Ashlee Simspon, The Waco Texan
From Waco, Texas comes the daring little go getter, Ashlee Simpson. Following in the footsteps of her older sister, Jessica Simpson, she has surely made her place in the entertainment industry with her own taste and style of music of course. She might be the younger sister of the superstar, Jessica, but don’t confuse their tastes or style when it comes to music. Ashlee’s semi-pop, semi-rock/alternative music has actually outdone her sister’s in overall record sales.
Ashlee Nicole Simpson was born on October 3, 1984 to her parents Joe and Tina Simpson. She started dancing at the age of 4, and by the time she was 11, she enjoyed the status of being the youngest person ever admitted to the prestigious School of American Ballet. At the age of 14, she moved with her parents and older sister to Los Angeles. Also at this age, Ashlee was dancing professionally on the road with Jessica. She spent three years on tour supporting her sibling and acquiring her own fan-base. Despite the fact that at this time, she hadn’t put out any records of her own, she still had over 50 websites devoted to her.
Ashlee appeared on “Malcolm in the Middle” and “The View” before landing a regular role, Cecilia (Simon Camden’s love interest) , on the WB series “Seventh Heaven.” Ashlee later played a role alongside Rob Schneider in the film, “The Hot Chick”. She has also appeared alongside her sister on Saved By The Bell, The Donny & Marie Show, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, The View, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and a Disney Christmas show and concert special. Throughout all of this, Ashlee’s heart was set on a music career. Ashlee continued work on her rocking and punky demos when Seventh Heaven wasn’t in production. Geffen was impressed and released her debut album, Autobiography, in 2004 just as MTV was debuting Ashlee’s own reality TV show.
Ashlee co-wrote the songs on her album “Autobiography.” The ballad “Shadow” from the album tells of Ashlee’s decision to step out of her older sister’s shadow and carve out her own musical and acting identity. “Autobiography” reached triple-platinum status in September 2004, making it the year’s biggest debut by a female artist with 3 million copies in stores. The album debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and remained there for three weeks. During the first week of release alone, 398,000 copies were sold.
Her manager and own father, a Southern Baptist Youth Pastor, has helped her to put out a number of albums. Including some singles, she has released L.O.V.E,, I am Me, Autobiography, Pieces of Me, LaLa, Shadow, and Boyfriend. Also, one of her songs, “Just Let Me Cry,” landed on the Freaky Friday soundtrack in 2003.
Busted for a “Saturday Night Live” lip-synch gone off beam, Ashlee’s manager-father said his 20-year-old daughter used the extra help on SNL because acid reflux disease had made her voice hoarse. Ashlee, later got a second chance on SNL while it was hosted by “Napoleon Dynamite” star, Jon Heder. The now blonde, Ashlee Simpson redeemed herself then and there.
While performing, “LaLa” during the halftime show at the Orange Bowl college football game in Miami, Ashlee received an evident chorus of boos. Ashlee later proclaimed that he may have been the way the whole thing was setup. She suggested that the entire show wasn’t all that great.. “You never know. But I can’t make everybody happy”, she said.
Ashlee Simpson might be willing to give you a private show if you can cough up the dough – the big dough, as in $35,000 a song.
