Jessica Simpson

Childhood & Early Music

Jessica Ann Simpson entered the world on July 10, 1980, in Richardson, Texas. Her parents were both active in the local Baptist church, with dad Joe acting as youth minister and mom Tina working as a Sunday school teacher. Jessica and little sister Ashlee spent much time in the church and it was there that Jessica made her musical debut.

While Simpson was still in high school, a Christian music producer signed her and produced her album. However, the label was unsuccessful and the album was never released. Jessica dropped out of school to promote her musical career, but she later earned her GED.

At the time, Christian music was her passion and she toured with the likes of Kirk Franklin and CeCe Winans. Despite her love of the genre and her musical talent, Jessica Simpson was not embraced as a Christian act. Many felt she was simply too sexy for the conservative music. Through it all, Jess insisted that she was truly innocent and would remain so until her wedding night. Still, producers and listeners found it difficult to reconcile Jessica's overt sexuality with her wholesome musical message.

Finally, Columbia Record's Tommy Mottola signed her up as a pop singer.

Musical Career

Even under the guidance of Tommy Mottola, Simpson had difficulty finding her niche. Although she found moderate musical success, she could not compete with contemporaries, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Ironically, Jessica was not considered quite sexy enough for mainstream pop success and her sound was not on-par with that of Aguilera.

The Marketing of a Marriage

Simpson

Jessica married sweetheart and boy bander Nick Lachey on October 26, 2002. In a stroke of marketing genius, the two agreed to allow MTV cameras inside their home and life, recording their first days as a married couple. Newlyweds was a surprise hit, and both Nick and Jessica saw their popularity skyrocket. However, Jessica's star was a little brighter than her hubby's, and some say that caused marital strain.

Over the next four seasons, viewers continued to tune in to watch the day-to-day life of the new golden couple. A large part of the thrill was watching Nick patiently deal with his wife's dense observations and confused ponderances. In one famous episode, Jess asked Nick, "Do buffaloes really have wings?"

After Jessica's third album reached only moderate success, the marketing machine had the brilliant idea of repackaging the album with tie-ins to Newlyweds. The re-released In This Skin was an instant hit.

Although Nick and Jessica seemed perfectly content on Newlyweds, rumors were rampant that the marriage had become simply a business deal. For years, tabloids printed stories alleging that Jessica was unfaithful, that the marriage was on the rocks, and that they had, in fact, already split. After years of denials and smiling photo ops, the couple announced their split in late 2005. Jessica filed for divorce on December 16, 2005.

Dumb Blonde or Marketing Genius?

Simpson at the launch of OK! magazine

Through it all, Simpson has maintained her ditzy sexpot image, using it to market multiple ventures, including:

• Pizza Hut commercials
• Edible beauty products
• Proactiv skin care
• Wigs
• The Dukes of Hazzard

Although we will likely never know whether the air-headedness is genuine Jessica Simpson or all for show, the pop star definitely has business smarts.

Jessica Simpson Trivia

• Jessica tried out for The New Mickey Mouse Club at the age of 12. Other applicants included Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. They made it; Jessica didn't.
• Jessica's mom has claimed that Jess actually has an IQ of 160.
• Simpson was the inspiration for Pink's song, "Stupid Girls".
• Nick and Jessica broke up for a year prior to getting engaged.
• As Simpson's manager/father has pointed out, Jessica wears a DD bra.