Jessica Simpson Biography

Pop star Jessica Simpson’s career has been something of a roller coaster ride, rife with stomach-lurching highs and lows and unexpected turns. She began singing Christian music professionally as a preteen and earned a record deal in her early teens. After several disappointments, she made the transition to pop music. Her star never quite reached the heights that Britney Spears achieved—not until she and husband Nick Lachey appeared in their own reality television series, Newlyweds. Then Simpson’s career took off with the release of her most successful album to date, In This Skin, the launch of her own line of beauty products, and a sitcom in the works.

Jessica Simpson was born on July 10, 1980, in Richardson Texas, north of Dallas. Her father, Joe, was a psychologist and a youth minister. Simpson’s first singing experiences were in the church choir. Her talent was evident at an early age and she had begun performing publicly on the gospel circuit by age eleven. When the budding performer found out in 1992 that the Disney Channel was holding auditions for the New Mickey Mouse Club, she jumped at the opportunity. Simpson tried out at a regional audition in Dallas and was selected out of more than thirty thousand other contestants as a finalist for a cast position. She lost out to Britney Spears (1981–) and Christina Aguilera (1980–). Although she was disappointed, Simpson’s close-knit family encouraged her not to give up on her dream of becoming a singer.