Jessica Simpson - Singers, Facts and Family

Jessica Ann Simpson was born on July 10, 1980, in Abilene, Texas, to Baptist minister Joseph "Joe" Simpson and his wife Tina Ann. She has a younger sister, Ashlee Simpson, who is also a singer-songwriter and actress.

Jessica enrolled in J. J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas, where she became interested in theatre. However, she left school in her junior year to pursue music, and later completed the GED test.

When she was a child, the family moved frequently for her father’s job, but eventually settled in Richardson, Texas. She sang in the Church choir as a child, and discovered her ambition to become a singer when she was 11.

At the age of 12, Jessica Simpson successfully auditioned for ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’ worldwide talent search, singing ‘Amazing Grace’ and dancing to ‘Ice Ice Baby’. She eventually won the various levels to become one of the six finalists, along with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake, but failed to perform in the final audition due to nervousness.

Fortunately, her second chance came within a few weeks while she was performing in the church choir. A guest speaker, who was about to start a gospel label, invited her for an audition, and signed her after listening to her rendering of Whitney Houston’s version of ‘I Will Always Love You’.

For the next couple of years, she worked with Proclaim Records to record her debut album, ‘Jessica’, which ultimately remained unreleased as the record label went bankrupt. In 1994, her grandmother personally funded the release of a few copies of the album to be sent to various record labels as demo.

Tommy Mottola, the head of Columbia Records, signed her in July 1997 as a contrast to contemporary singers Spears and Aguilera.

On September 28, 1999, she stormed into the music industry with her debut single, ‘I Wanna Love You Forever’, which reached No.3 on US ‘Billboard Hot 100’ chart.

She released her debut studio album, ‘Sweet Kisses’, on November 23, 1999. Her then-boyfriend, Nick Lachey, featured in the single ‘I Think I'm in Love with You’, and the title track, ‘Sweet Kisses’, charted at 25 on ‘Billboard 200’.

Following the suggestion of her record label, she assumed a mature image for her second album, ‘Irresistible’, which released in May 2001. The album debuted at No.6 on the Billboard 200 chart, but was less successful commercially, and its lead single was criticized for sexual themes.

She released the track ‘Sweetest Sin’ following her marriage to Lachey in 2002. After the single failed commercially, her father, who also acted as her manager, pitched a reality show starring the couple, ‘Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica’, which premiered on MTV on August 19, 2003.

The reality show helped promote her third studio album, ‘In This Skin’, which ranked at No.10 on the ‘Billboard 200’ following its release. She later re-released the album in March 2004 with a couple cover songs, ‘Take My Breath Away’ and ‘Angels’, which boosted the sales of the album.

In 2004, she released ‘ReJoyce: The Christmas Album’, and appeared with her husband on her sister’s reality TV series, ‘The Ashlee Simpson Show’, during 2004-05.

In 2005, she launched her clothing line, ‘The Jessica Simpson Collection’, which went on to become one of the most successful celebrity fashion brands.

She debuted on the big screen playing Daisy Duke in the 2005 film ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’, for which she also recorded the song ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’. The song peaked at No.14 on the ‘Billboard Hot 100’, but the accompanying music video was criticized for her revealing outfits.

She signed a new record deal with Epic Records in 2006 and released her fifth studio album, ‘A Public Affair’, which was the last of her albums to achieve moderate commercial success. She went on to release two more studio albums, ‘Do You Know’ (2008) and ‘Happy Christmas’ (2010), both of which were considered flops.

She also acted in a few movies during this time — including ‘Employee of the Month’ (2006), ‘Blonde Ambition’ (2007) and ‘Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous’ (2008) — all of which failed at the box office. However, her 2010 VH1 documentary series, ‘The Price of Beauty’, which saw her travel around the world seeking different perceptions of beauty in different cultures, was a success.

Jessica Simpson’s third studio album, ‘In This Skin’, has been her most successful work till date. It received triple platinum certification in the US and has sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

Three of Jessica Simpson’s songs have made it to the ‘Hot 100 Year End Awards’ list at ‘Billboard Music Awards’ in 2000, 2001 and 2003. She has also won two ‘People's Choice Awards’, seven ‘Teen Choice Awards’ and one ‘BMI Award’.

She has been named in FHM Magazine’s ‘100 sexiest women in the world’ list and Maxim Magazine’s ‘Hot 100’ list six times each. From 2004 to 2008, she was in the list of ‘50 Most Beautiful People’ by ‘People Magazine’.

Jessica Simpson started dating ‘98 Degrees’ singer Nick Lachey after they met at a Christmas party in 1998. Despite their much publicized wedding in October 2002 and subsequent appearance in reality TV show, they separated in November 2005 and finalized their divorce in June next year.

She started dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in November 2007. However, the fans of the Cowboys, including the then-president George W. Bush, blamed her for his poor performance, which eventually caused their break-up in July 2009.

In May 2010, she started a new relationship with retired NFL tight end Eric Johnson, and got engaged to him in November. Their first child, daughter Maxwell Drew Johnson, was born on May 1, 2012, and she gave birth to her son, Ace Knute Johnson, on June 30, 2013.

While Jessica Simpson earned negative criticism for appearing as a ‘ditzy blonde’ in her reality show, according to her mother, she recorded over 160 IQ points in her fifth grade. However, whether or not she still holds her place in the ‘genius’ category in unknown.