, and the word "love" on Ashlee Simpson's other wrist.

Ashlee Simpson's vocals, while generally not thought to equal Ashlee Simpson's sister's range, have been praised by some as fitting the style of Ashlee Simpson's music, and are sometimes described as raspy. Simpson and Ashlee Simpson's sister Jessica were tied for third on oft-quoted celebrity-fashion critic 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."

Ashlee Simpson has refused to discuss Ashlee Simpson's sex life, in contrast with Ashlee Simpson's sister Jessica, who openly stated Ashlee Simpson's intention to practice sexual abstinence until marriage. "I decided that I didn't want to talk about that because it's super personal," Ashlee Simpson said of the situation. Simpson's relationship with Josh Henderson lasted about two years and ended during the first episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show. Soon Ashlee Simpson began Ashlee Simpson's relationship with musician Ryan Cabrera, a relationship that was also featured in the reality show, and Simpson appeared as Cabrera's love interest 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 were sometimes seen together in the months that followed.

At the beginning of the second season of The Ashlee Simpson Show Simpson indicated that they had resumed their relationship, although the two broke up again in early 2005. Simpson says the single "Boyfriend" from Ashlee Simpson's upcoming album I Am Me "is about [how] every girl out there sometimes thinks you stole Ashlee Simpson's boyfriend. It's just making fun of that"; Ashlee Simpson says it is not about Lindsay Lohan and Wilmer Valderrama, although there have been rumors that Simpson stole Valderrama from Lohan.

Criticism

There have been arguments that Simpson is a "manufactured" artist and mediocre singer, and that Ashlee Simpson's appearances on Ashlee Simpson's MTV reality show were "phony" and aimed at promoting Ashlee Simpson's album. Such critics cite incidents like the SNL episode and the Orange Bowl performance as proof of their claims, while others consider Simpson's carefully crafted image instead of Ashlee Simpson's music to be the reason for Ashlee Simpson's continued success.

Much of the media speculate that Simpson was pushed to fame through the aggressive management style and contacts of Ashlee Simpson's father, Joe Simpson, who is Ashlee Simpson's manager and was the executive producer of Ashlee Simpson's reality show. Some think that Simpson has lip-synced on occasions other than the SNL episode, comparing the impact of the SNL incident to the incident Milli Vanilli had in 1990 in a live MTV performance in which the guide track skipped, revealing that they had lip-synced. However, Simpson's successful tour of February–April 2005 and the number one debut of I Am Me in October 2005 seemed to contradict predictions that the incident would have a disastrous impact on Ashlee Simpson's career.

In early 2005, Simpson's marketing campaign was accused of astroturfing by users on several websites. A post on Metafilter claimed that the marketing company posted the same text, which contained the text, "I just read about Ashlee in us weekly. Those guys at the football game were total jerks." (the "football game" referring to the Orange Bowl incident) under the user name "mandyc19" on over three hundred different music-related forums in order to further promote Simpson and paint Ashlee Simpson's in a positive light. This (and possibly other instances) led to a new term, "Ashleeturfing", to describe faux fan raves such as this.

Filmography

Year Title Role Other notes
2005 Undiscovered Clea
2002 7th Heaven Cecilia Smith Television series; through 2004
2002 The Hot Chick Monique Minor role

Ashlee Simpson - Latest News

12/12/12 - none

Some Films Ashlee Simpson has stared in:

Ashlee Simpson has stared in Animated Worlds

Ashlee Simpson has stared in Anywhere But Here

Ashlee Simpson has stared in Bossa Nova

Ashlee Simpson has stared in Loser

Ashlee Simpson has stared in Our Song

Ashlee Simpson has stared in The Emperor's New Groove

Ashlee Simpson has stared in The Iron Giant

Ashlee Simpson Related Quotes

Too low they build who build below the skies. by Young, Edward

Another Ashlee Simpson Related Quote

Adversity is the first path to truth. by Byron, Lord

Yet Another Ashlee Simpson Related Quote

A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion. by Chinese Proverb

And our last Ashlee Simpson Related Quote

All animals but men know that the principle business of life is to enjoy it -and they do enjoy it as much as man and other circumstances will allow it. by Butler, Samuel

Ashlee Simpson News

Newsday's Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist. (The Virginia Gazette)

[Wentz and Simpson] were at the Correspondents' Dinner. Was there no doorman? They have to hire a normal bouncer [for the Correspondents' Dinner], and they have to bounce Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson and the Jonas Brothers.

We shouldn't be surprised by deception (Orillia Packet & Times)

We really should not be at all surprised the Chinese used deception. It turns out young singer Lin Miaoke, who sang Ode to the Motherland during the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics was lip-synching. But, really, who cares about that? Anyone remember Milli Vanilli, Ashlee Simpson? [...]

Jessica Simpson ditches pop for country music (New Kerala)

Washington, Aug 14 : American pop singer Jessica Simpson has revealed that she is dropping pop music to concentrate on country music.

Pop 10 takes on the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus and, for good measure, the phony Olympics. (The Plain Dealer)

Breaking news: Pop 10 wanted to know which original members of this iconic '60s group will be playing Friday night's gig at Rocking on the River in Cuyahoga Falls , so we checked the band's MySpace page and - praise the rock gods and pass the Southern Comfort - its list of band members includes Janis Joplin.

Pop star here to promote clothing line (Mississauga News)

Pop star Ashlee Simpson is coming to Mississauga next week to promote a line of back-to-school fashions. Simpson will be making an in-store appearance at the Zellers store at Square One on Saturday Aug. 23 for the relaunch of the Request clothing line.

Singer switch goes against Games (Owen Sound Sun Times)

There's a crude saying that gives over-weight people leverage in our beauty-obsessed society: I might be fat, but you're ugly and I can lose weight. But what to do if you're deemed overweight and ugly? It turns out that that beautiful girl Lin Miaoke, who sang Ode [...]

Sip like a starlet with Skybar's cocktails (Miami Herald)

Wondering what keeps celebs such as Ashlee Simpson and new hubby Pete Wentz snuggling up and partying on at The Shore Club? The cocktails at the Redroom and Redroom Garden -- a thumping, dimly lit lounge and airy outside bar -- can't hurt. Here's how to make two bar favorites at home.

Lip disservice (The Columbus Dispatch)

The 800 drummers weren't the only highly synchronized performers at the Olympic opening ceremony in China. Less well-received: the lip-syncing girl in pigtails and a red dress. A collective boo and hiss moved across the globe as word spread that the sweet-voiced cherub actually didn't sing the song spotlighted during the opening event.

Jessica Simpson?s pregnancy mistake (NZCity)

?Come On Over? singer Jessica Simpson mistakenly told her boyfriend Tony Romo?s family she was pregnant, resulting in a heated argument, it has been claimed.

Jessica Simpson - Simpson Quits Pop (ContactMusic)

JESSICA SIMPSON is turning her back on pop music to concentrate on becoming a country legend. The singer is preparing for the September (08) release of her new album ...

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